what makes a good story man that’s a
loaded question okay let’s try it like
this what are some of your favorite
stories I personally love Harry Potter
and I’m obsessed with stranger things
I’m serious
i binge watch that over a weekend now
what makes these stories good where do I
start I love the characters I love the
setting
I love the dialogue and I love a good
quest that really does it for me
when the writer really hits the nail on
the head with the right kind of quest
you know when the main character has
this super important mission she’s
trying to solve and all her friends
really rally around her to take down the
bad guy that’s the best Harry Potter
tries to take down the Dark Lord Mike
and 11 try to take down the demo Gargan
I’m serious when I don’t know what’s
going on and there are like 10 different
story lines all happening at the same
time that’s when I decide I’m going to
give up on the show on the second
episode of the first season right so
having a clear quest now that makes a
good story but storytelling is so hard
trying to figure out all of these things
together at once what kind of quest you
want to share how do you want to share
it where your character is what are
their backgrounds it’s a lot but writers
and authors they focus on defining that
quest for their characters okay so what
am I getting at here newsflash we have
the exciting opportunity to tell stories
every single day at home at school and
even at work
every day when I’m at work I get to tell
stories but I tell them with data and
that’s where I’d like to spend our time
today the power in effective data
storytelling you guys I’m gonna hit the
punch line right at the beginning here
but data storytelling and storytelling
they’re exactly the same they follow the
same starting points and the same
execution now before I get way too ahead
of myself
data we hear about it every single day
what is it I personally like to think of
it as a collection of facts that
describe something the numbers 1 through
10 your Spotify playlist the total
number of hours that you all spent at
Cam’s last night yeah I know we are
surrounded by data in fact a 2017 Forbes
article writes that more data has been
produced in the last two years than in
the entire previous history of the human
race that’s insane why does this matter
would you believe me if I told you that
less than a half a percent of this data
is ever used half a percent that’s
almost like living in a universe with
billions of planets but deciding that
we’re only gonna use one to sustain life
naturally I’m sure you have the same
question I do where do we start with all
of this what story do we tell now this
vastness of data might turn others off
but I’ve realized that data experts the
people that spend 10,000 hours mastering
this art they aren’t just great business
leaders they’re some of the world’s best
storytellers and the key to being a good
data storyteller
focused understanding of the problem
you’re trying to solve
also known as having a clear quest and
that’s just step one today I’d like to
share with you a framework I use to tell
stories with data I’ll share it with one
simple simple objective to encourage
this room to talk about data to use it
and most exciting of all tell a
compelling stories with it so let’s
begin to tell an effective story with
data there’s three parts in this
specific order the problem the solution
and the inputs let’s begin chapter 1 the
problem there’s a famous quote loosely
attributed to Albert Einstein who said
that if he had one hour to save our
planet
he’d spend 59 of those minutes defining
the problem and only one of those
minutes actually saving the world what
does that even mean perhaps we ought to
look to an example closer at hand let’s
rewind to the year 1992 the creator of
the world’s first smartphone was
actually IBM and they called it the
Simon Personal Communicator it was an
all-inclusive device that jam-packed all
the best technology of the day an LCD
touchscreen a notes collector and a few
other features you can imagine that by
trying to do all of this they didn’t do
very much quite well in fact
the battery wiped out within an hour
think about how annoying that would be
and it cost an whopping eight hundred
and ninety-nine dollars
strangely enough if you survey them
users probably wanted a device that was
easy to use had a long battery life and
maybe even stored a few of their
contacts so this begs the question what
problem was IBM even solving they failed
to define that core issue way up front
and that
why I’d bet none of you know what the
Simon Personal Communicator is so
chapter one
what are you solving for really really
really think about this guy’s
what are you solving for now let’s go
through an example to make this real you
work at soy milk queen a nationwide ice
cream chain your ice cream chain sells a
wide variety of milk alternative ice
creams soy milk almond milk coconut milk
cashew milk you get it revenue has been
down for the past few years and your
boss wants to know why she hands you a
giant dataset of all the sales of the
United States and says tell me what you
