Data Storytelling

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Your guide to becoming a more effective data storyteller — delivering data
insights in a way that anyone can understand and act on.

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 Table of
Contents
5 Introduction

6 How to Tell A Compelling Data Story

8 Spreading Facts, Not Fear! How Data Storytelling Helps Us

Understand COVID

10 The Future of Work: Applying Artificial Intelligence to Your Data

Leads to a Culture of Openness & Empowerment

12 Telling Your Data Story with the 3Vs: Vocabulary, Voice, & Vision

14 The Science of Video & the Metrics That Matter

16 Sustaining a Data Culture with a Distributed Team

20 Promoting & Governing BI Tools in your Organization

24 What Disney Can Teach Us About Data Storytelling

28 Language and The Machine: Words vs Meaning

30 How To Tell A Story

32 Differentiate Yourself as a Data Analyst: The Story-First

Approach to Better Dashboards

36 Maximizing the Impact of Your Data

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 Amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, many tradeshows and
events were canceled. We wanted to do our part and continue to
cultivate education for our friends, customers, and partners.

Thus the Data Storytelling Virtual Summit was born.

2 DAYS Data storytelling is the fastest and easiest way to empower your
team to both understand and act on data through the power of stories.
Data storytelling software takes your data, analyzes it, and turns it into
plain-English stories. Then, those stories are sent to you in a newsfeed-
style experience that ensures you get the information you need to run
your business at all times.
Awhile back, we held a virtual event for analytics leaders and Revenue
Operations teams. It was two days, jam packed with 18 different
speakers, all aiming to bring innovators and analytics leaders together

18 SPEAKERS
for an event focused on all things data storytelling.
The Data Storytelling Virtual Summit gave attendees the opportunity
to learn about industry trends, share input, and build relationships
with their peers virtually. They learned how to become effective data
storytellers by taking their data and turning it into insights in a way that
anyone can understand.
We found the sessions so inspiring we decided to turn them into an
ebook. And voila, here it is. The chapters in this book cover things from
how to tell a better story to what the future of work will look like to how
to distinguish yourself as an analyst.

3,500+ ATTENDEES

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 Most people use data in their jobs but not Then there should be intuitive visuals. Aim
everyone knows how to communicate and present to create quick cognitive insights with your
their insights clearly. Knowing how to tell a data visuals. Utilize color to draw attention to what
story is critical to ensure people will take action on is important. Color choice should be purposeful
your findings. Why a story? Our brains are wired to and draw the eye to important areas. Allow for
be drawn in and connect to stories. So people will flexibility in your story; be prepared for additional
remember and take action from them. questions based on what you present. You must
However, there are a couple challenges when it be able to stick and twist until the most useful
comes to creating these stories: story is being presented. Simplify and eliminate
distractions within your story. You should allow
• Identifying executive priorities is difficult. the audience to focus on what matters and
How do you know what is most important? eliminate unnecessary distractions like borders or
• Clear visualizations are an art. How do you images. Never underestimate the power of concise
design the right stories? and clear text to propel a story, this is pivotal
• Telling an effective data story is essential. to getting the insights across. Optimize for the
How do you deliver the insights? stories for sharing. You should understand how
the story will be used after the presentation. Do
There are three tools Zack recommends to they need it on mobile? Do they want to email it?
transform confusing data into stories that create

How To Tell
clarity and inspire action. 3. The Story
Deliver the insights
1. The Blueprint

A Compelling
The first 30 seconds of your story matter the
Find the right data stories most. Studies show we gain or lose the audience
in the first 30 seconds, you must do something
Ask yourself the following questions before to grab their attention! Once you have their

Data Story even beginning the story. What questions will be

answered by my story? What actions will be taken
as a result of my story? What results are expected
attention, you have to be able to keep it. Bring
emotion + passion, show the group why you are
interested in this data story, your passion will
by the reader? spread into the room. Finally, practice! Presenting
with Zack Mazzoncini
and delivering compelling data stories is hard,
2. The Canvas practice will alleviate those nerves and result in a
Zack Mazzoncini is the Founder of Data Story Academy and a Co-Founder of Seattle- better delivery.
Design the right data stories
based data and analytics firm Decisive Data. Over the years Zack has helped hundreds of Following this three-step process will aid anyone
organizations and individuals develop data-driven cultures centered around data storytelling. First, you need a purposeful layout to your in becoming a better data storyteller. The instinct
Zack graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in communications, to be a storyteller is inside of all of us already. It
story. You should follow the intuitive path and ask
rhetoric, and public speaking. He is considered one of the most entertaining and informative is time to take those inherent skills and combine
speakers in the analytics industry. His audiences are inspired to find the most important yourself where do the eyes lead naturally.
them with the data that is driving our world today.
stories in their data and lean into their creativity.

