storytelling and data by erica mcgillivray
TRANSCRIPT
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 <[email protected]>
25 Women to Read Before You Die1 message
Powells.com Specials <[email protected]> Thu, Jul 30, 2015 at 9:32 AMReplyTo: Powell's Books <replyfe6413737067047f7711724544_HTML42931169548972[email protected]>To: [email protected]
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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!
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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! [email protected] @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/