find deep breath you can do this now
before jumping into the data set take a
step back close your laptop and grab a
piece of paper you can realistically
answer hundreds of questions with this
data set alone but a good data
storyteller knows that she needs to
start by precisely defining her quest
and that’s what we’re gonna do today
we’re going to define our quest for soy
milk weaned let’s make that quest which
one of our ice cream flavors is the
worst-selling
okay perfect the problem to find simple
we’re understanding the lay of the land
and we’re closing out chapter one what
are you solving for all right chapter
two the solution the second part to
being an effective data storyteller is
actually making that solution useful and
actionable let’s call this part of our
framework the protagonists gameplan
seriously when Harry Potter didn’t know
what Horcruxes were in the earlier books
he struggled to figure out how exactly
he was going to take down the Dark Lord
and the same goes for me although not as
serious there have been so many
situations where my teams at work didn’t
take the time to define the problem then
think about what
our solution looked like and it led to
hours and hours of me staring at my
laptop going from one skinny iced mochas
selbst almond milk with an extra shot a
blonde espresso to another so once we’ve
done Chapter one define our own we moved
each other to understanding the merits
of a good and solution now let’s jump
back to that’s what don’t we example to
really utilize it’s part of our server
you can pull that request was to figure
out what is our protagonists being
flippant well if I really observe the
following three questions solve a
problem at hand those questions being
one what are all these flavors and I
sell any ways to how much of each do we
sell and three how often we restock okay
this is my game plan so I do this right
I’m gonna solve my problem
understand the solution in your eggplant
so networked how it tastes feels looks
in fact when I was an analyst at Kitty I
legitimately spend evenings writing out
of a beautiful PowerPoint presentation
full of exciting graphs without any data
time series I draw out imaginary threats
of what the data would hopefully tell me
after I have completed an analysis we
called them ghost decks
together my team
I debated whether these imaginary
growths worth of rent imaginary grass to
go solve our trouble we understood the
works as additive any plan was
successful type Leo front before
crunching and numbers don’t think that
solution is unbelievably important so
for our final piece the impose in the
case of our protagonist trying to
fulfill requests she eats a good tool
bit of that a lot and a way to interact
but not just any month she eats the
marauders map not just anyone she needs
the other one and I’m just any way to
get around
she needs within this mm with data
storytelling how come your solution for
analysis is stems from how good your raw
data is plated simple your number one
toolkit these are the routes to a good
solution so wonderful close that chapter
one define a column goes down chapter
two understood the solution I moved to
Chapter three
understanding what my product was
actually are now I’m gonna join that
course when the Queen example one last
time all of your boss is the one that I
source complete is this data one might
there be missing us how does this data
collected fleet brought together imaged
notice in and out protagonist senator
success past the best toolkit in fact a
spirit rules and the class would be
quite unachievable without the right
ones that’s not important it is for
Deena storytelling tuned so I’m about to
wrap up here and I know what you’re
thinking back we haven’t looked at
anything up we have analyzed and that’s
a way I’ve learned that going through
so we agree that’s a tablet
extraordinary that we needed quest best
stories the ones they run home to tell
your man is not the one has more ninety
percent or more the ones that take both
the Oscar put it up those stories
there’s something different about those
stories they have a plot twist a little
bit to the story that’s what that
mentally changes the course of the
narrative you guys that’s what I look
for and get excited up when I read
stories with data to a piece of data
evidence that fundamentally changes the
human
a plot twist moment that she just got
our business runs and so lucky that I
get to do this every day a circle an
investment platform that writes data
stories to fundamentally change consumer
packaged goods invested I love our
lovely slim the example what we after we
have done analysis that he feels
alternative ice cream flavor that was
before selling was actually the one with
soy milk what the tween diet a that is
not to me it’s simple it’s created and
it has the power to be incredibly
compelling I purged this room to give
this frame a shot whether it relates to
data or not I learned that going through
these losses has safety time catch me
focus may be a better fit here
may be a better speaker may be hopefully it does the same for you thank you