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 Data storytelling is not just for understanding know which stories are reliable. You can always
business data. It can affect how we understand the take numbers and kind of either fudge them or spin
whole world. Our lives are full of data, every time them, there’s always an excuse or a story behind
we go to the grocery store we do data analysis to something. With stories from data, that doesn’t
price compare. Some data is easy to understand exist. The story is kind of the neutral arbiter.
and act on, other times it can be extremely There is a wealth of information circulating
difficult. around the internet about Coronavirus and the
Coronavirus data is an extremely relevant toll it is taking on the world. However, it is hard to
example of heavy data. There is simply so much always find up to date and non-editorialized data.
data that it is impossible for humans to understand New information about the virus and its spread is
alone. It can be hard to even know where to start. coming out frequently and it can be hard to know
Do you want to look at the bend or flattening of the where to look to stay informed. We provide a data
curve, or the numbers of beds available or the John story based solely on the facts, and with no agenda.
Hopkins live map? Our corporate mission is to get people to use data
Data storytelling can help take this dense every day in a way that makes sense for them. That
information and make it understandable and is what we are trying to do with our Coronavirus
manageable to readers. It makes data consumption dashboards. They update every day so there
easier by providing easy to read stories with the is always fresh data for people to use to make
important information up front. informed and confident decisions.
Data storytelling can also help ensure the data

Spreading Facts, you are reading is not being skewed or given an

angle. Our perception of data is easily changed by

Not Fear! How Data the way it is presented to us. Design choices affect
much of what we infer from visualizations. Colors,

Storytelling Helps Us
shapes or sizes can change the apparent meaning
of the data.
This is an uncomfortable truth as we attempt
Understand COVID to gain on objective understanding of data that is
critical to our survival and our daily lives. It can
make people even more uncomfortable withdata,
with Dan Platt making them feel like they’re being duped. We
believe that the data we receive should be objective
so that the narrative can be determined by each
Dan Platt is the Senior Principal of Market Innovation at Narrative Science, which creates individual for themselves.
software that writes stories from data to drive understanding and results. He is the leader of At Narrative Science we believe in the power of
Narrative Science’s Data Storytelling for Good initiative, which aims to drive positive social storytelling and that stories allow us to connect
outcomes with the company’s technology and products. Since joining Narrative Science in
with information on a higher level. However, most
2010, he has served in a variety of roles including product management, professional services
and customer education. of the stories surrounding COVID-19 are filled
with masses of data which is not always easy to
understand. It can also be incredibly difficult to

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 The way we work is changing and is going to Think of when you mark an email as spam, the
continue to see significant changes for a significant machine learning system behind your email uses that
time to come. These changes come from a multitude data to predict other emails that are spam. The more
of places, one of the largest being advancements you mark as spam, the more accurate the machine
in technology. Many people have theories, and gut will get.
reactions, when they think about how technology Deep learning is the most specific level of AI
will change the way we work. They think of currently and it is also the one that sounds the
jobs being obsolete and mass unemployment. I most scary and frightens people the most. Deep
understand these fears, but I have a very different learning is a computer system modeled like a human
perspective. brain. It is good for things we do unconsciously,
What is the workplace going to look like in like recognizing faces and simple speech. Siri
the future? It is going to be an environment and Alexa use deep learning models to speak to
characterized by creativity, openness and us in a way we recognize as human. The problem
empowerment of workers. Employees will with deep learning is that neither the computer
have infinitely more time to spend on tasks and nor the developers can explain *why* it made a
projects they are passionate about. Brainstorming, decision. This is fine for some scenarios, but really
collaboration and creativity will abound in the new problematic in others. We’ve already seen deep
workplace. learning job application systems that can’t justify
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the way toward a why a particular applicant was accepted or rejected.
workplace environment like the one I just described. Now, back to how these systems will change the
AI is uniquely situated to free up our time so we can way we work. The main change is that we will no

The Future of Work: focus on big picture tasks. Many of our repetitive
tasks and menial work, which we often hate doing,
longer have to go to machines and work with what
they give us and what they are capable of. Machines

Applying AI to Your Data can be done by machines.

