storytelling with data podcast · storytelling with data

storytelling with data podcast: #74 planning your presentation

·49 min·3 clips

A business presentation can use plot, tension, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

1. storytelling with data podcast: #74 planning your presentation focuses on planning presentation content before opening PowerPoint or Keynote. 2. Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic hosts the episode as the voice behind Storytelling with Data, and her planning examples come from January, school calendars, vacations, and business goals. 3. The episode asks what should happen before slide design, and the answer is to define the message, plan the structure, and set the audience up for action. 4. Cole separates exploratory analysis from explanatory communication and says the episode is about the explanatory stage after the analysis is done. 5. She defines the 'big idea' as the thing an audience remembers after leaving the room, and she says it should be a complete sentence. 6. The big idea should include a point of view, what is at stake, and timing, so the message is not just a generalization. 7. Cole says the most important part is switching from the speaker's perspective to the audience's perspective and asking what they will care about. 8. She introduces the Big Idea Worksheet, a single-page tool that she likes to print and fill out with a pen. 9. The worksheet starts by narrowing the audience, sometimes to a specific group or even one person, to sharpen what to include and exclude. 10. She recommends testing the positive and negative extremes, then backing off to something realistic and compelling. 11. Cole says people often go too far into 'sky is falling' territory or not far enough into the downstream consequences. 12. Storyboarding comes next, and she describes it as a low-tech visual outline made with sticky notes before creating slides. 13. Her storyboarding method starts with brainstorming one idea per sticky note for five or 10 minutes, including data, context, action steps, analyses, examples, and stories. 14. She then edits ruthlessly, discarding ideas that do not support the big idea and sending optional material to the appendix. 15. Cole says organizing ideas can reveal a storyline, and she warns that the most common chronological structure is not always the best one for the audience. 16. She encourages trying different flows, including starting with the ending, getting feedback from colleagues, and using low-risk settings like a weekly team meeting. 17. Cole also maps the narrative arc to business communication, with plot as context, tension as the stakes, and the ending as what the audience can do next. 18. After planning, she moves ideas into PowerPoint by using slide sorter view and writing takeaway titles that state the so what in active language. 19. Listeners who like practical presentation frameworks, sticky-note planning, and audience-first communication will get the most out of this episode. 20. Listeners who want a highly theoretical episode or a deep design tutorial may skip it.

As heard by us

The strongest data talks start before a single slide is built.

Planning a presentation is treated as a communication choice, not a formatting chore. Cole starts with a familiar January habit of setting calendars, goals, and work priorities, then applies that same discipline to presentations: think ahead, shape the story on purpose, and give…

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Plan the story before you open PowerPoint.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from storytelling with data podcast