loaded question okay let’s try it like
this what are some of your favorite
stories I personally love Harry Potter
and I’m obsessed with stranger things
I’m serious
i binge watch that over a weekend now
what makes these stories good where do I
start I love the characters I love the
setting
I love the dialogue and I love a good
quest that really does it for me
when the writer really hits the nail on
the head with the right kind of quest
you know when the main character has
this super important mission she’s
trying to solve and all her friends
really rally around her to take down the
bad guy that’s the best Harry Potter
tries to take down the Dark Lord Mike
and 11 try to take down the demo Gargan
I’m serious when I don’t know what’s
going on and there are like 10 different
story lines all happening at the same
time that’s when I decide I’m going to
give up on the show on the second
episode of the first season right so
having a clear quest now that makes a
good story but storytelling is so hard
trying to figure out all of these things
together at once what kind of quest you
want to share how do you want to share
it where your character is what are
their backgrounds it’s a lot but writers
and authors they focus on defining that
quest for their characters okay so what
am I getting at here newsflash we have
the exciting opportunity to tell stories
every single day at home at school and
even at work
every day when I’m at work I get to tell
stories but I tell them with data and
that’s where I’d like to spend our time
today the power in effective data
storytelling you guys I’m gonna hit the
punch line right at the beginning here
but data storytelling and storytelling
they’re exactly the same they follow the
same starting points and the same
execution now before I get way too ahead
of myself
data we hear about it every single day
what is it I personally like to think of
it as a collection of facts that
describe something the numbers 1 through
10 your Spotify playlist the total
number of hours that you all spent at
Cam’s last night yeah I know we are
surrounded by data in fact a 2017 Forbes
article writes that more data has been
produced in the last two years than in
the entire previous history of the human
race that’s insane why does this matter
would you believe me if I told you that
less than a half a percent of this data
is ever used half a percent that’s
almost like living in a universe with
billions of planets but deciding that
we’re only gonna use one to sustain life
naturally I’m sure you have the same
question I do where do we start with all
of this what story do we tell now this
vastness of data might turn others off
but I’ve realized that data experts the
people that spend 10,000 hours mastering
this art they aren’t just great business
leaders they’re some of the world’s best
storytellers and the key to being a good
data storyteller
focused understanding of the problem
you’re trying to solve
also known as having a clear quest and
that’s just step one today I’d like to
share with you a framework I use to tell
stories with data I’ll share it with one
simple simple objective to encourage
this room to talk about data to use it
and most exciting of all tell a
compelling stories with it so let’s
begin to tell an effective story with
data there’s three parts in this
specific order the problem the solution
and the inputs let’s begin chapter 1 the
problem there’s a famous quote loosely
attributed to Albert Einstein who said
that if he had one hour to save our
planet
he’d spend 59 of those minutes defining
the problem and only one of those
minutes actually saving the world what
does that even mean perhaps we ought to
look to an example closer at hand let’s
rewind to the year 1992 the creator of
the world’s first smartphone was
actually IBM and they called it the
Simon Personal Communicator it was an
all-inclusive device that jam-packed all
the best technology of the day an LCD
touchscreen a notes collector and a few
other features you can imagine that by
trying to do all of this they didn’t do
very much quite well in fact
the battery wiped out within an hour
think about how annoying that would be
and it cost an whopping eight hundred
and ninety-nine dollars
strangely enough if you survey them
users probably wanted a device that was
easy to use had a long battery life and
maybe even stored a few of their
contacts so this begs the question what
problem was IBM even solving they failed
to define that core issue way up front
and that
why I’d bet none of you know what the
Simon Personal Communicator is so
chapter one
what are you solving for really really
really think about this guy’s
what are you solving for now let’s go
through an example to make this real you
work at soy milk queen a nationwide ice
cream chain your ice cream chain sells a
wide variety of milk alternative ice
creams soy milk almond milk coconut milk
cashew milk you get it revenue has been
down for the past few years and your
boss wants to know why she hands you a
giant dataset of all the sales of the
United States and says tell me what you
find deep breath you can do this now