There have been intense advances in technology and
are now becoming capable of understanding and
predicting what we need, when we need it. We are

Leads to a Culture of AI specifically in recent years. Machines are learning

how to learn, they are becoming more advanced
not adapting to them, they are adapting to us.
As I said before, it is not a question of if our menial
in human communication and in empathy toward tasks will be automated, it is a question of when.
Openness & Empowerment humans. Let’s back up and talk about what AI is Without the time we spend on these tasks, we are
specifically. left with time to do exploratory and creative work.
AI, machine learning and deep learning are three We can be collaborative and discovery. To quote Hal
with Nate Nichols terms that are often used interchangeably to mean Varian, “Automation typically does not eliminate
similar things. There are important distinctions entire job categories, but it eliminates the dull,
between the three however. AI is the overarching tedious, repetitive tasks that go into making up that
category which encompases the other two concepts. job.”
Nathan Nichols received his Ph.D. from the Intelligent Information Laboratory at Northwestern When a machine or computer does something that The world of work fortified by advancements in
University in 2010. His research focused on “machine-generated content”, hyper-personalized a human could do themselves, that is AI. This could technology is going to turn every one of us workers
stories and content created automatically for an audience of one. Since then he has worked be anything from research to the computer you play into something like Iron Man. An individual, using
at Narrative Science, building early versions of our authoring engine as a Principal Engineer against in video games. his own morals, experiences and thoughts to guide
before moving into a Product Architect role.
Machine learning is the next level more specific. the actions of superior technology that allow him to
Machine learning is when a system gets better at its be a superhero.
job the more data it gets and the more it “practices.”
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 Data is unruly. It is unruly, complex, difficult, derive meaning from the story. The characters in
unstructured and big. It can be a beast all of its the story come from the data management side of
own. We can’t live without it though. So how can data storytelling.
we make this beast manageable for the everyday
worker? How can we make it so that the data isn’t Data
overwhelming? • Data management
We have to figure out a way to calm down our • About the data
data. We also have to figure out how to calm down • Determine truth
the people who need to use the data. The way to do • Horizontal orientation
this is through a comprehensive data management
program. So what is your data management story? Analytics
Let’s start by talking about how we talk about
• Business intelligence
data. How do we describe data? How do we explain
• With the data
how we use data? How do we describe why our
• Derive meaning
data is important?
• Vertical orientation
What we put into our data is what we get out of
it. Just like we have to feed our body good food to
The ideal narrative in a data story has a balance
get good outputs, we have to put good data in to
of sizzle and steak in the story. This also means a
get good analytics. There is simply no such thing
balance between the why and the how within the
as good analytics with bad data. This is where data
Telling Your Data management comes into play. Data management
ensures that you are only working with good data
story. You need to be telling a compelling story
which is also technically accurate and true.

Story with the all the time. GI GO.

Data management has a golden rule just like the
one we learned in kindergarten. Do unto your data
3 Vs of Data Storytelling

3Vs: Vocabulary, as you would have it to unto you. That is exactly

what will always happen. Your analytics and
The three Vs of data storytelling help to create
an accessible data story for any audience. The 3 Vs
actions can only be as good as the data you fed it.
Voice & Vision What you put in is what you get out. An acronym
to remember this is “GI GO.” This stands for
are vocabulary, voice and vision. Vocabulary helps
to establish common definitions and terms for the
story. Voice is about creating a common tone and
“garbage in, garbage out.”
writing style within the story. Vision illuminates
with Scott Taylor the needs, problems and desired outcomes of the
Two Types of Data Storytelling
business which will come from the story.

Scott Taylor is “The Data Whisperer.” He has spent over two decades solving master data The two types of data storytelling are data driven
challenges with large global enterprises as well as guiding Tech Brand owners to leverage stories and analytics driven stories. Data driven
their reference data and taxonomy assets. In a variety of strategic marketing, GTM, stories typically fall into the category of data
innovation and consulting roles, he has worked with some of the world’s most iconic business management while analytics based stories tend to
data brands including Dun & Bradstreet, Nielsen, Microsoft, Kantar, NPD as well as start-ups be in the business intelligence category. You must
such as Qoints and Spiceworks.
determine the truth of the story before you can

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 Do you come across better in person? I can There are measurable outcomes and a new metric
answer that for you, yes you do. We are all that is specific to video. The traditional measurable
better face to face. It is a more natural way of outcomes are open rate, click-through-rate, email
communicating, it is better for you to get your reply rate, interaction levels and many more.
message across, and more comfortable for the Outcomes that I have seen and measured show
person you are communicating with. The best that video has an incredible impact on outreach.
way to leverage these facts, add videos to your Some examples are: 56% increase in cold email
marketing and sales outreach. reply, 24% more appointments set and held, 68%
Face to face communication is increasingly higher close rates and 90% of people who tried
rare in our remote and digital worlds. It shouldn’t using videos cited a greater ability to stay in touch
be. Face to face communication leads to better effectively.
communication across the board. The addition of The new metric which relates specifically to
nonverbal cues, emotion, tone and pace make for video is a metric called “face to face time.” This
an entirely different experience for the recipient. It metric is a precursor to the more measurable
also allows for genuine human connection, which metrics. You cannot achieve the metrics above
you can’t get from an email. if people do not experience you face to face. The
There is also a link between video implication of this face to face metric is that people
communication and higher conversion. This does are engaged more with your content. You have
not just mean sales conversion. There are many shared emotion with the viewer and they often

