The Data Caterer Toolbox

Plating Critic

Decision Communication Analyser

The Line Cook presents data. The Data Caterer enables a decision.
This tool evaluates your presentation against five capabilities that separate one from the other.

Not a slide design checker — a Decision Communication analyser
What Plating Critic evaluates

The skill is Decision Communication

Not "presentation skills" in the generic corporate sense. Specifically: the ability to translate governed, analysed data into a narrative that enables a clinical, regulatory, or strategic decision. The same dataset can be presented five different ways — only one of them serves the guest at the table. Plating Critic scores your deck against the five capabilities that distinguish a Data Caterer's output from a Line Cook's delivery.

Capability 01
Audience Awareness
Knowing the guest before they sit down
The same data tells different stories to different audiences. A safety signal needs different framing for a DSMB, a regulatory briefing, and an internal portfolio review. The Line Cook presents the data the same way every time. The Data Caterer adapts the narrative to who's sitting at the table and what decision they need to make.
Capability 02
Analytical Narrative
From numbers to meaning
The gap between "here is a table of adverse events by system organ class" and "the hepatic signal emerged at Week 12, was dose-dependent, and resolved upon discontinuation — with implications for the proposed labeling language." The first is an output. The second is a contribution. The Data Caterer connects the data point to the clinical question, the regulatory context, and the patient impact.
Capability 03
Visual Judgment
Fit-for-purpose plating
Not "make it pretty" — but choosing the right representation for the message. When does a forest plot serve the story better than a table? When does a swimmer plot reveal what a Kaplan-Meier curve hides? When is a simple sentence more powerful than any visualisation? The Data Caterer selects the vessel that serves the guest, not the one that showcases the kitchen.
Capability 04
Intellectual Honesty
Disclosing the limitations — warning for allergens
A Line Cook presents what was asked for. A Data Caterer presents what the audience needs to know — including what the data doesn't say, where the uncertainty lives, and what assumptions are baked in. Overstating certainty or hiding caveats in footnotes is the data equivalent of a restaurant not disclosing allergens.
Capability 05
Elevation
From reporting to advising
The ultimate test: does the presentation end with the data, or does it start a conversation? The Line Cook delivers results and waits for the next specification. The Data Caterer frames results in a way that surfaces the next question, the implication, the decision point. The presentation becomes a strategic instrument, not a deliverable.
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Upload your conference deck, briefing document, or data review
Plating Critic reads your text content and — for PPTX files — your visual structure, then scores it against the five Decision Communication capabilities above. The analysis is fully local: nothing leaves your browser.

Drop your presentation here

or click to browse your files

PDF PPTX

Reading your presentation…

Extracting content
Scoring Decision Communication capabilities
Analysing visual structure
Generating feedback
0 /100
⚠ Visual Judgment analysis (PPTX visual structure and colour palette) requires the original PPTX file. Text-based capabilities are fully scored.
Decision Communication — 5 Capabilities
Analysis
Top 3 Priorities — Line Cook to Data Caterer
Decision Communication Standards
The Data Caterer does
The Line Cook does

"The question is never whether the data is correct. The question is whether the data enables a decision."

— The Data Caterer™ Framework · Sascha Ahrweiler