Importance of Data Storytelling for Data Scientists-Why should Data teams prioritize training for it

In a Forrester Consulting's survey titled "The State of Data Insights and Related Trends: A Global Survey of Data and Analytics Decision Makers" conducted in 2017, 82% of respondents claims that data storytelling helps them communicate insights and recommendations effectively. Following the same year, Qlik's survey titled "The Human Impact of Data Literacy" reported that 78% of business leaders believe in data storytelling to make better decisions.

Table of Contents

• What is Data Storytelling?

• The Psychology Behind Engaging and Influencing Your Audience

• The Significance of Data Storytelling

• Making data come to Life: A Secret Weapon Every Data Scientist Needs!

• Why Data Teams Should Prioritize Training for Data Storytelling

• Data Storytelling Best Practices

• Data Storytelling Tools

• From Numbers to Narrative

Data is abundant and easily accessible, but making sense of it can be a daunting task. This is where data storytelling comes in. Data storytelling is the art of presenting data in a way that is compelling, engaging, and easy to understand. It involves using data to tell a story that can influence decision-making, spark new ideas, and drive action. For data scientists, mastering the skill of data storytelling is essential. Not only does it help them communicate their findings to stakeholders in a clear and concise way, but it also helps them uncover insights and patterns that may have been overlooked.

Data storytelling is especially important in today's data-driven business landscape. With so much data at our fingertips, it's easy to get lost in the numbers and lose sight of the bigger picture. By using data to tell a story, data scientists can help organizations make better decisions, improve their bottom line, and gain a competitive advantage.

In today's data-driven world, data storytelling is not just a nice-to-have skill, it's a must-have. By prioritizing data storytelling training for your data teams, you can ensure that your organization is effectively leveraging its data to make better decisions, drive innovation, and stay ahead of the competition.

What is Data Storytelling?

Have you ever heard the saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words"? Well, in the world of data science, that saying rings true. Data storytelling is the art of combining data, narrative, and visualization to create a compelling story that not only communicates your findings but also engages your audience.

Data is no longer just numbers and statistics on a page. It has become a powerful tool for businesses and organizations to make informed decisions, drive innovation, and gain a competitive advantage. However, with so much data available, it's easy to get lost in the sea of numbers and lose sight of the big picture.

Data storytelling breathes life into your data by combining it with a compelling narrative and vivid visualization. You can take your audience on a journey, guiding them through your data's meaning and importance, not just what it says.

Think of data storytelling like an artist painting a picture with numbers. It adds depth and context to the data, highlighting hidden insights and patterns that may have been missed before. By harnessing the power of narrative and visualization, you can transform your data into an engaging story that inspires and motivates your audience.

The Psychology Behind Engaging and Influencing Your Audience

The human brain is wired to respond to stories. It has been ingrained in our DNA for centuries to pass down knowledge and experiences through stories. Stories have been shown to activate regions in our brains responsible for language, perception, and emotion, making them powerful tool for communication.

When we hear a story, our brains release hormones like oxytocin, which are associated with trust and empathy, making us more receptive to the message being conveyed. This heightened level of engagement can lead to increased understanding, memory retention, and even behavior change.

In addition to activating our emotions, data storytelling can also help simplify complex information by providing a relatable context. It enables us to identify with the characters and events being depicted, leading to a deeper understanding and connection with the content. The same is also traced from the study of Microsoft titled "The Power of Visual Storytelling with Data" conducted in 2019, which states that data visualization can improve audience engagement by up to 40%.

Thus, the psychological power of storytelling lies in its ability to captivate and influence the human mind. Whether it's used to educate, persuade, or entertain, stories have the potential to shape our thoughts and actions in profound ways.

The Significance of Data Storytelling

Think of data storytelling as a powerful tool that can help you captivate your audience and drive action. Crafting a compelling data story requires you to focus on three critical components.

Data - You have to dive into accurate and complete data and analyze it from different angles using various techniques. This helps you uncover patterns, trends, and insights that you can use to inform your narrative.

Narrative - You need to weave a storyline. This makes you incorporate the insights, along with the context surrounding the data and the actions you want to inspire in your audience.

Visualization - Finally, you have to use visual aids like charts, graphs, and videos. This brings your data story to life and makes it easy to understand and remember. In fact, Tableau's survey titled "The State of Business Intelligence and Analytics 2019" conducted in 2019, found that 94% of business leaders said that data visualization helps them understand data better.

Whether you're trying to motivate your team or persuade potential customers, data storytelling can be a game-changer. From identifying business problems to proposing solutions, data storytelling is a powerful way to make data meaningful and impactful.

Making data come to Life: A Secret Weapon Every Data Scientist Needs!

Data scientists are the gatekeepers of the vast amounts of data generated every day. They have the skills to analyze data, identify trends, and extract insights that can drive business decisions. But as data grows in complexity and volume, the challenge of communicating insights becomes more significant. That's where the secret weapon of data storytelling comes in.

One great example of data storytelling comes from the healthcare industry. In 2013, researchers at Boston Children's Hospital used data to identify a pattern of seizures in children. Using data storytelling and data visualization, the team created a heat map of the brain's electrical activity, highlighting where seizures were most frequent. They then used this visualization to explain the pattern to doctors, who were then able to create a treatment plan that reduced the number of seizures in the children.

This example illustrates how data storytelling can help bring data to life, making it accessible to a broader audience and facilitating data-driven decision-making. Data storytelling is a secret weapon every data scientist needs to master to make a real impact in their organization. By using data visualization and compelling narratives, data scientists can help transform complex data into actionable insights.