The Science of micro yesses that are needed to lead up to higher

level conversion. You need people to say “yes I will
open this email, yes I will take a survey.” Basically
perceive you with some authority.
Adding videos to your cold outreach specifically
sees huge benefits. The addition of videos makes

Video and the any type of interaction is a micro yes that will lead
to conversion down the road.
These are not just messages, there are
your cold outreach much warmer. It adds a level
of social reciprocity for your audience. Once they
have seen your face and heard your voice they feel

Metrics That relationships on the other side of every interaction.

Humans have been speaking face to face for 150
thousand years. We have only had a phonetic
more obligated to respond to your emails.
Your people are your most valuable asset, don’t
forget to leverage them, their faces and their

Matters Most written language for 5,000 years. That is 300x

more experience of talking face to face than any
other type of communication. There is no reason
voices. Let people get to know you, your employees
and your company. Get up close and personal.

with Ethan Beute to abandon that history.

The type of video I am referring to is not zoom
videos or highly produced marketing videos.
Chief Evangelist at BombBomb, bestselling co-author of Rehumanize Your Business, and The optimal type of video to send out is an
host of The Customer Experience Podcast, Ethan has collected and told personal video imperfect, casual video of yourself talking directly
success stories in a variety of formats over the past decade. He’s sent more than 10,000
to your audience. It can be shot on an iphone or
videos himself. Prior to joining BombBomb, he spent a dozen years leading marketing
teams inside local television stations in Chicago, Grand Rapids, and Colorado Springs. He laptop. They should be made with asynchronous
holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Michigan and UCCS in communication in mind.
communication, psychology, and marketing. He lives in Colorado Springs with his wife There are many ways to measure the
and son. effectiveness of including videos in your outreach.

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 In today’s business we see a new type of data And yet ... people don’t trust data. They trust other
analyst emerging, quite different from the analysts people. They trust those who provide them with
I knew when I started working with data 30 years information, those who audit and govern the
ago. This new analyst is diverse, creative and data, those who analyze and visualize and report.
engaged, evolving their role with the developing Conversation matter, in part, because talking
culture of data and data analytics. through the issues improves the trust levels of
Analytics today is both a creative task and everyone in the data supply chain.
a technical one. The new analyst follows suit, We need to start thinking about data on an
having high levels of technical knowledge but organizational level rather than an individual
also creativity and innovation in the way they level. Analytics is not just a personal skill, it’s an
leverage their data and how they communicate organizational skill: indeed how we do analytics
their findings. And in some ways, the role of data represents a critical component of our corporate
analyst feels more informal now. They may not culture. Having one great analyst may prove
even have the job title, being just the individual merely incidental if the rest of the organization
who loves data and can make good use of it has no way to use their output.
wherever they sit in the organization. Instead of the individual analyst, build a
Today, four characteristics distinguish the best community of practice, where different aspects of
data analysts: they have skills, tools, access and our skills and commitment come together. For a
ownership. The skills are the hard skills of working true community, we need these four elements:
with data, but today that expertise may be learned
on the job informally as much as formally. Analysts Craft
Sustaining a Data have the tools to work with data, sometimes
provisioned by IT, but often tools of choice, which Craft is simply your work in hand, whatever you

Culture with a
they personally prefer to work with. They also have do: your specific area of specialization. We all have
access, not only to data, but to people, a network of our craft, whether we are analysts, accountants or
leaders, specialists and other data folks who both administrators. A community of practice, such as

Distributed Team provide a demand and recognition for analytics.

Finally, analysts have ownership. They understand
their responsibility for the data, they often initiate
a visualization community, grows upon around a
shared craft.

their projects and they own the results that come Elaboration
with Donald Farmer out of them.
This ownership becomes more complicated Elaboration is a commitment to excellence in our
when you work in a distributed team, with shared craft: to do things better beyond the bare
different channels of communication. Instead minimum. This helps push a community forward:
Donald Farmer is an internationally respected speaker and writer with over 30 years of of the chat around the watercooler, all the urge of people always wanting to be better.
experience in data management and analytics. He advises investors, software vendors, and communication feels a bit more formal, but still
enterprises on data and analytics strategy. In addition to working with startups, Donald led needs to happen. This is especially true when we Belonging
teams at Microsoft and Qlik, building some of the most important and innovative analytics come to conversations about data. Such exchanges
platforms on the market. are critical to our work, because more than the Belonging is having a commitment to the
data itself, informed conversations will make a organization, the craft and those around you.
difference. Belonging doesn’t come from your place in the

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 participation and commitment. If you are active
and committed, you belong to the community,
regardless of organizational boundaries. For those
assigned to a role, but not committed, you may be
in the user group, but you’ll not find yourself at the
heart of the community.

