The Art of Data Storytelling: Best Practices to Craft Compelling Narratives
Read Time ~ 4 Minutes
A few editions back I talked briefly about data storytelling. I wanted to revisit that topic a bit more in-depth now.
I have to be honest, when I first heard about data storytelling I thought it was a bit of a gimmick. Why would I need to craft some clever narrative in order to get my point across about some of the results I found during my analysis? The results should speak for themselves right? Ya, I was a bit wrong.
See, while the results do get your point across, it’s emotion that get action based on those results and there is no better way to invoke emotion than with a good story. So here’s a few tips on data storytelling.
Know You Audience
I spoke on this already in a previous article about presentations so I won’t go into to much depth here but it’s importance in data storytelling can not be overlooked. I wouldn’t present the same way to a board of directors as I would my fellow colleagues and neither should you.
Take the time to understand your audience and tailor your narrative to resonate with their level of expertise, interests, and goals. It will ensure your presentation won’t land of deaf ears.
If you want to know a bit more more on this subject, have a look at my previous article From Data to Delivery: Elevating Your Presentation Game.
Craft a Clear Narrative Arc
That’s right, a narrative arc. The same thing in all the best selling books and movies should be used in your presentations!
While your results and data doesn’t have to swoop down and save the protagonist, your presentation should have some clear structure. Here are a few different types of narrative arcs to get you started (there are many more than this!):
Linear - This is the most straightforward and common narrative arc and probably the one you use most often without even knowing it. It follows a linear sequence where events unfold in chronological order. The story begins with an introduction, builds through rising action, reaches a climax, descends through falling action, and concludes with a resolution. An example of this arc might be analyzing the growth of your company over the years, starting with its founding, milestones achieved, challenges faced, and eventual success.
Circular - In a circular narrative arc, the story doesn't follow a strict linear progression. Instead, it returns to a central theme or event, creating a loop. The resolution may reflect back on the beginning, suggesting a cycle of events or a sense of continuity. An example of this one might be analyzing seasonal sales data for your retail business. The circular narrative can emphasize the cyclical nature of consumer behavior, helping the audience anticipate and plan for fluctuations in demand during different times of the year.
Hero's Journey - Be careful with this one! As much as I like this story arc, it can come off a bit cheesy when done incorrectly. It’s suppose to portray a hero who embarks on an adventure, faces challenges and trials, undergoes transformation, and returns home changed. An example of this one might be demonstrating the journey of a company's new product line, with the initial challenge being low buy-in, the quest being the implementation of customer-centric strategies, and the resolution being a significant improvement in adoption.
The bottom line is your presentations shouldn’t just be about delivering results but also about giving the audience something to buy into.
Simple Visuals
There is nothing worse than a screen cluttered with enormous amounts of information all fighting for the limited attention of your audience!
Remember, at the end of of the day visuals are suppose to help you not hinder you!
Some good things to remember when creating visuals for your presentations is less is more. Generally speaking, I try to have one central idea per visual and only try to show one visual at a time.
It’s tough for an audience to understand a series of complex visuals all while listening to you speak, so don’t make them!
In order to drive the point home, let’s take a look a two visuals. They both contain the same data but one tells it in a much more clear and concise way than the other. Here’s the first one:
This one is extremely straightforward, we have a specific title, a y-axis that shows us the count, a x-axis depicting their smoking status, and some easy on the eyes colors. The colors even have some meaningful representation as maybe we are trying to convey that smoking is bad and should be marked in red.
Now let’s take a look at the same information but presented in a much worse way:
This technically is the same information as above but if I didn’t show you the good example first I would guarantee you would have no idea what it was about. There are no number, no title, terrible colors, useless symbols, and pie charts are notoriously hard to read.
Overall, take your time with your visuals. Think about not only the type of visual you want to use but the little things like lines, colors, and markings.
Wrapping it up
I hope you enjoyed this edition of AI insights, telling a good story and creating helpful visuals is sometimes overlooked but can be a boon to a presentation when applied correctly.
Until next time.
Andrew-
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