Bethan Blakeley: Evidence alone isn’t enough

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I like to think, as an industry, we’re doing pretty well for ourselves. Across data, insights, and analytics, there are countless success stories and chances for us to pat ourselves on the back. Apart from, dare I say it, in storytelling.

It seems as though I’m not the only one with doubts. Those at the MRS annual conference this year will have heard the countless times storytelling was mentioned. If you have attended any event recently, across data or insights, you’ll see it still takes up a decent chunk of the agenda (along with AI, of course).

This leads me to my main question – why are we still sh*t at telling stories?! There were sighs and raised eyebrows in the room every time storytelling was mentioned at the annual conference. Someone nearby joked that ‘we’ve been banging on about this for the past 20 years’. So, why do we still struggle with it? It seems like such an essential trait of uncovering insights – being able to weave them together into a story to engage stakeholders and, ultimately, persuade, inform and influence them on what should be done next.

Rather than sit and moan about it, let’s get to something useful. I’m not claiming to be an expert by any means, but here are some tips I have picked up along the way to improve data storytelling:

1. Know your audience. I know this seems obvious, and we say it time and time again. For me, this is a two-way street. Yes, you need to know more about them – what they know, want and expect, how they feel, how much experience they have. But – and this is the gamechanger – know what you want of them, too. Before every presentation, I now sit and write down what I want from the audience. What do I want them to think, feel and do because of what I’m about to tell them? Knowing what you’re aiming for helps you know how to get there.
2. Give storytelling the importance it needs and deserves. Rudyard Kipling once wrote: ‘If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.’ Your data and your ‘so what?’ is more likely to be remembered if you tell it as part of a story. The more likely they are to be remembered, the more likely they are to be actioned and, therefore create the change you’re striving towards. This stuff is important – treat it as though it is. Invest the time and the budget to get this right.
3. It’s easy to confuse storytelling for data visualisation, or a data narrative – when, in fact, these are two important components of storytelling itself. Harleen Thethy, vice-president of digital analytics at Barclays, talked through this relationship between narrative, visuals and data as a vehicle for creating change at a recent keynote at the Melbourne Business Analytics Conference.

Not every story will have the same elements – and nor should they. Surprise surprise, it all depends on the desired outcome. If you’re wanting to engage, combine your data viz with a good narrative. If it’s more about explaining, swap out your visualisations for data. If you’re wanting to enlighten, combine your data with some pretty visuals. But if you’re wanting to inspire change, you need all three of these.

That’s what it’s all about, right? We want to inspire change. To inspire evidence-based decision making. Based on our evidence. But the evidence alone just won’t cut it – it’s not enough. Using that evidence along with great visuals and a powerful narrative is what will get us to that action. And that is where it all starts to get exciting. I don’t know about you, but that’s the bit that gets me out of bed in the morning.

Bethan Blakeley is research and customer experience manager at SimpliSafe UK

This article was first published in the July 2024 issue of Impact