Sharing

“We need to start

Sharing is a critical element, but often
overlooked. Communities share: materials,
resources, learning and insights. In the community
of practice, sharing helps us grow by leaning on
each other. thinking about data on
an organizational level
rather than an individual
level. Analytics is not just
a personal skill, it’s an
organizational skill.”
Donald Farmer
Speaker/Writer/Principal at TreeHive Strategy

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 BI tool adoption is critical for any organization. is what leads to successful BI programs later on.
That is not news at this point. Nearly every “Where are we now with reporting?” “Where
company is using some form of BI tools with do we want to be?” “Who uses reporting today?”
a regular cadence. The new hurdles for an “Who could benefit but isn’t a current user?”
organization after implementation is the These are all good fundamental questions to ask
promotion and governing of their chosen BI tools. yourself and others in your organization to get a
The way I go about addressing this hurdle is baseline feel for the culture of reporting in your
by using a very simple BI framework model. This organization.
model helps companies do a status check on
the use of BI in their organization currently and Roadmaps
determine any weak spots they may have. It also
provides a roadmap for making their usage and Creating roadmaps is about generating good
adoption of BI simple and comprehensive. systems and trust in your systems. One important
Before I get into detail about the framework item to note here is, again, documentation.
model, I have one other tip for BI adoption. Always Documentation allows you to have a well oiled BI
start with a maturity model. No matter where machine. To have a complex while usable system,
you are in the process, take the time to do one, everything needs to have a distinct purpose. Every
even if you have been using BI for years. Using a form and report should be unique. It should have a
maturity statement ensures a few key things but clear purpose and a clear audience. Documenting
the key is extensive documentation. The statement the purpose and uses of reports means down the
will include measurable goals for the project and line people won’t be questioning the purpose of

Promoting & identify the metrics that matter. It will also lay out
what the roles and responsibilities are for those
different reports.
This purpose driven mindset also applies to

Governing BI Tools
interacting with the BI. individuals within the BI system. Every person
should have a clear understanding of what is
Now for the framework, the components are: happening, what the goals are and what their roles

in your Organization •
•
Components of an adoption strategy
Roadmaps for departments and teams
are. This goes for anyone in the organization who
may come in contact with BI systems. This allows
for smooth communication, action and trust that
• Governance and standardization the system works as it needs to.
with Tommy Puglia • Rollout and support strategies
Governance
Let’s go in depth on each of these steps one by one.
Governance is the biggest hurdle to overcome in
Tommy Puglia is passionate about Power BI & how Data Analysis can impact decisions. Using Adoption Strategy the process. If your organization loses trust in the
Power BI since it was known as “Power BI Designer”, he is a Microsoft MVP and consumes data, there is no easy way to gain the trust back. It
whatever he can to constantly learn and apply BI for Marketing & Sales. He is also a leader of This step begins with the discovery and can be fatal to the BI adoption process. One way
the Chicago Power BI User Group. He is also MCSA certified in BI Reporting by Microsoft. feedback process. This can be for a new system or to avoid this is to build a team of data champions.
for evaluating a current system. Questions are the This is a crossfunction team of people who like
name of the game in this phase. Asking questions and trust data. They will instill confidence in those
and building your BI strategy around key answers on their native teams. Trust comes from people

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 and data champions earn that trust. The higher up This would be a place to document common terms,
the org chart you can find these data champions, phrases and metrics that not everyone might
the better. be familiar with when using dashboards and BI
Internal team governance is also a critical visualizations.
component to success. There needs to be clear Try to get people excited with you about
answers and structures set up so the operation your systems. You should be excited about the
runs smoothly. There needs to be clarity around BI system you are rolling out, try to get your
the structure of files and storage of data. Make you coworkers excited too. Show them how they

“Prove that the BI team

KPIs widely known as well as who is in charge of can be empowered by the data they will soon
them. Finally, have a plan for how your BI team will have access to. Prove that the BI team will be a
adjust to change, which happens quite often in this center of excellence within the company, then set
space.

