Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals

by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic

“Power Corrupts. PowerPoint Corrupts Absolutely.” —Edward Tufte, Yale Professor Emeritus1

Exploratory analysis is what you do to understand the data and figure out what might be noteworthy or interesting to highlight to others.

Concentrate on the pearls, the information your audience needs to know.

To whom are you communicating?

What do you want your audience to know or do?

Here are some action words to help act as thought starters as you determine what you are asking of your audience: accept | agree | begin | believe | change | collaborate | commence | create | defend | desire | differentiate | do | empathize | empower | encourage | engage | establish | examine | facilitate | familiarize | form | implement | include | influence | invest | invigorate | know | learn | like | persuade | plan | promote | pursue | recommend | receive | remember | report | respond | secure | support | simplify | start | try | understand | validate

What background information is relevant or essential? Who is the audience or decision maker? What do we know about them? What biases does our audience have that might make them supportive of or resistant to our message? What data is available that would strengthen our case? Is our audience familiar with this data, or is it new? Where are the risks: what factors could weaken our case and do we need to proactively address them? What would a successful outcome look like? If you only had a limited amount of time or a single sentence to tell your audience what they need to know, what would you say?

While it sounds easy, being concise is often more challenging than being verbose.

When you have just a number or two that you want to communicate: use the numbers directly.

I use “white space” to refer to blank space on the page. If your pages are blue, for example, this would be “blue space”—I’m not sure why they would be blue, but the use of color is a conversation we will have later.

don’t let your design choices be happenstance; rather, they should be the result of explicit decisions.

if you are displaying data across four regions in a graph, each having their own color in one place within your presentation or report, be sure to preserve this same schematic throughout the visuals in the rest of your presentation or report (and avoid use of the same colors for other purposes if possible). Don’t confuse your audience by changing your use of color.

Resist the temptation to keep things because they are cute or because you worked hard to create them; if they don’t support the message, they don’t serve the purpose of communication.

Don’t communicate for yourself—communicate for your audience. The story is not for you; the story is for them.

There is always a story to tell. If it’s worth communicating, it’s worth spending the time necessary to frame your data in a story.

Throughout your communication, make the information specific and relevant to your audience. The story should ultimately be about your audience, not about you.

A skilled presenter can overcome mediocre materials. A strong narrative can overcome less-than-ideal visuals.

when it comes to data visualization, rarely is there a single correct path or solution.

When using animation in PowerPoint, use only simple Appear or Disappear (in some instances, Transparency can also be useful); steer clear of any animation that causes elements to fly in or fade out—this is the presentation software equivalent of 3D graphs—unnecessary and distracting!

There is a story in your data. If you weren’t convinced of that before our journey together, I hope you are now.