Selecting the right data
1. Selecting the right data
Welcome back! We now understand the fundamentals of data storytelling.2. Chapter 2
In this second chapter, we will deepen our knowledge by learning how to prepare for communicating data. We will learn how to identify the different targeted personas to appropriately select findings and statistics, visualizations, and choose the appropriate format to make an impact with our results.3. Data storytelling road
Let's dive right in. We learned why designing a story is important. We also learned to decide between a technical or non-technical approach.4. Data storytelling road
Now, it's time to select the right data.5. The right data
But what does it mean to select the "right data"? It implies including sufficient contextual insights in our story to support our main point without overloading our report with information. In other words, we include the minimal amount of results that will support our story.6. Data storytelling
And why is selecting insights important? Remember that data is one of the three central elements in any story. Garbage in, garbage out: if our raw data is bad and unreliable, then our analysis will be too. Same for our results But when we find the insights, we need to display our findings properly to highlight a different view of the data for each audience.7. Stakeholders
Different stakeholders will be interested in our findings differently, so we need to tailor how we show our results to each of them. A stakeholder can be any person or group of persons that has an interest in the outcome of a project, or a decision or activity that is derived from it. As we mentioned before, stakeholders can be technical or non-technical. Among them, we may have different types of audiences.8. Identifying personas
A helpful tool is to identify audience personas. It means describing the interests of the project outcomes and the technical knowledge of someone who represents our ideal target audience group. Defining personas helps selecting tailored findings to better convey our key insights.9. Identifying personas
Let's go back to our communicatb food project. After finding our story, we need to define personas in our targeted audience, which will allow us to select the right findings in order to adjust our message.10. Executive team
The first persona we might be reporting to is the executive team - most likely, the CEO, an investor, a director, or a founder. They have basic knowledge about technical aspects. And they usually need to inform their decisions using our project findings.11. Project manager
In our example, when telling the story to our project manager, we can show the overall cost of the proposed next steps, and general metrics such as the predicted increase in number of customers, as well as the risk that our plan will fail.12. Tech team
We can also present a report to our project collaborators or a technical supervisor with high technical knowledge. They are likely interested in replicating or continuing the project.13. General audience
Lastly, we can show our story to an external customer or to other department staff that likely have basic or general technical knowledge, and want to understand the impact of the project.14. General audience
In our example, we should show the historical decline in profits, and explain how the rebranding of the chocolate will increase next year earnings.15. Audience skepticism
Finally, the audience can be more or less receptive to our results. Some will be more skeptical about our results than others. If people are easily convinced of our results, fine. But we should be prepared to bring in more data, insights and information to convince skeptics if our reasoning is put in doubt. A classic approach recommends to first convince yourself, then a friend then a skeptic.16. Let's practice!
Now, it's your time to identify personas and tailor data given the situation at hand!Create Your Free Account
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