Rollout and Support

up a center of excellence where people can ask
questions and make requests. will be a center of
Rollout and support can be one of the most
important steps in the framework. This step
excellence within the
comes down to education and training of others
in the organization. Create a data dictionary to go company, then set up
along with reports and dashboards.

a center of excellence
where people can ask
questions and make
requests.”
Tommy Puglia
Microsoft Data MVP & Senior Manager BI
at CompTIA

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 When The Avengers movie came out, it raised We also need to be honest when it comes to
8 billion in the box office. When The Justice the characters in our data stories. We need to
League premiered, it only grossed 660 million. articulate the strengths, and more importantly, the
The Avengers had sequel after sequel and prequel weaknesses of our data. It does no one any good
after prequel made. Justice League fell off after to hide the faults in the data. Be upfront about
one movie. Why do the Avengers movies outsell the limitations of the data. The questions the data
and outperform the Justice League series in every can’t answer are just as important as the questions
category? it can answer.
The answer is the story behind the films.
The MCU (Avengers) characters had character Character Arcs
arcs. They were flawed and multidimensional
characters. People could relate to them, they were Every character in an Avengers movie has a
well-rounded characters. The Justice League distinct character arc. This covers where they
had characters who were only heroes in name. come from, who they are, and where they will go
We knew who they were, but they didn’t have after the movie. The same goes for our data.
a backstory or personalization. People couldn’t
resonate with them. Phase 1: Leading Indicators
Believe it or not, the same concepts are valid for In this step, we have to determine what led up
data stories and data analytics. Data will be called to both you, the analyst, asking for this specific
on in meetings to solve problems the data, and what happened in the data leading up to
same way superheroes are called on to save the the particular numbers you pulled. This requires

What Disney Can city. If there is too much going on in your data or
data presentations, it can cause sensory overload.
high familiarity with your metrics and an intense
understanding of how they all work together.

Teach Us About
You can lose your audience, just like the Justice
League. Phase 2: Transformation
Instead, we want to approach our data like Here our story becomes more complicated.

Data Storytelling the creators of the Marvel movies approached

their characters. We want to have clearly defined
characters, character arcs, and time to develop.
The more we tell our story, the more complex
and refined our data will become. We don’t focus
on just one singular metric or KPI in this phase.
We expand on our knowledge of the numbers
with Chris Wagner Clear Characters with Flaws and metrics and build out the story around our
metrics. This is where the details of the story are
We have to gradually and clearly define our discovered and pulled together.
data, including metrics, targets, and general
Chris Wagner is the founder of Kratos BI. Analytics Architect at Rockwell Automation & terminology. Additionally, we need to make sure Phase 3: Anticipation of trailing indicators
Microsoft Power BI MVP. He has experience in a wide variety of business applications and our audience is familiar with the most important In phase three, we determine what our data
business processes with an emphasis on insurance, banking, risk, finance, marketing and things for them. will do after this exact moment in time. Data
driving ROI through utilization of Agile Development best practices. This means we cannot introduce all of our data will always change and progress. This is where
at once. We should start with a simple overview we must predict what comes next in our story.
and then build to the complexity needed to answer Additionally, you must determine what the result
the questions. or outcome of your work will be. You found the

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 story in the data, now what? Where does it go
from here?

Time to Develop

Finally, we have to give our data time to create.

When new initiatives or projects begin, it is
essential to monitor the data over time. See how
it changes, reacts, and adapts to changes in your
business and in the world. No character has their
full story told in one day, neither does your data.
Every analyst knows it is essential to look at your
data over time. Now the task is to articulate this to
others and get them to have a watchful eye on the
“Be upfront about the
story’s progression over time. Don’t forget about
the sequel of your data story. limitations of the data.
The questions the data
can’t answer are just
as important as the
questions it can answer.”
Chris Wagner
Founder of Kratos BI

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 Machines are our new partners, personally breaks from pattern do not fit the mold.
and professionally. Machines control immense Machines and humans solve problems in very
amounts of data and need to be able to tell us similar ways. We follow the same process:
about what they find within their data. The name
of the game now is bridging the gap between • Take data
what machines know and what we need it to • Analyze it and then
understand. But how? First we need to understand • Figure out the facts
the basics of how we communicate with machines • Make inferences,
and how they communicate with us. • Create conceptual outlines
The difference between how we communicate
and how machines communicate is rooted in Where machines and humans differ is the
truths and deltas. When humans communicate creation of narratives based on the inferences
we, usually, are communicating the truths that and facts that have been discerned. The next
we have uncovered, whether on purpose or step to bridge the communication gap is to work
accidentally. Machines only speak in terms of facts to humanize machines, so that humans can be
and patterns. If asked what the weather is like, less mechanized. If we achieve this, we can act in
humans can say, ‘it’s a nice day out, a good day ways that are uniquely human and we can free the
to be outside,” because they know human truths. information that is currently trapped within our
Machines can only present the facts, “it is 80 data.
degrees and sunny.” Then you are left to make your
own inferences. Both styles of communication