before jumping into the data set take a
step back close your laptop and grab a
piece of paper you can realistically
answer hundreds of questions with this
data set alone but a good data
storyteller knows that she needs to
start by precisely defining her quest
and that’s what we’re gonna do today
we’re going to define our quest for soy
milk weaned let’s make that quest which
one of our ice cream flavors is the
worst-selling
okay perfect the problem to find simple
we’re understanding the lay of the land
and we’re closing out chapter one what
are you solving for all right chapter
two the solution the second part to
being an effective data storyteller is
actually making that solution useful and
actionable let’s call this part of our
framework the protagonists gameplan
seriously when Harry Potter didn’t know
what Horcruxes were in the earlier books
he struggled to figure out how exactly
he was going to take down the Dark Lord
and the same goes for me although not as
serious there have been so many
situations where my teams at work didn’t
take the time to define the problem then
think about what
our solution looked like and it led to
hours and hours of me staring at my
laptop going from one skinny iced mochas
selbst almond milk with an extra shot a
blonde espresso to another so once we’ve
done Chapter one define our own we moved
each other to understanding the merits
of a good and solution now let’s jump
back to that’s what don’t we example to
really utilize it’s part of our server
you can pull that request was to figure
out what is our protagonists being
flippant well if I really observe the
following three questions solve a
problem at hand those questions being
one what are all these flavors and I
sell any ways to how much of each do we
sell and three how often we restock okay
this is my game plan so I do this right
I’m gonna solve my problem
understand the solution in your eggplant
so networked how it tastes feels looks
in fact when I was an analyst at Kitty I
legitimately spend evenings writing out
of a beautiful PowerPoint presentation
full of exciting graphs without any data
time series I draw out imaginary threats
of what the data would hopefully tell me
after I have completed an analysis we
called them ghost decks
together my team
I debated whether these imaginary
growths worth of rent imaginary grass to
go solve our trouble we understood the
works as additive any plan was
successful type Leo front before
crunching and numbers don’t think that
solution is unbelievably important so
for our final piece the impose in the
case of our protagonist trying to
fulfill requests she eats a good tool
bit of that a lot and a way to interact
but not just any month she eats the
marauders map not just anyone she needs
the other one and I’m just any way to
get around
she needs within this mm with data
storytelling how come your solution for
analysis is stems from how good your raw
data is plated simple your number one
toolkit these are the routes to a good
solution so wonderful close that chapter
one define a column goes down chapter
two understood the solution I moved to
Chapter three
understanding what my product was
actually are now I’m gonna join that
course when the Queen example one last
time all of your boss is the one that I
source complete is this data one might
there be missing us how does this data
collected fleet brought together imaged
notice in and out protagonist senator
success past the best toolkit in fact a
spirit rules and the class would be
quite unachievable without the right
ones that’s not important it is for
Deena storytelling tuned so I’m about to
wrap up here and I know what you’re
thinking back we haven’t looked at
anything up we have analyzed and that’s
a way I’ve learned that going through
so we agree that’s a tablet
extraordinary that we needed quest best
stories the ones they run home to tell
your man is not the one has more ninety
percent or more the ones that take both
the Oscar put it up those stories
there’s something different about those
stories they have a plot twist a little
bit to the story that’s what that
mentally changes the course of the
narrative you guys that’s what I look
for and get excited up when I read
stories with data to a piece of data
evidence that fundamentally changes the
human
a plot twist moment that she just got
our business runs and so lucky that I
get to do this every day a circle an
investment platform that writes data
stories to fundamentally change consumer
packaged goods invested I love our
lovely slim the example what we after we
have done analysis that he feels
alternative ice cream flavor that was
before selling was actually the one with
soy milk what the tween diet a that is
not to me it’s simple it’s created and
it has the power to be incredibly
compelling I purged this room to give
this frame a shot whether it relates to
data or not I learned that going through
these losses has safety time catch me
focus may be a better fit here
may be a better speaker may be hopefully it does the same for you thank you
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