How To Impress Smart People

Data and facts are not the same. Data is an evidence of a fact but not the fact itself. If you disagree, it's ok, at least for now.
When you take data for a fact, you are making several assumptions, most of them without even realizing. The data could have been biased, not to say manipulated or even made up. That puts a question mark on every fact we thought we knew.

Let's take an example:
"Man landed on the moon" this is considered by almost everyone to be a fact but in truth we assume it is a fact, because evidences were shown to us, records, video, audio and most of all because we expected it.
So you know that audio, video and records can be manipulated, but most people (me included) believe (yes that is the correct word) it is a fact.

The way you see the world is actually based on what you choose to believe. Intriguing...

Internet plays a great role in today's data distribution. Again Internet is not a source, or in other words it is not just one source. For instance i don't expect to get the same credit that Seth Godin or Malcolm Gladwell would get for writing the same thing. (It would be in better English,of course).
Nevertheless people tend to refer the internet as their source because they expect to learn from others judgment (nowadays mainly Google) of what is reliable and what is not. It works well most of the times, but every now and again the system fails and shakes our beliefs. Fidel Castro is reported dead on Twitter by mistake, or someone innocent is involved in a scandal.

When you take data and build a data visualization you are in process of making facts, those facts will be judged and if you are successful people will believe them.
I am not saying you intended to lie, but you are creating your version of the truth. The best example i can give you is "there are enough resources in the world for everyone" (on average).
This one is quite obvious, but in most statements is not so easy to spot the hidden assumption.

There is a hype thing about infographics these days, and everyone seems to love them. The reason is very simple, it gives our brain a rest by simplifying the huge amount of data out there in the wild of bits and bytes. You feel comfortable, you think you have a better understanding of the world, and of course your peers would have seen the same facts so you share the same truth(s).

I also love Infographics, but probably not for the same reasons you do. I like them because they give me guidance to what i don't know, the questions i need answers for.

The Graph is trying to tell us that the fuel value has drop and with the same value we can buy more gallons that in any point in history. The catch the value is expressed in silver. (click it to see the full story from business Insider)

This was actually presented in Congress by Ron Paul. He was caught and it hit the news but many things like this are not....

If you have to do it, at least don't get caught

Come clean with your audience. Don't try to sell your story as the ultimate truth, people will appreciate your honesty.

Storytelling is very powerful, use it wisely.