1.
Communicating Stories
Ray Poynter
17 March 2022

2.
Sponsors
Communication

3.
Finding and Communicating the
Story in the Data
Ray Poynter
To be published mid-to-late 2022

4.
Agenda
1. Storyfinding Framework
2. Understanding the Do!
3. Context is key
4. Why stories?
5. Think, Feel, Do!
6. Practice and Rehearse
7. The follow up
8. Q & A

5.
The Framework
1. Define the Problem
2. Assess the Wider Context
3. Find the Big Picture
4. Extract the Key Findings
5. Determine the Message
6. Create the Story
7. Communicate the Story
8. Follow Up

6.
There
should
always be
a Do!
•Launch the product
•Choose option A
•Address customer dissatisfaction
with check-in
•Do more research
•Cancel the project
•Keep doing exactly what you are
doing …

7.
Context is King
The story has to tell the client what needs to be known, in order to do what needs to
be done, in ways that the client is able to believe and able to interpret
Factors
• What is known, what is believed, and what was predicted?
• How important are the results perceived to be? (Financial accounts are super
important, so they can be boring, tabular, with no articulated story)
• How complex is the message?
• What do people need to understand? What do they need to remember? What
can they look up later?
• Is it Good News or Bad News?
• What format is the communication (e.g. presentation, report, email etc)
• What ‘rules’ does the client have?

8.
Good News versus Bad News
If the message is
straightforward, likely to be
understood, likely to be
believed, and likely to be acted
on – the story can be simple
We test six ads, the preferred ad is
a clear winner, the reason is clear,
and there are no caveats (Good
News) – the reporting is
straightforward
If the message is Bad News, the
creation and communication of
the story is more critical (and
difficult)
We test an idea that has been our
client’s pet project for two years.
The results show it is a terrible
idea, irredeemable, and should be
abandoned. We have to change the
client’s mind in the face of
reluctance to believe the evidence
and logic

9.
Good News versus Bad News
If the message is
straightforward, likely to be
understood, likely to be
believed, and likely to be acted
on – the story can be simple
We test six ads, the preferred ad is
a clear winner, the reason is clear,
and there are no caveats (Good
News) – the reporting is
straightforward
If the message is Bad News, the
creation and communication of
the story is more critical (and
difficult)
We test an idea that has been our
client’s pet project for two years.
The results show it is a terrible
idea, irredeemable, and should be
abandoned. We have to change the
client’s mind in the face of
reluctance to believe the evidence
and logic

10.
Why Stories?
They help
deliver the Do!
Easier to
understand
Easier to be
engaged with
Easier to
remember
More likely to
change minds

11.
For Example

12.
Example – USA Movie Popcorn
Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).
In 1994 it revealed that
Medium bag popcorn = 37 grams saturated fat.
USDA (United States Department for Agriculture).
Recommended maximum = 20 grams.
0
19
38
Grams Fat
37
20
USDA Max
Popcorn

13.
Creating Emotion
=
37 grams
+
+
37 grams
We will visit this example again later

14.
Answering the business question
The Business Question
It is 10am and I am in my office in the centre of Nottingham. At 3pm I
have a meeting at the British Library in London. How should I get there?

15.
Less is More
Remove anything that is not David

16.
Answering the business question
The Business Question
It is 10am and I am in my office in the centre of Nottingham. At 3pm I
have a meeting at the British Library in London. How should I get there?
The Answer (two choices A or B)
A) The timetable, which does contain the information you need,
somewhere.
B) Walk to Nottingham station (10 minutes), catch the 12:45 train to
London (which is a direct train), it arrives at 2:25. The British Library
is across the road from the station, approx. 5 minutes away.

17.
When is the timetable the right answer?

18.
The difference between
means and ends
Means
Engagement
Storytelling
Visualisation
End
Action
We should make presentations and reports more engaging.
But the reason we do it is to achieve real results.

19.
Do!
Think
Feel
Combine Think (the facts) with
Feel (the emotional message),
to create the Do! (the actions we
want to happen).

20.
Finding the Do!
Business
Question
Business
Context
Your data
and analysis

21.
Finding the Do!
Business
Question
Business
Context
Your data
and analysis
Do!

22.
Changing Behaviour is Hard
From Behavioural Economics, we know changing behaviour is hard.
The ‘facts’ do not often change behaviour.

23.
Changing Behaviour
Inform the rider
(Think)
Motivate the elephant
(Feel)
Shape the path
(Do!)

24.
The Think
Your data
and analysis

25.
The Think
Business
Question

26.
The Think
Business
Question
Business
Context

27.
The Think
Business
Question
Business
Context
Your data
and analysis

28.
The Think
Business
Question
Business
Context
Your data
and analysis
Think
->Do!

29.
The Do! Defined by the Think
Do!
Feel
Think

30.
The Do! Created by the Feel
Do!
Feel
Think

31.
Think,
Feel,
Do
Think
• The facts are still important, they are the
platform that everything else is built on.
Feel
• People rarely change their beliefs or
behaviour because of the facts – change
happens at the emotional level.
Do
• Every story should be aimed at creating
an outcome, an action that the teller
wants the recipient to do.

32.
Example – USA Movie Popcorn
Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).
In 1994 it revealed that
Medium bag popcorn = 37 grams saturated fat.
USDA (United States Department for Agriculture).
Recommended maximum = 20 grams.
0
19
38
Grams Fat
37
20
USDA Max
Popcorn

33.
Creating Emotion
=
37 grams
+
+
37 grams

34.
Movie
Popcorn
Think,
Feel,
Do
Think, the ‘facts’:
• Popcorn has saturated fat, saturated
fat is not good, there are limits
Feel
• 3 junk meals in one day is dumb/
gross
Do
• When you are about to buy popcorn,
think about all that fat, feel a bit
sick/scared, buy something else

35.
Movie Popcorn Data
About double your daily fat
allowance
Visual Story
A day’s worth of unhealthy food
Robust
Simplification

36.
Movie
Popcorn
What was
left out?
• Other things in the popcorn, e.g. salt
& sugar
• Large bag of popcorn
• Other foods eaten in movie theatres
• Other comparators, e.g. normal daily
meal

37.
Separating the Signal
from the Noise
Signal
Anything that answers the
business question or helps us
communicate the answer
Noise
Anything that is not signal

38.
Signal & Noise
Air Traffic Controller
Signal
Height
Speed
Heading
Noise
Airline
Number on board
Origin

39.
Signal & Noise
Immigration Manager
Noise
Height
Speed
Heading
Signal
Airline
Number on board
Origin

40.
Storytelling
Devices

41.
Narrative Flow
• The narrative flow is like a stream that
moves from source to destination – and the
key word is flow
• A beginning, middle, and end
• The flow should be linear
• The direction of the presentation should
make sense – at all stages
• Use storytelling devices (humour, personal
anecdotes, interaction etc) to enhance the
flow

42.
What are the key elements?
1. Link to the project objectives
2. ‘Need to know’ not ‘nice to know’
3. Supported by patterns or themes in the data
• Not just a single data point
4. Clear findings
• Try to ensure you are talking about large groups of people
– ideally majorities
For example:
• If men are slightly more interested
• If young people are slightly more interested
• If people in Mumbai are slightly more interested
• Check Young, Men in Mumbai – that may be the key message

43.
The Lead
Nora Ephron
When Harry Met Sally
Sleepless in Seattle
1st Day in Journalism School
5 Ws (Who, What, When, Where & Why?)
Asked to write the Lead for the school newspaper
“The entire school faculty will travel to Sacramento next
Thursday for a colloquium in new teaching methods.
Among the speakers will be anthropologist Margaret
Mead, college president Dr. Robert Maynard Hutchins, and
California Governor Edmund Brown.”
All the students wrote about the 5Ws – good, but not
right.
The Lead?
No school next Thursday!

44.
Useful Advice Not Precision

45.
The Flow
of The
Debrief
In 99% of cases, do not present
the results in the sequence you
collected them
Not in questionnaire order
Find a flow that helps tell the
story
Ranked by importance, or difference, or
impact, or …

46.
Do Not (Normally) use the Questionnaire Sequence
Deaths and Cases Per Million of Popula
ti
on
(un
ti
l 27 September 2020)
Cases Per Million
0
7500
15000
22500
30000
Deaths Per Million
0
175
350
525
700
Brazil France India Japan South Africa UK World
Deaths / 1Million Case / 1Million
Sorted by alphabet
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ - downloaded 27 September 2020

47.
Sort the data by something meaningful
Deaths and Cases Per Million of Popula
ti
on
(un
ti
l 27 September 2020)
Cases Per Million
0
7500
15000
22500
30000
Deaths Per Million
0
175
350
525
700
Brazil USA UK Italy Sweden France South Africa Russia World Germany India Japan China
Deaths / 1Million Case / 1Million
Sorted by declining number of deaths per million
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ - downloaded 27 September 2020

48.
Typical Structure
The Lead /
Elevator Pitch
Executive
Summary
Three themes
T1, T2, T3
Theme 1
Theme 2
Theme 3
Evidence
1a, 1b, 1c
Evidence
2a, 2b, 2c
Evidence
3a, 3b, 3c
Close with the
Do!
Treasure Chest
HT, Mike Sherman

49.
Good and Bad News
There four typical stories
• Good news
• Good news with caveats
• Bad news with some options
• Bad news
Storytelling for these four cases is different
Good news and bad news is defined by what the
client wanted AND what the research finds

50.
Bad News
5 stages of grief
• Anger, Denial, Bargaining,
Depression, Acceptance
One presentation/report rarely tackles
all the stages of bad news
‘Facts’ are rarely enough to persuade
• Emotions are the key – a customer
video can be more powerful than
any amount of analysis
Go back to a point where the
expectations match the findings and
build from there

51.
Use Analogies
• Explaining a joke is like dissecting a frog. You understand it
better but the frog dies in the process.
• Pitching the film: Alien ‘like Jaws in space’
• Pitching YouTube: ‘Flickr for videos’
• ‘AI and big data is like high school sex, everybody is talking
about it, but nobody is actually doing it’

52.
Take one thing away
from the ecosystem and
the whole system
collapses.

53.
Memes

54.
Tip – Collect Examples
Collect your personal set of examples to help turn
‘Think’ into ‘Feel’ to create ‘Do!’

55.
Confusing messages

56.
Practice & Rehearse

57.
The follow up
• Why?
• How?
• When?
• The nice to know stuff
• Dealing with continuous
projects

58.
TLDR?
What is the Do?
What blockers might
stop the Do?
The story delivers the Do,
& avoids the blockers, by
utilising ‘feel’
Follow up

59.
Questions?