Why Data Teams Should Prioritize Training for Data Storytelling

Gartner's report titled "Data and Analytics Leaders Need to Master the Art of Storytelling" published in 2019 predicts that by 2025, 75% of organizations will have invested in building a team of data storytellers.

Enhancing communication and collaboration within the team

When data scientist has insights into customer behavior but they are not proficient in communicating their findings to the rest of the team. In that case, the insights will remain underutilized. Thus, one of the benefits of data storytelling is data teams can better understand each other's roles and skills, which can lead to more efficient collaboration and ultimately better results.

Better engagement with technical & non-technical stakeholders

Effective communication and collaboration are critical for success in any industry. Data teams may need to collaborate with other departments, such as marketing and sales, to drive business growth. Effective data storytelling can help bridge the gap between technical and non-technical stakeholders and lead to better collaboration and ultimately better business outcomes.

Building the team's brand as experts in data storytelling

Data teams can establish themselves as industry leaders by prioritizing training in data storytelling. By crafting compelling data narratives and presenting insights effectively, teams can showcase their expertise and build a reputation for delivering valuable insights. For instance, Netflix's data team uses data storytelling to promote their brand as a leader in the entertainment industry by leveraging data to make strategic decisions about original content creation and distribution.

Effective visualization of data

In today's fast-paced world, attention spans are shorter than ever, making it crucial for data teams to present insights in a visually appealing manner. Visualization backed up by narrative can make complex data sets easier to understand and communicate, leading to better data storytelling in decision-making. For instance, Tableau, a popular data visualization software, helps organizations like NASA and Deloitte present data in an intuitive and interactive manner, making it easier to spot trends and identify patterns.

Persuading decision-makers to take action based on data insights

Simply presenting data won't necessarily motivate action. Prioritizing training for data storytelling skills can help data teams drive needed action and achieve results. To take an instance, there can be time when a finance data team may need to demonstrate the importance of reducing expenses. By presenting data on cost reduction alongside a powerful narrative that emphasizes the potential financial gains, the team can persuade decision-makers to prioritize expense reduction initiatives.

Data Storytelling Best Practices 

Embracing Context in Data Storytelling

First and foremost, context is key when it comes to data storytelling. Without context, data can be confusing and overwhelming for audiences. By providing the necessary background information, data storytellers can help their audience understand the significance of the data and how it relates to their lives.

Putting your audience first

In addition to context, putting the audience first is also crucial. Data storytellers must consider their audience's needs, interests, and knowledge levels when crafting their stories. By tailoring the message to the audience, data storytellers can increase engagement and ensure that their message resonates with the audience.

Combining quantitative and qualitative data

Another best practice is to combine quantitative and qualitative data. While quantitative data provides the facts and figures, qualitative data provides the human element that makes the story more relatable and memorable. By combining both types of data, data storytellers can create a more compelling narrative that captures the attention of their audience

Crafting a Data Narrative That People Remember

Finally, the practice of data storytelling must follow the sequence of narrative elements as:

Characters - Key players

Setting - Set the scene

Conflict - Describe the root issue

Resolution - Propose a solution

Suppose your data analysis reveals that your current marketing campaign is exceeding its target and there's no conflict in the story. In that case, you can omit the conflict element and proceed with suggesting that the current approach be continued.

Regardless of the type of story that emerges from the data, you can convey it efficiently by structuring your narrative around the key elements mentioned earlier and using visual aids to guide your audience through each aspect.

Data Storytelling Tools

The ability to tell a compelling story with data is an essential skill for anyone working with data. We also have the evidence from Harvard Business Review's report titled "Data Visualization That Works" published in 2016, which found that organizations using data storytelling and data visualization and data storytelling are more likely to achieve their business goals. And the good news is that there are plenty of data storytelling tools available to help you craft a great data story.

Data visualization tools

One of the most important tools in your data storytelling toolkit is data visualization software. Visualization tools help you create charts, graphs, and other visual representations of your data that can help your audience understand complex data sets at a glance. Popular data visualization tools include Tableau, Power BI, and Google Data Studio.

Interactive dashboards

Interactive dashboards are another powerful tool for data storytelling. Dashboards allow users to interact with data in real time, explore it in different ways, and uncover insights that might not be immediately apparent from a static report. Dashboards can be built using tools like Tableau, Power BI, and QlikView.

Storytelling Software

Storytelling software is a newer category of tools that are specifically designed to help you craft a compelling narrative around your data. These tools often include features like customizable templates, pre-built story structures, and collaboration tools that allow multiple stakeholders to contribute to a single data story. Examples of storytelling software include DataStory and Flourish.

By using these tools, you can take your data storytelling to the next level, creating engaging and impactful stories that inspire action and drive results. Whether you're working with internal stakeholders or presenting to external audiences, the right data storytelling tools can help you make your data come alive and drive meaningful change.

From Numbers to Narrative

In today's data-driven world, data scientists are expected to not only crunch numbers but also convey their insights in a convincing way that resonates with their audience. Here data storytelling serves as a powerful tool to bridge the gap between numbers and narratives.

Through the art of data storytelling, data scientists can transform complex data sets into engaging narratives that captivate their audience and drive meaningful change. By weaving together data, context, and emotion, data storytelling can help organizations make better decisions, build stronger relationships with their customers, and unlock new opportunities for growth.

However, mastering the art of data storytelling is not something that comes naturally to everyone. It requires a unique combination of analytical and creative skills, as well as a deep understanding of the audience and their needs. That's why it's time for data teams to prioritize training for data storytelling skills, ensuring that all members have the necessary capabilities to effectively communicate their insights. The same training further empowers the data teams to become master storytellers who can turn numbers into narratives that inspire action.