Language and have their positives and negatives, which is why

combining the two is the optimal solution.
Let’s look closer at the concept of truths in

The Machine: machine versus human communication. Machines

are not designed to tell the truth, even machines
which are designed for language. They are

Words vs Meaning designed to read well and create words. They

do not necessarily say things which are true or
meaningful.
Now let’s explore the concept of deltas.
with Kris Hammond Machines operate on a basis of recognizing
patterns in numbers and data sets. They can then
be programmed to use common phrases to express
what they have found. The problem is things that
Kris is the Chief Scientist at Narrative Science and professor of Computer Science and stay the same are not usually what we talk about.
Journalism at Northwestern University. His areas of research include human-machine It is not usually interesting or consequential.
interaction, context-driven information systems and artificial intelligence.
Machines do not recognize that deltas or
differences are the significant elements within
data. We talk about changes, in weather, traffic,
stock prices, etc. Machines look for patterns and

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 Data runs our lives. It affects nearly every order which is understandable and useful to the
choice we make, whether we are aware of it or reader.
not. The amount of data in the world is growing Another thing of note when modeling questions
exponentially, all the time. The sheer amounts of is the difference between characteristics and
data out there make analysis hard for humans to metrics. Characteristics are not metrics. They can
do. overlap, but are not always the same. “Highest”
Realistically, even a little bit if data is a lot of and “Best” are often the same, whether it is
data for a human to manage alone. It is a lot of sales this quarter, new opportunities or deals
information to take in and can be challenging. closed. They are not always the same however,
Eventually we can get results from this data, either this distinction can be problematic for machine
by hand or by a machine. However, results are not learning. Highest is an objective fact. Best, on
easily understood by everyone, therefore putting the other hand, must be related to a performance
forward another problem. goal and the computer must know the goal and
The solution is data storytelling. Telling results understand the relationship.
of complex analysis through stories and the Finally, a list is not a story. A list generated by a
written word makes data easier for the masses machine does not answer the question of “why.”
to understand. This is becoming a more widely It conveys information and we can understand
accepted concept. People like the idea of having it. However, it lacks the reasoning and depth of a
information relayed as stories. This is not the end story. It only gives us surface level information.
of the journey or the questions though. There are a lot of questions when it comes

How To How to tell a story is a big question when

it comes to data storytelling. It is also a huge
question with many layers and dimensions to it.
One of the biggest elements of how to model a
to data storytelling. As the concept becomes
more widely accepted and sought after for the
workplace. The questions become more technical,
how to tell the story, how to ask the right

Tell A Story
story is determining how to ask the right questions questions, etc. There is still work to be done in
to get insight from our data, which can then be answering these questions but the main thing is to
made into a story. always be thinking about the story at the end.
So, how do we model questions? It starts with
asking other questions. You need to determine
with Larry Birnbaum what the listener or reader needs to know. These
models are based on questions that the listener/
user has asked and the questions that will be asked
down the line. It is typical for more questions to
arise based on answers given, so the models need
Larry Birnbaum is a Co-Founder of Narrative Science and serves as the company’s Chief
to predict those next questions.
Scientific Advisor. He focuses on next-generation architecture, advanced applications and
IP. In addition, Larry is Professor of Computer Science and of Journalism at Northwestern There needs to be a logical and structured series
University, where he also serves as Head of the Computer Science Division. of questions and answers, determined by the
engineer and given to the model/machined. This
series of questions is what makes a data story
coherent. It put the data and the sentences in an

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 We are entering a new era for data analysts. So Give Context
much has changed for analysts over the past few
years. There has been a move toward self service For a lot of people being dropped into the middle
analytics, people are tired of waiting on analysts of a bunch of quantitative data can be disorienting
to get the data they need. The whole process and confusing. It also tends to not give the full
of analytics is becoming a more independent picture. Data alone cannot always paint an
operation. It is a smoother and more seamless accurate picture. Analysts need to leave space
process for individuals to get data and reports for in their dashboards to add notes or information
themselves. that tells the story around the data. Data leads
Data analysts now have the time to add value to organizations, but there is often lots of qualitative
their companies in new ways. They are not tied data that also must be looked at. Don’t be afraid to
down by mundane reporting and analysis. They add that information as well.
can spread their data wings and discover new
things. The move toward AI and machine learning Different Formats for Different Folks
also aids them in this journey. They have time to
spend on pure data science, not maintenance of Be empathetic to your audience and how they
data. They can scale their work and their message. best receive data. They likely aren’t data geniuses
This can also be a challenge for data analysts, so what works for you may not work for them. This
they are free now from their repetitive tasks, is not to say they aren’t passionate about data or
but must find a new niche for themselves in the they don’t know how important it is, they may just
Differentiate Yourself company and in the data world. This also means
they have to prove their value to the company as
need something extra. Putting data into language
is something that is comfortable for everyone. We
as a Data Analyst: they make these changes. They must make the
move to educate the organization on what they do
already use language to communicate everything
else, data should be no different. We already do

