The Power of Story
Lesson 7 from: Data Storytelling: Deliver Insights via Compelling StoriesBill Shander
The Power of Story
Lesson 7 from: Data Storytelling: Deliver Insights via Compelling StoriesBill Shander
Lessons
Introduction
1Class Introduction
03:29 2Do The Exercises
00:37 3Communication Challenges and Solutions
05:20 4Exercise: 4X4 Model
04:31 5Exercise Solution: 4X4 Model
03:25 6Introduction - Quiz
Thinking Like a Communicator
The Power of Story
06:48 8Six Ways to Tap Into Your Inner Storyteller
12:32 9The Importance of Understanding Your Audience
03:42 10How to Understand Your Audience
04:35 11How to Embrace Emotion (to review)
04:38 12How to Tap Into Your Inherent Creativity
05:55 13Exercise: An Emotional Story
01:29 14Exercise Solution: An Emotional Story
01:12 15Thinking Like a Communicator - Quiz
Telling Data Stories
16Basic Data Analytics Tactics
08:54 17Basic Journalism Tactics
04:56 18Defining Your Story
05:37 19Sketching and Storyboarding
07:05 20Use Your Words
04:20 21Telling Data Stories - Quiz
Essential Design Principles
22The Power of Visuals
07:44 23How to Pick the Right Chart for Your Data
05:19 24Exercise: Chart Selection
06:27 25Exercise: Visualization
02:59 26Basic Chart Designs Principles
08:21 27Research Driven Design Principles
06:27 28Exercise: A Data Story
03:50 29Essential Design Principles - Quiz
And Now What?
30Great Data Stories for Your Inspiration
05:53 31Tips and Tricks
03:53 32How to Sell Data Storytelling Services
03:56 33A Conversation Guide for Talking to Prospects About Data Storytelling Projects
05:30 34Course Summary
02:48Final Quiz
35Final Quiz
Lesson Info
The Power of Story
in this section, we're going to talk about how important storytelling is to humanity and how to tap into your inner storyteller accessing creativity and emotion to allow you to really connect with your audience. No one knows how long human language has existed. Some say some of our ancestors over a million years ago might have had language. Others say it had to have developed in the last 200,000 years or so along with the arrival of homo sapiens. The earliest evidence of written symbolic language dates back at least 75-80, years, as evidenced by these carvings found in Bloomberg's cave in South Africa, whatever the time frame, I think we can all agree that humans have been communicating with each other for a long time and for most of that time, tens of thousands of years, at least that communication largely took the form of storytelling. We told each other stories around the fire to share lessons about where to find food, which foods were safe to eat, which animals to avoid and much mo...
re. These stories were more than entertainment. They played a critical role in our ability to survive as a species as lisa Kron says. And wired for story story as it turns out was crucial to our evolution. More so than opposable thumbs. Opposable thumbs. Let us hang on Stories told us what to hang on to a story is what enabled us to imagine what might happen in the future and so prepare for it. You may not think of it this way, but this is really important to understand. We've been listening to you and telling each other stories for at least tens of thousands of years, this is how we have evolved to learn from each other. We've only been using other communications forms for the past few decades or centuries. Story is something we need. As Kron says, we actually crave story and she's not alone. If you look at it closely enough, storytelling is something that every single culture invests an immense amount of resources into. Why why do we put so much energy into something that provides no direct advantage? Michael Austin, author of useful Fictions, says the reason is that stories helped teach us how to confront and resolve anxiety. One example he gives is the game you play with your kids where you chase them around and shriek, I'm gonna catch you and eat you. That's terrifying. If you think about it literally, but no kid is actually ever afraid. They run away giggling. And when you catch them you don't actually eat them. Right. That game, that story has taught that little child that danger can be escaped. The anxiety that's introduced has been resolved. This is the same thing that happens when we watch horror movies and when we read the news, we're learning how to resolve anxiety. As Austin says, anxiety is the most adaptive emotion. So a story serves a critical evolutionary imperative and because they've helped us survive as a species. We have continued telling stories for millennia and during that time we have all learned exactly what stories look like, what they're made of, what their structure and attributes are. So when you're telling stories whether data stories or not, you have to be sure to include these attributes or your audience will wonder even subconsciously where those missing pieces are, what are those attributes? It's just a few things really, all stories are linear as a species, we can only do one thing at a time. Listen to one message at a time, say one thing at a time. Stories happen one bit at a time, events following on previous events because they're linear stories always have a beginning, middle and an end. And within that structure there tends to be some more nuanced, like at the beginning, the action picks up slowly building over time to some sort of climax which is then resolved, leading to a conclusion. Stories also all incorporate emotion. As Austin says, one of the key emotions, perhaps the most important one is anxiety, there are others. But anxiety may be the most important reason for the power of story. So it's worth thinking about stories also have a plot and a protagonist and a central idea what lisa Kron defines as the story question that challenge the protagonist has to overcome to achieve his or her goal and this results in a transformation of the character. This is the so what of every story, how can I escape the bear and what will happen to me in the process. This is how the emotion and anxiety all plays out in a way that helps me learn that helps the species survive. Emotion is an important ingredient worth discussing for a moment longer think about a newspaper story about a fire. It could be written in the classic journalistic sense with zero emotion. At two a.m. Saturday a fire broke out at 55 main ST five people in the building escaped without injury. The fire was extinguished by 3:30 a.m. By the four men that are responded from firehouse three. The investigation has revealed faulty wiring as the likely cause this is boring but a very common journalistic summary in a local paper, but a better writer with more space in the paper might have treated this very differently. Susan jones was dreaming about helping her son attach his booty near for his upcoming prom. When the ceiling caved in on her master bedroom, she awoke in a panic aware that there was a smell in the air but unable to identify it for the first few seconds once she realized it was smoke and she felt the heat of the flames which were sending sparks out the bathroom window toward the stars. She shot out of bed screaming to her husband and kids to run out of the house dot dot dot that second story has all of the key ingredients missing from the first story. It has a protagonist and a plot. It has emotions right, fear and anxiety and the story question which in this case is pretty simple in that it's an action story, how can you get out of the house before it burns down? That story will be more widely read and more easily remembered than the first fact driven story. There was something else in that second story, there were additional triggers that are very powerful. Studies have shown that certain words like building our neutral words, they reside only in the language center of the brain, but others like smoke and heat will trigger other sensory receptors. So when the story mentions that Susan jones could smell the smoke, the reader will not just understand that logically, but his or her sensory receptors in the portion of the brain devoted to smell will actually be triggered in addition to the language receptors. In other words, the brain will essentially act as though it is smelling that smoke. Same when that second story talked about feeling the heat, the more parts of the brain that you can stimulate when you're telling stories, the more likely your audience will be able to remember your story, this is huge hit the emotions and the senses as much as you can to make stories with impact. In the next video, we'll talk about how to tap into your innate storytelling ability