How To Use Boring Data To Tell Compelling Stories That Resonate with Kate Norris

Do you need to turn a bunch of boring data into a compelling story?

Whether the change program you’re supporting is a digital transformation, a financial transformation, introducing a grants process or new ways of working or improving the culture of the organisation or anything else - I know you’re dealing with a lot of data.

Being able to share the most important data in really impactful and engaging ways is going to make it way more likely that you’ll be able to deliver successful change. 

​​That’s why today on The New Way podcast my guest is Kate Norris.  

Kate is a presentation coach, speaker, former data analyst, the co-founder of Presentation Boss, and has a passion for presenting technical information. Kate’s speciality is turning dry information, including numbers, into energetic and engaging presentations. 

In this episode, Kate and I explore how to use boring data to tell compelling stories that resonate with your audience. 

We dive into the mechanics of data storytelling, practical ways to humanise data and share actionable insights, and the best ways to visualise data.  We cover everything from dashboards to how to prepare for the next briefing you’re giving to the Executive when you only have a couple of minutes up your sleeve.

If you’re leading change in a complex data rich environment - this episode is for you. You’ll find so much value in Kate’s expertise that you can apply to your own change program today. 

Listen in and never again will you be at the front of the room presenting a bunch of boring, unappealing facts and figures, while the audience you desperately want to engage daydream about their weekend plans.

Kate shares so SO many golden practical tips in this episode - you are going to love it.

Listen in now!

TOPICS DISCUSSED AND WHERE TO FIND THEM:

[3:04]: More and more change leaders are supporting organisational change initiatives in complex and data rich environments. Navigating data is becoming an increasingly critical skill. 

[3:46]: Data storytelling is about communicating the insights that are found within the data. 

[4:43]: To communicate insights: Firstly, know exactly who you’re speaking to and who you want to convince today. Secondly, filter what is important and isn’t important - today. 

[7:00]: Humanizing the data involves condensing the data down to one specific thing that applies to an individual. When you try to target everyone, you target no one. 

[9:53]: Information can be separated into 3 categories: #1 Pure data (often in a spreadsheet and retrospective), #2 Insight (what we can make sense of from that data), #3 Actionable insight (an action taken on the insight). 

[12:18]: Use simple visualisations to deliver more impact. 

[13:24]: Pie charts aren’t used generally as they rely on an estimation of area and the angle. Use a bar graph instead. 

[16:05]: If you’re trending data over time, use a line graph. 

[17:00]: The headline is prime real estate. Make the headline specific to what will be displayed in the graph and the insight/actionable insight. 

[19:27]: A dashboard is not the entire story, it is only part of a story. It won’t show actionable insights or what the future looks like. Use dashboards rarely and pay attention to why you’re using them. 

[21:10]: Work out who’s using the dashboard (not just looking at it). If people aren’t actually using it to make decisions - it’s just busy work and not needed. 

[23:04]: To prepare for meetings, know what you want to communicate that day. If a participant can only leave the meeting with one sentence on what the meeting was about - what is the one sentence? 

[25:15]: Where to find and connect with Kate.

CONNECT WITH KATE NORRIS: 

Website: https://presentationboss.com.au/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/data-storytelling/

CONNECT WITH ME:

Website: https://www.everchange.com.au/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ever-change-and-communication