Data Storytelling - How To Effectively Tell A Story With Data

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Data Storytelling – How To Effectively Tell A Story With Data

17 May 2022
- admin
- Leadership & Management
Big Data

“The skill of data storytelling is removing the noise and focusing
people’s attention on the key insights.“

~ Brent Dykes

There is a massive volume of data being generated across the globe in all spheres of daily life. This data is being harvested as we speak in the form of log files, web servers, transactional data, customer-related data, and social media sites. With the evolution of computing technology and telecom, this data is being continually collected and stored. With businesses becoming focussed in their strategy, organizations are using this data to make impactful decisions and derive value based on past behaviour. Taking a cue from past behaviour has now become a whole new field that is creating ripples in the business world. In fact data is being used in all spheres of life and finds application in spheres like – banking, education, transportation, medicine, construction etc., for decision making.

Organizations are using this generated data to derive value and make impactful business decisions. Analytics, thus, refers to the process of exploring and analyzing large datasets in an effort to derive insights and make decisions fast and accurate. Informed decision making has the potential to lead the way in all spheres of life going forward. This huge volume of data being generated can be gauged from a study by IBM that estimated a volume of 2.5 quintillion bytes of data each day was being generated. There is an exponential growth in professionals across industries, working to make sense of all this data using analytics tools and techniques.

On the other hand, we encounter a situation where making sense of data and its presentation is becoming an intractable issue. When insights are derived from data, it needs a presentation that is easy to understand and goes beyond coding , algorithms, statistics and technology.

The Soft Skills In Data Analytics

Data Analytics as a field has now evolved into subsets where data collection, data analysis and data communication have become specialised areas in their own right. With the evolution of technology, the new generation tools will be able to access and explore data by themselves.

Communication of the insights through compelling storytelling will be the new frontier. For the field to evolve and improve conversion rates, effective communication through Data Storytelling would become key and therein lies the value for the new breed of professionals wanting to make a mark in the area.

It becomes important for the professional delving into Data Analytics to understand that hard skills are useless without these soft skills. Besides analysing data; one needs to know how to communicate the story it tells in a clear, concise and compelling manner – a skill called data storytelling.

What Is Data Storytelling?

Data storytelling is commonly misinterpreted as effective visualization of data. However, Data storytelling goes a step beyond and encompasses a combination of data analysis, narrative AND data visualization.
1. Data – The data provides key tangible support to the narrative. A proper analysis using descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive analysis methods and tools can establish the context in the interpretation of the narrative.
2. Building A Narrative – This is especially important to help the audience to understand the storyteller’s point by filtering information into informative insights. The narrative, also known as storyline, may be verbal or written. It is a key driving element that communicates the insights, context, and action points. The linearity of storytelling is hugely dependent on the narrative.
3. Enlightening Visuals – Visual representations of data are helpful to communicate and educate the audience. Visualization of data can be through the use of visual means like charts, graphs, diagrams, pictures etc. Visual presentation of multiple data points helps the audience to appreciate the story teller’s viewpoint.
Effective Data Storytelling

Though there is no defined path of an effective data story, there are some key parameters that the storyteller could keep in mind while constructing one.
- Understanding the Audience – It is important to understand the expectations, profile and knowledge levels of the audience. Aligning the analysis to the KPIs and developing the story with the audience in mind can lead to a effective story.
- Aligning Story and Visuals – Choice of visuals is important for communication to the audience. The best way is for the dashboard to answer contextual questions. Similarly, each chosen visual should also be aligned to the question. A visual linearity and a cascading approach is key for organization and placement of visuals.
- Structuring the Narrative Logic – The narrative should follow a logical pattern that aligns with the vision and problem statement of the organization. Targeting business aspects should be the ultimate aim and should be done without digressing from the business domain.
- Contextual Reinforcement – a story without contextual understanding is essentially of no use. Describing the background and reinforcing the context keeps the audience interested in the storyteller’s point of view. A clear explanation to the user through a proper introduction, simplistic facilitation, structured flow and comments on the results can have a better impact on the audience.
- Simplicity – Information to be communicated should be simple and lucid and easy for the users to understand. Manipulation of data should be minimized and the users should be able to interact with the storyteller based on the data presented.
Conclusion

Applying analytical techniques to managerial problems requires both art and science. It is critically important to master the soft skills to become a data-driven professional. One of the key requirements to be a good storyteller is the practice of Design Thinking. Taking an effective story forward requires prioritizing the audience’s needs. The way forward is to think strategically and be empathetic with the audience. That would help define broadly accomplishment goals and an approach that is ideated, prototyped and tested.

SOIL Institute of Management offers the two year PGDM MBA in Business Design for freshers and graduates with upto 5 years of early career experience. This course goes beyond the traditional MBA and provides students an opportunity to pursue a multidisciplinary approach to traditional management using Design Thinking and Liberal Arts. As a part of the electives for specialization, the course offers a pathway in Analytics to expose the student to the latest tools in Business Analytics. The SOIL MBA Analytics teaches students about data storytelling through a host of modules such as Data Mining and Predictive analysis, Business Forecasting, Data Visualization etc. It also exposes the students to the application of analytics in functional areas like HR, Marketing and Fintech.

For professionals with 2+ years of experience, SOIL Institute of Management offers the one year MBA PGPM. This course also looks to impart knowledge on Analytics in its foundation courses. For students wanting to specialize in the area and learn about Data Storytelling, the specialization tracks offered in the second term have a slew of modules like Data Exploration and Visualization Tools and other business analytics tools. The third term focuses on advanced and integrated learning for students in the industry practice of analytics besides a slew of other modules. Courses like “Marketing Analytics” and “Analytics in Industry” are directed to professionals looking to pursue a career in Analytics.

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