In the words of Anthony De Mello, “the shortest distance between truth and a human being is a story.” Everyone who has data to analyse has stories to tell, whether it’s diagnosing the reasons for manufacturing defects or informing colleagues about a particular customer service improvement program. However, providing a fact-based story can be challenging. You want to be interesting and memorable; you need to keep it simple for busy executives and colleagues. Yet you also have to be factual, detail-oriented and data-driven, especially in today’s metric-centric world.
So what is the secret to successful storytelling?
Don’t be afraid to tell data stories
By finding the real stories in your data, you can get people to focus on your message - and thus on what’s important.
Don’t overwhelm colleagues
It’s important not to overwhelm colleagues with data and facts without context. Start engaging your team by approaching your assignment as a story. Data stories can bring facts to life. They help you to make sense out of a disparate collection of facts. They make it easier to remember key points and paint a vivid picture of what the future can look like. Stories also create interactivity - people put themselves into stories and can relate to the situation.
To do this, you will need the “what” of your story (the facts and data) but you also need the “who?”, the “how?”, the “why?” and the often missed “so what?”. It’s these story elements that will make your data relevant and tangible for your audience.
Think of your analysis as a story – use a story structure
When crafting a data-rich story, the first objective is to find the story. Who are the characters? What hurdles have to be overcome? And at the end of your story, what do you want your audience to do as a result? Answering these questions starts with analysing the data and uncovering your findings. Use data visualisation tools to accelerate your analysis time and give you the chance to examine your data more closely and in more relevant ways.
Next, write out the storyboard which represents the structure and form of your story. The storyboard will help you to think about the best analogies or metaphors, to clearly set up challenge or opportunity, and to see the flow and transitions needed. The storyboard also helps you focus on key visuals that you need your executives to recall. Keep your slides to a minimum, and if more detail or background is needed, you can make an appendix available for reference.
Be authentic - your story will flow
To best capture your audience’s attention, consider how you can take a data fact and make it personal, relatable and—if you’re lucky—emotional. Use a metaphor or anecdote to make the data more memorable. Take your story and develop it with data. Selectively present core facts and data that prove your point. You can then supplement hard data with qualitative data.
Be visual – think of yourself as a film editor
Symbols, graphs and pictures are effective communication devices. A well-chosen visual easily tells the story in a single glance. On the other hand, tables of data or numbers can be confusing. The key is to create well-formed visual analysis, charts and graphs.
This is especially true when you have to present facts and data that were not great news for your audience. For instance, if you have to communicate information about a fast-encroaching competitor, a graphic image showing a predator on the trail of its prey may be more effective than a table of declining numbers. The visual image conveys the problem and the imminent danger. It also advances the discussion—from this image, you can talk about what to do next.
Make it easy for your audience and you
Storytelling makes the process of communication easier. Your audience will recall the key message and can act on it. However, storytelling should be simple and direct. Multiple stories within one overall presentation are fine but realise that the human brain typically cannot hold more than three to five major facts. Stick to two or three key issues and focus on how they relate to your audience.
By Elissa Fink, Chief Marketing Officer, Tableau
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