Data Storytelling - Storyboarding Activity Guide

Material mostly from Dykes (2019)

Jan Lorenz

Data, Visuals, Narrative

The three essential elements of data stories.

Storyboading is about a narrative and how it relates to data and visuals.

• Explain. Narrative coupled with data.
  • What’s happening in the data?
  • What is the context?
  • Guide through the data structure!
  • Why is a particular insight important?
• Enlighten. Visuals applied to data.
  • Some insights are hard with numbers only.
  • Show patterns and outliers otherwise hidden.
• Engage. Narrative and visuals merged together.
  • Engage (or even entertain) an audience.
  • Visuals capture interest, only a story holds attention.

Anatomy of a Data Story

Data Story Continuum

While storyboarding, make your story points with attributes from the right side.

Storyframing before

• Before you communicate insight, you must find one!
• Focus on key dimensions and find key metrics

• While storyboarding, note open points for your storyframing.
• Open points can be discussed in individual meetings next week

Anatomy of a Data Story

Different structure for two parts of your report

• Narrative structure for your slide deck and presentation
• Inverted pyramid structure for the written report

Six essential elements of data stories

• Your project slide deck and presentation matches a Data Presentation
• Your project report matches a Curated Report (and Dashboard)

Differences in Communication

• Your project slide deck and presentation is direct communication
• Your project report is indirect communication

Narrative Structure

Data Storytelling Arc

Compared to other communication models

Examples of story points

Activity: Check if your ideas fit into one of the categories and then improve on that premise. Alternatively: Get inspired by these.

Storyboarding Activity

Storyboarding

• Definition: A story is an account of causally related or connected series of events.
• A narrative always has a one-dimensional linear sequence, but we can decide
  • what is in and
  • in which order.
• Storyboarding is a technique from the movie industry (invented at Disney’s in the 30’s, now part of pre-visualization) which can also be used for data presentations.
• Main purpose: Build the story, not the exact visualizations (rough ideas are enough)!

Activity: Make a story board for your presentation. Follow the steps on the next slides.

Phase A: Story points!

Activity

1. Write down story points and/or brief visual sketches on sticky notes or cards.
   • There is no limit on the initial number of story-point card to generate!
   • Select the best 6 to 10 ones
   • Keep all, maybe you want to replace one
   • You can always create or refine one later
2. Already now you can play with your story points to search for a compelling story.

• Arrange them in order
• Replace, combine, refine, and reshuffle them
• Use them to tell the story
• Scrutinize and iterate your story

Phase B: Storyboarding!

Activity: Realize these steps in your storyboard.

• Step 1: Identify your “Aha” moment (main insight)
• Step 2: Find your beginning (the setting and the “hook”)
• Step 3: Select your rising insights (narrative from the hook to the Aha moment)
• Step 4: Conclude with solutions, next steps, empowerment to action, …

When your storyboard is fixed

• write the titles down in your slide deck and
• start working on your final visuals such that they best support your story.