storytelling and data by erica mcgillivray

Tell Me a Story: Why Data Analysts Must be Storytellers Too

by Erica McGillivray Moz

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My dad

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Me

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“Empirical” Evidence

We ate this bread and didn’t die.

What’s the Problem? He believes in stories. Not facts.

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"If the statistics are boring, you've got the wrong

numbers." — Edward Tufte

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What are Stories? The blending of emotions and facts.

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—Memorable —Impactful —Personal

The Basics of Story Building (around your data)

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Who’s your hero?

Business hurdle

Outcome

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Who’s the hero? Hint: It might not be you.

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Beware of Data Rabbit Holes (or 4 Don’ts)

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Misleading or shocking

data to prove a point.

1

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"Humans make illogical

decisions." — Spock

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Giving too much data.

2

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Building fancy charts to be fancy.

3

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Sending out auto-generated

reports.

4

Keep Refining Your Message (or 4 Dos)

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Understand emotional

and business goals.

1 $100k in sales

All the emotions

8/16/2015 Gmail - 25 Women to Read Before You Die

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/?ui=2&ik=baddbb7276&view=pt&search=inbox&th=14edfd4762555e17&siml=14edfd4762555e17 1/2

Erica McGillivray <emcgillivray@gmail.com>

25 Women to Read Before You Die1 message

Powells.com Specials <specials@email.powells.com> Thu, Jul 30, 2015 at 9:32 AMReply­To: Powell's Books <reply­fe6413737067047f7711­724544_HTML­429311695­48972­0@email.powells.com>To: emcgillivray@gmail.com

view web page Your Account |Powells.com

We admire them for their vision, their fearlessness, their originality,and their impact on the literary world and beyond. 

These are the 25 Women to Read Before You Die,as chosen by Powell's staff.

Note: For a limited time, all of the titles featured in our list are on sale!

Contact Us: 800.878.7323 | newsletter@powells.com

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Curate your data and

its results.

2

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"A person who is gifted sees the essential point and leaves

the rest as surplus." — Thomas Carlyle

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HD vs. captions

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Use the appropriate medium for

the message.

3

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Be okay when progress

appears illogical.

4

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Let’s Revisit My Dad And apply what I didn’t know then.

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Let’s Build Customized Stories with Data

Instead of letting the data stand alone.

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Stay in Touch! erica@moz.com @emcgillivray

Resources #9 – “Stories impact us when they are memorable, impactful and personal.” —Professor Jennifer L. Aaker http://futureofstorytelling.org/video/persuasion-and-the-power-of-story/ #11 – Freytag’s Pyramid http://www.ohio.edu/people/hartleyg/ref/fiction/freytag.html #20 - Which Flight Will Get You There Fastest? by Ritchie King and Nate Silver http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/flights/ #24 – MozCon 2015 Video Bundle http://moz.com/mozcon-videos #25 – 25 Women to Read Before You Die by Powell’s Books http://www.powells.com/25-women-to-read-before-you-die

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#28-29 – The Most Timeless Songs of All-Time by Matt Daniels http://poly-graph.co/timeless/ #30-31 - Does Making a Website Mobile-Friendly Have a Universally Positive Impact on Mobile Traffic? by Rand Fishkin https://moz.com/rand/does-making-a-website-mobile-friendly-have-a-universally-positive-impact-on-mobile-traffic/ #35 - Lack of Snow Leaves California's 'Water Tower' Running Low by Dennis Dimick http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/03/150304-snow-snowpack-california-drought-groundwater-crisis/