By Brendan Morgan, TransPro Project Manager
The professional world is filled with technically skilled individuals fluent in complex jargon and methodologies—but how effectively can they communicate those insights to people outside their immediate field? On a daily basis, new technical solutions and generative AIs are released to reduce technical barriers and fast-track our ability to gather and analyze information. While these tools are still in their early stages and far from perfect, their disruptive impact is already clear.
More and more individuals will have access to troves of information with the click of a button, but a fundamental challenge remains: Why is this data important, and how do we convince others of its value? It’s easy to think that once we gather sources and crunch numbers, the work will speak for itself. However, this misses the final, crucial piece of the equation: telling the data story to the audience.
The Battle for Attention
Telling compelling data stories is more challenging than ever due to the endless stream of distractions—social media, work emails, texts from family and friends—all vying for attention from a device in every pocket. Presenters not only have to grab the audience’s attention but must also hold onto it as everything tries to pull their focus away.
To successfully capture and maintain an audience’s attention, one must tell a compelling story with their data. When telling a data story, the audience must understand:
- What is being shared with them – The key facts and findings presented in a clear, accessible format
- Why this information is important – The relevance and implications for their specific context or industry
- How they can use it for their own purposes – Actionable insights that empower decision-making
Finding the Perfect Balance
While this concept may seem straightforward, presenters must accomplish these points as quickly and simply as possible. Otherwise, the audience will redirect their time to the other attention seekers in their life.
A key component of telling data stories is building effective data visuals. When creating these visuals, ask yourself: Can an audience member read and interpret this information within 10 seconds? If you include too much content, the take-away becomes difficult to find, and readers will move on. Conversely, if you assume the audience knows nothing and design your story accordingly, it risks becoming shallow with no meaningful take-aways.
Thus, a balance must be struck to efficiently and effectively tell the data story. Consider a quarterly sales report presentation: Rather than showing every market fluctuation, highlight the three key trends that executives need to understand, with visuals that immediately communicate both the pattern and its significance.
Resources for Better Data Storytelling
Fortunately, many experts have focused their research on how to strike this balance. For those interested in telling better data stories and building improved data visualizations, I recommend the books below:
- Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals, by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic
- The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd Ed, by Edward R. Tufte
In today’s information-saturated environment, the ability to transform complex data into compelling, accessible stories isn’t just a nice-to-have skill—it’s essential for business professionals who want their insights to drive action. I welcome you to reach out to myself to discuss these important topics further, @ Brendan.Morgan@transproconsulting.com.
