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