The Story-First Approach and the value they add to the organization.
So how do data analysts optimize their roles
so more often than you may realize. Chatbots
and voice assistants are perfect examples of
around these new trends?
to Better Dashboards using language to express data and information.
The world expectation is that with advancing
Start with Decisions technology, communication from machines will
with Keelin McDonell be easier for us than ever before. Nothing is more
A normal day for a data analyst is filled with simple than language.
requests for “show me this data, this number, this
metric.” People are often only asking for a single Order Counts
Keelin McDonell is the former Manager of BI and Integrations at Narrative Science and number or metric. It is up to the data analyst to
presently a Principal Product Manager at Convoy Inc. She believes a dashboard with a story make people step back and look at the bigger Consider the theme of your dashboard when
is simply better than a dashboard without one. Prior to joining Narrative Science in 2011, she picture. Figure out what decisions the person is putting it together. A haphazardly put together
was on the Kindle team at Amazon. Keelin also held editorial roles at The Washington Post and going to try and make with the data. Working dashboard rarely communicates what is actually
The New Republic after earning her BA in English from Columbia University. backwards from there you can determine the best in the data. Your dashboard should tell a story with
metrics or other information to look at. the data. It should flow in a way that makes sense.

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 Order is key to showing how data affects other
data. Cost of materials affects net income but
there is a lot of data in between and it should be
shown in order. Data overload is also a huge risk
with haphazard dashboards. Information comes
at a great cost and you don’t want the insights to
get lost. Paying a little bit of extra attention to the
organization of your dashboard can make a world
of difference.
“Putting data into
language is something
that is comfortable
for everyone. We
already use language
to communicate
everything else, data
should be no different.”
Keelin McDonell
General Manager, SVP, Business Intelligence,
Analytics & Integrations at Narrative Science

34 35
 In my estimation, by 2030, 20% of CEOs will Doing nothing is the easiest option, show them it
have a CDO background. In the past few years the can’t be done.
position of CDO has evolved. The whole world of
data as a business department has changed. In the Tell What the Future Holds
past, analytics and data had been seen as a cost
center. It was critical to business but it did not You should then quickly be able to do trend
have direct value. In recent years, the world of the analysis or forecasting of what the future holds
CDO has become a profit center. based on current metrics. What will the future
The reason is digital transformation. Every hold on our current path? Is that acceptable or
company in recent years has gone through a digital not? What would happen if we change course?
transformation. CDOs have become the leaders of
those movements. Being data led was the only way Prescribe What to Do Next
to have a truly successful digital transformation.
Now the key to success for CDO and data Based on everything you have discovered in your
analysts is telling data stories. More specifically, analysis you should be able to give a few sentences
telling the right data story in a way that is of recommendations of what to do next. Root it in
compelling to the reader. How do we ensure we data but make it punchy and decisive.
are telling not only a good data story, but the right The final and most important thing to remember
data story. is where data gets its value from. Data only has
There are 4 components to telling the right data value if it is driving change and decision making.
story. All of these components should be able to be Only when there is a result, is data valuable. We

Maximizing done in 60 seconds or less, like an elevator pitch

for your story. Obviously you will want a more in
depth story as well, but if you can’t answer these
are not selling data analytics, visualizations or
dashboards. We are selling results. There must
be an outcome for the analytics to have been

the Impact of questions in 60 seconds, you aren’t telling the

right story.
worthwhile. Always keep the results at the front of
your mind.

Your Data Identify What is Good or Bad

Look in the data and determine a baseline

of what the positive and negative trends are.
with Charles Holive Present these as state of the union data points. Be
objective and align to known goals, benchmarks or
objectives.
Managing Director of Data Monetization and Strategy Consulting Business at SiSense.
Charles is a recognized industry thought leader in Data/Insights Monetization, Business Identify the Costs of Inaction
Innovation, Analytics and AI. In the last 10 years, he specialized in creating, scaling and
running new Analytics Business Units generating tens of millions of incremental yearly Your data story should have a purpose, an action
revenue streams. plan as a result, something that needs to be done.
Use this time to show organization leaders the
negative results of not taking action.

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 Learn more about the future of data analytics at
narrativescience.com/data-storytelling
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