Fundamentals of
storytelling
D ATA C O M M U N I C AT I O N C O N C E P T S
Hadrien Lacroix
Curriculum Manager
Challenger
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Good warning, bad delivery
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
About the course
You will learn how to:
Communicate results to different stakeholders using storytelling
Structure a written report
Build a compelling oral presentation
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Chapter 1
Translating technical results
Impacting decision-making process
Not about spinning results!
Making results stick:
Simple
Concrete
Credible
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Data storytelling road
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Why are stories needed?
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Why are stories needed?
The best results have no impact without proper presentation
Convince change-adverse stakeholders
Non-technical stakeholders
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
What is data storytelling?
Data storytelling is the practice of building a narrative around a set of data and its
accompanying visualizations to help convey the meaning of that data in a powerful and
compelling fashion
Anecdotes = imagination
Stories = memorable
Add value (provide context)
Capture audience's attention
Facilitate decision-making
Drive change
1 https://tdwi.org/portals/what-is-data-storytelling-definition.aspx
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Data storytelling
3-minutes story:
What would you say in 3 minutes?
Big idea:
Unique point of view
One sentence
==> Clear and concise
1 Knaflic, Cole Nussbaumer. Storytelling with Data. Wiley Editorial.
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Data storytelling
1. Insightful
2. Explanatory
3. Concise
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Data
Results (e.g predictions) and findings (e.g.
data analysis)
Relevant
Accurate and reliable
Actionable insights
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Narrative
Compelling and easy to understand
Prioritize essential points
Drive change
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Narrative
Main point:
Avoid disconnected facts
Central insight
Explanatory context:
Understand background and audience
Clarify facts to that audience
Linear sequence
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Visuals
Graphs should be:
simple
engaging
not misleading
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Let's practice!
D ATA C O M M U N I C AT I O N C O N C E P T S
Translating technical
results
D ATA C O M M U N I C AT I O N C O N C E P T S
Hadrien Lacroix
Curriculum Manager
Data storytelling
Benefits:
Helps focus attention
Meaning and context
Helps retain insights
Better-informed decision-making
Persuade change-resistant stakeholders
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Tech or non-tech approach?
Technical knowledge is a continuum
Data professionals care about their methods...
...but the audience likely cares more about results and implications
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
How technical?
Low accuracy predictions to supply chain agents
Don't care about stats
Care about their own pain points
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Translating technical results into stories
Easy to understand
Engage audience
Decision-making
Drive change
Strategies
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Awareness
What do they know? Adjust content
How our model works Prediction's impact and limitations
What do they need to understand? Be conversational
Why we chose our predictive variables The context on which our model works
What level of information do they need? Serve audience
The correlation coefficients between variables The interactions between customer traits
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
ADEPT
Analogy
Diagram
Example
Plain English
Technical definition
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Analogies
Instead of Use
1 Alpha, "Liam is an expert on the shape sorter", Creative Commons
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Technical jargon
Use acronyms with caution
Can help or hurt communication
Introduce the term and acronym
Jargon
Translate terminology
Simple terms
Guide
Definitions
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Focus on impact
Instead of Focus on
Use a non-relational database to make Changing the storage approach will save a
efficient nested queries. lot of time.
Number of rooms shows correlation of 0.7 The more rooms in the house, the higher
with a house price. the price.
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Humility
Be receptive
Proactively ensure understanding
Explain differently
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Let's practice!
D ATA C O M M U N I C AT I O N C O N C E P T S
Impacting the
decision-making
process
D ATA C O M M U N I C AT I O N C O N C E P T S
Hadrien Lacroix
Curriculum Manager
Data storytelling
1. Data
2. Narrative
3. Visuals
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Compelling narrative
Meaningful to target audience
Prioritize key points
Drive change
A description of connected events that organizes information to engage the audience and
make them care for the results or information shared
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Narrative structure
What motivated the analysis?
What changed?
Who is the focus of the analysis?
Customers? Employees? Something else?
Our background: Total profit decreased
1 Dykes, Brent. Effective Data Storytelling. Wiley.
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Narrative structure
What contributed to the problem?
Only relevant information
Our insight: Chips 20% increase. Sweets 30% decrease.
1 Dykes, Brent. Effective Data Storytelling. Wiley.
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Narrative structure
Add supporting evidence
Help better explain the cause of problem
More insights: Most popular chocolate 50% decreased.
1 Dykes, Brent. Effective Data Storytelling. Wiley.
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Narrative structure
Central insight
What would happen if there is no change
Our climax: Loss $10M next year.
1 Dykes, Brent. Effective Data Storytelling. Wiley.
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Narrative structure
Potential solutions
Course of action
Proactive
Our next steps: Rebrand chocolate.
1 Dykes, Brent. Effective Data Storytelling. Wiley.
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Building narrative
Change over time: Chocolate lower in summer and higher in winter.
Correlation: Chocolate rating vs. price
Comparison: Two age groups vs. chocolate consumption
Clustering: Groups with different coffee and chocolate consumption
DATA COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS
Let's practice!
D ATA C O M M U N I C AT I O N C O N C E P T S
