How can we use data to better tell stories? Data insights, data analytics and data storytelling can be combined to explain, engage & enlighten audiences says Daniel Fritz, data analyst at the European Commission. Daniel gave tips at our latest News & Booze event on 27th Feb. For more info, check out our website: http://cleareurope.eu/february-newsletter/

1. From Data to Change.
@DanielFritzEU

2. Theory about the
shapes of stories
■ What writers know:
– stories follow
emotional arcs
– these arcs can have
different shapes
– some shapes are
better suited to
storytelling than
others.
■ Aristotle first to categorise
stories into types, V 1st to
graph them
■ But how many are there?

4. But: Stories are Shapes+
■ Take Audience’s perspective: We need accessible characters & relatable situations
– “knowing the audience is key to capturing one”
■ Once hooked, keep audience engaged with twists & turns
■ Release audience with upbeat endings (work best in western culture)

5. “The sexiest Job of the 21st century”
■ Geeks + communication = :/
■ Writers + data = :/
■ Work in teams.
If an insight isn’t understood and isn’t
compelling, no one will act on it and no
change will occur.
"The ability to take data—
to be able to understandit,
to processit,
to extractvaluefrom it,
to visualizeit,
to communicateit
— that’s going to be a hugely
Important skill in the next decades."
Google’s Chief Economist Dr. Hal R.Varian,
2009

6. Beyond Dashboards: Value from Data
The “Diagnostic
Analytics” step is the
most valuable for
Storytelling – here
clichés, myths and
prejudices are being
challenged and
debunked and new
explanations are being
created!

7. One Dataset, Endless possibilities
■ When creating your own stories, remember that the brain craves structure and loves
oddballs (From the Tableau blog)

8. ■ explain to your
audience what’s
happening in the data
and why a particular
insight is important.
■ enlighten the
audience to insights
that they wouldn’t see
without charts or
graphs
■ engage or even
entertain an audience

9. ■ When you combine
the right visuals
and narrative with
the right data, you
have a data story
that can influence
and drive
change.

10. Why data storytelling is essential
■ It’s in our nature. We love it!
■ Entertainment & experience sharing
■ powerful delivery mechanism for sharing insights and ideas in a way that is
memorable, persuasive, and engaging. (TED Talks are 65% storytelling!)
■ It’s hard to have/make experiences that nobody yet had, after 1000s of years. Data
can show us the hidden world. The new first encounter with a saber tooth tiger
■ We are human. We do not solely take decisions based on reason, but also emotion.

11. 9,5 Tips for Better Data Storytelling
■ Tell an actual (and accurate) story
■ visuals do not equal a narrative
■ Use the 4x4 Model of content delivery to tailor all audiences
■ Maximize the number of senses you activate
■ Make it human
■ Know your audience
■ Storyboard everything (everything you're saying from the first sentence to the last
leads to one goal)
■ Nudge your audience’s pre-attentive predilections [“yeah!”] (Make me care in an
instant)
■ Mingle anticipation with uncertainty – create Drama.
■ Use what you know, draw from it. (Capture truth from your experiences. express
values you personally feel)

12. Try ALL the tools - dataviz.tools

13. From the Notes
■ The font used to create the title image is free for use and can be found here
■ The most shared articles on data storytelling can be found here via Buzzsumo
■ “If things go static, stories die, because that's not how life works.”
■ The most popular are stories that follow the Icarus and Oedipus arcs and stories
that follow more complex arcs that use the basic building blocks in sequence. Full
article
■ Data Storytelling is more than just creating visually-appealing data charts. “Data
storytelling is a structured approach for communicating data insights “
■ Venn Diagram visuals come from this article on Forbes.
■ Data visualization expert Stephen Few said, “Numbers have an important story to
tell. They rely on you to give them a clear and convincing voice.”
■ Any insight worth sharing is probably best shared as a data story.

14. From the Notes
■ For some people, crafting a story around the data may seem like an unnecessary,
time-consuming effort. 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. They may believe
the revealed insights alone should influence the right decisions and drive their
audience to act. Unfortunately, this point of view is based on the flawed assumption
that business decisions are based solely on logic and reason.