Influence your audiences with Data Storytelling
If you’ve ever found yourself presenting to an audience where you just know that your presentation didn’t persuade, then …..
You know that there is more to influence than facts.
When you see them looking at their watch, or mumuring to one another as you’re speaking.
When you walk away with hours of follow-up to do without any real commitment to action.
That’s frustrating. When you put a lot of hard work into gathering data, engineering data and analysing data. You want your data to have impact.
Finding the narrative in that data can make the difference you want. Data storytelling can change the response to your presentation quite dramatically.
Data Storytelling for finance and technology teams
Data science is at the heart of digital transformation. But understanding the data cannot be limited to the technical experts in your organisation. Help your data teams to turn little-understood data into knowledge that can be used throughout your entire organisation.
Actionable insights through Data Storytelling
Data storytelling is the ‘last-mile’ data science skill that helps your teams to create new knowledge from your data. With powerful visualisation and presentation skills, your teams will communicate data in a way that engages audiences, gives them actionable insights and helps them to make decisions with confidence.
Build influence with Data Storytelling
Turn your data teams into powerful influencers within your organisation by giving them the skills to engage and influence key stakeholders.
You’re in safe hands
All of our programmes are delivered by communication experts, with a background in technology and data.
Take your team on a learning journey
We’ll work with you and your team to help them to turn their data into a narrative that influences.
Identify
The journey starts with an open discussion to clarify your challenges and aspirations and to identify the skills, behaviours and habits you want your team to develop. From here we develop a personalised and targeted programme to meet your goals.
Participate and Apply
Your team attends a bespoke workshop to equip them with communication clarify and confidence. They’ll develop two key skills – data visualisation and powerful presentation skills. They’ll learn how to craft and deliver a compelling narrative aligned to your organisation’s strategic imperatives.
Absorb
You can offer individual or team coaching to your team to help the key learnings really sink in. This gives each member of the team the opportunity to hone their own personal presentation style to make sure their message is heard by the people they need to influence.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does data storytelling matter in a presentation?
Data storytelling matters in a presentation because it bridges the gap between raw data and meaningful insights. By crafting a narrative around data, it captivates the audience, making information relatable and memorable. Visualizations and context help convey complex concepts, aiding understanding. Data storytelling fosters engagement, enhances retention, and influences decision-making. It transforms data into actionable insights, enabling presenters to convey the “why” and “so what” behind the numbers, creating a more impactful and persuasive presentation.
Five examples of great data storytelling
Data storytelling is the art of transforming complex data and statistics into compelling narratives. Data storytelling involves combining data visualizations, context, and insights to communicate information effectively, making it relatable and engaging for a wide audience.
1. Sir David Attenborough’s address to world leaders at the opening of COP26
Sir David uses a data visualisation motif to explain the relationship between the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere and global temperature. A data storytelling master at work!
2. Hans Rosling The best stats you’ve ever seen
Hans Rosling’s TED Talks use interactive data visualisation to transform complex global health and development statistics into engaging, understandable narratives. An engaging and energetic data storytelling performance.
3. The New York Times’ The Upshot
Data storytelling has become increasingly important to journalism. This section of the newspaper, edited by renowned data editor Amanda Cox, combines data-driven reporting with storytelling to explain political, economic, and social trends in a relatable way.
4. Google’s Year in Search
Each year, Google releases a video that uses search trends and data to tell the story of the past year’s significant events, capturing the collective sentiment and curiosity. A data storytelling video that uses visuals to bring the data to life.
5. Financial Times’ Telling stories through data
This article explains how the FT’s data journalists make their stories accessible and help their readers to understand complex topics through effective data presentations.Data storytelling has become a key skill in the modern newsroom.
In these examples, data storytelling combines well-designed visualizations, compelling narratives, and relatable contexts to communicate insights effectively to a broader audience.
What are the elements of good data storytelling?
The elements of data storytelling include:
- Data: The foundation of the story, comprising facts, figures, and statistics.
- Context: Background information that helps the audience understand the significance of the data and its relevance.
- Narrative: A structured and engaging storyline that frames the data, building intrigue and context.
- Characters: The individuals or groups affected by the data, making the story relatable and human-focused.
- Visualisations: Charts, graphs, and diagrams that visually represent the data, aiding comprehension.
- Call to Action: Encouraging the audience to take specific actions based on the data-driven insights.
Combining these elements crafts a compelling data story that effectively communicates insights and influences the audience’s understanding and decisions.
Bespoke Communications operate across the UK and Ireland and have worked with thousands of presenters across the UK and Ireland to help them to win business, influence stakeholders and build confidence for presentations, TED Talks, TV appearances, webinars, meetings and job interviews. Check out our blog for inspiration!
