December 4, 2018
Data storytelling guru Lea Pica shared tips for creating successful data-focused presentations at the Data Storytelling workshop to a packed room of ARF Women In Analytics members in New York on December 4.
To underscore the importance of developing digestible, appealing content, Lea stated that presenters have only eight seconds to grab their audience’s attention. What does this mean? A presenter must grab the audience’s attention from the outset and be consistently memorable enough that attendees will want to act after the presentation is finished.
Her practical advice provided attendees with a host of valuable takeaways bucketed into three areas: conceptualizing, visualizing and delivering. The workshop focused on the first two areas with key takeaways below.
CONCEPTUALIZING
The Conceptualization stage involves planning, which requires putting yourself in your audience’s shoes. Presenters should consider factors such as the audience’s needs, priorities, aspirations and challenges and initiate a conversation to get this information, if it is not known.
Lea provided eight questions to ask as part of presentation planning. These covered topics such as the meeting’s 
purpose, the composition of attendees, and the meeting’s location/whether there will be remote attendee.
DATA VISUALIZATION
Once planning is complete, a presenter can begin to visualize the presentation, considering four components:
- AUDIENCE: How can you connect with them?
- MESSAGE: What is the overarching story your presentation will tell?
- STORY: What is the “meat” of your message?
- ACTION: What do you want your audience to after the presentation. Every presentation should end with a clear call-to-action.
The next step: begin to develop the presentation. Lea recommends using a “box” method to allow for easy visualization of the introduction, message, recap and action.
She provided multiple tips for visualizing data, including “detox” clutter, don’t aggregate calculated metrics, and use color strategically, using examples to reinforce her points. She raised five questions that data visualizations should address:
- What happened?
- Why do we think it happened?
- What should we do about it?
- Who should do it and by when?
- What is the possible cost of not taking action?
Lea provided a list of “Viz-takes,” i.e., tactics to avoid — such as starting axes above zero for bar/column charts and neglecting to source data.
CONSCIOUS CRITIQUE
Audience members volunteered presentations they had worked on for feedback, as part of the session. Through a group exercise, these volunteers and audience members practiced giving and receiving critique in a mindful manner. Suggestions included simplifying complex charts by breaking up the data into multiple, simpler charts and provided clear next steps/actions.
CLOSING AND NEXT STEPS
Lea closed by offering audience members the opportunity to sign up for her newsletter.
Learn more about Lea Pica and get the link to her newsletter, click HERE .
The next Women in Analytics events will focus on AI. It will take place on February 6 at Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco. To learn more and register click HERE.
View the video: