How to create compelling visuals to enhance business presentations. What does it mean to tell a business story and how to do it effectively with data.

1. The Art of Data Visualization
Business Storytelling
Dr. Andres Fortino
Presentation to
NYU School of Professional Studies
April 19,2018

2. “Numbers have an important story to tell.
They rely on you to give them a clear and
convincing voice.”
Stephen Few
“Visualizations act as a campfire around
which we gather to tell stories.”
Al Shalloway

3. Telling the Right Story –
Telling the Story Right
• A well designed visualization:
– Gives an immediate and profound impression
– Cuts through the clutter of data complexity
• Process:
1. Decide what the story is – define your objective
What are the business points you are trying to make?
2. Determine what data to include and exclude
What data is going to make your point?
3. Design visualizations to convey a meaning
What is the best chart to show your point with that data?

4. Use Your Audience’s Brain
John Medina

5. Use Brain Rule No. 5 – Attention
To Create Great Presentations
• 10 minute each session
• or 20 minutes = 2 X 10 minute sessions
• PowerPoint slides as props
• 3 minutes per slide

6. Use Visuals to Deliver the Facts
1. “Let me tell you what I found”
• 1 slide, 2 minutes
• Bullet points
2. “Let me show you the evidence”
• 3 slides, 9 minutes
• Charts, tables
3. “This is the conclusion I came to”
• 1 slide, 1 minute
• Bullet point

7. For a 20 minute session
• Use the same rules
• Concatenate 2 X 10 minute sessions
• Use “hook”, story, to stitch together to “wake
up” audience
– 3 minutes

8. VISUAL STORYTELLING
The Art of Data Visualization

9. Visual Storytelling
• A picture is worth a thousand words
– Does the visual make a clear point that would take
a lot of words to convey?
– What is the point of the visual?
– Did I get the point?
– Is the story clear?
– Do I understand the import of the point the visual
is trying to make?

10. Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale
Little Red Riding Hood
1445 words

11. A picture is worth 1,000 words
• Can you create a data visual to reveal the data
in the 1445-word Red Riding Hood Grimm
fairy tale?
• How would you do it in one picture?

13. A picture is worth 1,000 words
• Rather than use 1,000 words to describe the
point of your data – show it!
– We are working with business issues
– Your have data that points to the direction the
managers should take on the issues
– Rather than describe the facts – draw a picture
• Not just by presenting the data
– Not: “Let the data speak for itself”
– Rather: “Tell your story” with the data

14. The point of the visual is to make a
business point
• The data-driven visual has to convey the point
unambiguously
– Usually one point per visual
– Or several, if in a dashboard
• It’s a business point
– It’s tied to business metrics
– It’s most effective when tied to fundamental metrics
like KPIs and CSFs
– Most effective when dealing with financial
implications

15. Avoid The Analysis Journey
• As analysts we are understandably proud of
our analysis work
• Sometimes we want to share the story of our
analysis journey…
• Resist the temptation!
• Choose the graphs produced from the analysis
that best support the business story that
matters to the audience – it’s about their
journey, not yours

16. What’s the point of this principle?
• For a data visual to be most successful
The point your visual makes should be very clear, that’s the
story you are telling
• When critiquing yours and a peer’s visual ask:
– What is the point of the visual?
– Did I get the point?
– Is the story clear?
– Do I understand the import of the point the visual is trying to
make?
– If not, what can be done to improve being clear on the point of
the data?
– Is the story told in graphs about the business story or about the
analysis journey?

17. VISUAL PROPS
The Art of Data Visualization

18. Visual as Props in Storytelling
• A data visual should not tell the whole story
but be a prop to be used by the storyteller
– Charts support the storyteller
– Charts are not the whole story
– Charts complement the storyteller by
summarizing complex data in a single image
– Have we minimized the infographic elements
(tendency to tell the whole story) in a chart?

19. Visuals as Props – Enhances the Story
• Which of these alternatives is more effective
from the audience's point of view?
A. If you were sitting in the
audience, would you like to hear
about a holiday in Japan?
B. Or would you rather hear about
the visit and see a few carefully
chosen iconic photographs that
support your story?

20. A picture as a prop has few words
• The story (making the argument) is delivered
orally or in written prose by the storyteller,
the presenter
• The data visual in that case should be
streamlined to deliver complex data analysis
conclusions succinctly to support the
presenter, the presentation, the written prose,
the oral arguments, not supplant the
presenter

21. The visual supports the story
• Analysis often produces many views of the
data, many graphs
• Out of the many select the few that best
exemplify the conclusions of the analysis – the
story you bring to the audience

22. A world without pictures
• Imagine explaining something like the current
weather patterns, or the fluctuation of the US
dollar over the past year without using visual
aids, diagrams or graphs.
• It's tough
• It's not impossible but it is definitely a challenge.
• When you learn how to use props as part of your
presentation or written piece, you are giving your
audience much more
• The charts add value

23. What’s the point of this principle?
• For a data visual to be most successful
The data visual to support a presentation should be
a prop and not a self-contained story
• When critiquing yours and a peer’s visual ask:
– Is the visual a prop?
– Have the textual elements that tell a story been
minimized?
– Is the graph a visual prop or an infographic?
– Have the infographic elements been minimized?
– Have the most important analysis graphs been
selected to support the business story?

24. TITLE
The Art of Data Visualization

25. What’s in a title?
• McKinsey: A better way to title charts
– Are you using the title of the chart to make your
point, to tell your story?
– Did you use the McKinsey method of titling to
best advantage?
– Are you using direct labeling rather than legends
where appropriate?

26. There is a a Better Way to Title Charts
• Write a clear headline that explains the main idea
of your chart
• It’s common to title a chart with a “Title” at the
top, such as “Marketing Objectives”, or “Second
Quarter Projections” – not effective
• Titles usually serve as signposts to tell you where
you are, but they don’t offer explanations of the
idea on your visual
• There is a better way to help your audience
understand more clearly

27. Use Signaling Theory
• Research findings tell us that people learn better when
material is organized with clear outlines and headings
– The Signaling Effect.
• Instead of writing a Title, write a Headline that explains the
main idea of the chart
– Tells your story – makes your point
• Just as in newspapers, write your headlines in active voice,
with a subject and verb.
– Summarize the single overriding idea of the slide in clear and
conversational language.
• One technique to practice headlines is to look at your slide,
then turn to someone else and tell them the main idea of
the slide.
– That’s your headline

28. Titling charts helps audience get the point
$-
$20,000
$40,000
$60,000
$80,000
$100,000
$120,000
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Annual Sales
TYPICAL CHART TITLING
$-
$20,000
$40,000
$60,000
$80,000
$100,000
$120,000
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Sales Increase in Warmer Months
“MCKINSEY RULE” TITLING
See how the McKinsey titling rule helps audience get the answer to the framed question
immediately: “Do our sales increase in warmer months?”

29. You try it
• See if you can improve
this chart
• It was presented in an
Economist article:
– https://goo.gl/gqUi22
• Improve the title of the
chart

30. What’s the point of this principle?
• For a data visual to be most successful
The title of the chart should convey the point you are
trying to make with the chart
• When critiquing yours and peer’s visuals ask:
– Are you using the title of the chart to make your point, to
tell your story?
– Did you use the McKinsey method of titling to best
advantage?
– Are you using direct labeling rather than legends where
appropriate?

31. To Conclude: Telling the Right Story
• A well designed visualization:
– Gives an immediate and profound impression
– Cuts through the clutter of data complexity
• Process:
1. Decide what the story is–define your objective
What are the business points you are trying to make?
2. Determine what data to include and exclude
What data is going to make your point?
3. Design visualizations to convey a meaning
What is the best chart to show your point with that data?

32. “Numbers have an important story to tell.
They rely on you to give them a clear and
convincing voice.”
Stephen Few
“Visualizations act as a campfire around
which we gather to tell stories.”
Al Shalloway

33. Additional Courses
• Professor Fortino is offering two NYU courses
this summer at the School of Professional
Studies:
– The Art of Data Visualization
– Statistical Foundations for Data Visualization

34. For more information
please contact:
Dr. Andres Fortino
Fortino Global Education
agfortino@gmail.com
845.242.7614