![]() ![]() This subtle but important difference pays dividends for data storytellers in a few key ways: People hear statistics, but they feel stories. However, when someone is absorbed in a story, they discovered it stimulated more areas of the brain. When neuroscientists observed the effects detailed information had on an audience, brain scans revealed it only activated two areas of the brain associated with language processing: Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area. When you package up your insights as a data story, you build a bridge for your data to the influential, emotional side of the brain. Emotion actually plays an essential role in helping our brains to navigate the alternatives and arrive at a timely decision. ![]() Interestingly, these patients’ decision-making skills were significantly impaired by the lack of emotional judgment. Deciding on where to eat or when to schedule an appointment turned into lengthy cost-benefit debates for these individuals. USC professor Antonio Damasio found patients, who had brain damage in an area that helped to process emotions (prefrontal cortex), struggled to make basic decisions when choosing between alternatives. In fact, neuroscientists have confirmed decisions are often based on emotion, not logic. Unfortunately, this point of view is based on the flawed assumption that business decisions are based solely on logic and reason. ![]() They may believe the revealed insights alone should influence the right decisions and drive their audience to act. They may feel the insights or facts should be sufficient to stand on their own as long as they’re reported in a clear manner. Throughout time, storytelling has proven to be a powerful delivery mechanism for sharing insights and ideas in a way that is memorable, persuasive, and engaging.įor some people, crafting a story around the data may seem like an unnecessary, time-consuming effort. Modern-day storytelling is often associated with the popular TED conference series and its slogan of “Ideas Worth Spreading.” Analysis of the most popular 500 TED Talk presentations found that stories made up at least 65% of their content. Stories play a vibrant role in our daily lives-from the entertainment we consume to the experiences we share with others to what we conjure up in our dreams. Even in our digital age, stories continue to appeal to us just as much as they did to our ancient ancestors. Data storytelling is a structured approach for communicating data insights, and it involves a combination of three key elements: data, visuals, and narrative.įor thousands of years, storytelling has been an integral part of our humanity. Too often data storytelling is interpreted as just visualizing data effectively, however, it is much more than just creating visually-appealing data charts. The phrase “data storytelling” has been associated with many things-data visualizations, infographics, dashboards, data presentations, and so on. They rely on you to give them a clear and convincing voice.” Any insight worth sharing is probably best shared as a data story. If an insight isn’t understood and isn’t compelling, no one will act on it and no change will occur.ĭata visualization expert Stephen Few said, “Numbers have an important story to tell. However, unless we can improve the communication of these insights we will also see a poorer insight-to-value conversion rate. As a result, we’re going to see an unprecedented number of insights being generated within companies than ever before. This new breed of data tools will make it easier for people across business functions to access and explore the data on their own. With the shift towards more self-service capabilities in analytics and business intelligence, the pool of people generating insights will expand beyond just analysts and data scientists. The need for more data storytellers is only going to increase in the future. All the trials and triumphs of building a business – delivered to your inbox. ![]()
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