Mastering Technical Storytelling: Key Steps for Effective Communication
Learn how to become a skilled technical storyteller through practical steps such as choosing the right medium, engaging your audience effectively, and reinforcing key messages. Understand the importance of captivating your audience's attention and ensuring your message is well-received. Enhance your communication skills and storytelling techniques. Overcome challenges and optimize your storytelling approach to convey complex technical information clearly and compellingly.
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How to Become a Technical Storyteller Paige Kassalen
Why does it matter? Remember that the goal is not just to communicate the message, but to make sure that message is received
Agenda Choose the best medium for communicating your message Step 1 Remind the audience what you re talking about Step 2 Let the slide do the work for the audience Step 3 Build a document that speaks for itself Step 4 Quantify everything Step 5 3
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 Step 1: Choose the best medium for communicating your message
Choose the best medium for communicating your message Why does it matter? Competing for attention Overcoming short attention spans Increases credibility 5
Choose the best medium for communicating your message How to choose the best medium? & Things to Remember: Hone in on what your audience responds to Find something that will be dynamic and help you break up blocks of text 6
Choose the best medium for communicating your message Final Note Challenges to look out for: Your audience s preferred medium might be different than your own You might think you don t have an eye for design You might not save enough time to strategize about how to communicate your message 7
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 Step 2: Remind the audience what you re talking about
Remind the audience what youre talking about Why and How? Why does it matter? You are very close to the information, but your stakeholder is not It gives everyone a moment to reacclimate to the topic before jumping in Your audience will be able to follow along easier and help you achieve a decision quicker Newcomers can quickly get up to speed with the discussion How to remind the audience what you re talking about? Include an intro slide for the background of the project Read out the notes from the last meeting Pause after the first few minutes to make sure everyone is on the same page 9
Remind the audience what youre talking about Example Background Slide Start with the overarching objective of the project Call out any prior work and the rationale for completing the project Show the project s status in relation to the overall timeline Let the audience know what you will be discussing today 10
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 Step 3: Let the slide do the work for the audience
Let the slide do the work for the audience Bad Example Sales 2.0 Q1 2.4 Product 3 4.3 Project 2 Product 1 2.0 Q2 4.4 5.6 2.8 Q3 6.3 6.1 3.0 Q4 4.5 6 12
Let the slide do the work for the audience Good Example Include call-out boxes 2021 Sales Revenue Across 3 Main Products 2.0 Product 2 more than doubled its sales in Q2 compared to Q1 Q1 2.4 Product 3 4.3 Project 2 2.0 Product 1 Quarters in 2021 Q2 4.4 5.6 Quarter 3 was the only quarter where Product 1 did not have the most sales 2.8 Q3 6.3 6.1 3.0 Q4 4.5 Product 3 was the only product where revenue continued to grow throughout the year 6 Sales Revenue ($M) Have proper labels on your graph 13
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 Step 4: Build a document that speaks for itself
Build a document that speaks for itself Bad Example
Build a document that speaks for itself Why and How? Why does it matter? Others can build off you work months or years later People who did not attend the presentation can understand what happened How to build a document that speaks for itself? Create more of a science fair poster instead of just a slide Include footnotes to answer questions like: Where is this data from? What assumptions were made? Include a background slide
Build a document that speaks for itself Good Example
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 Step 5: Quantify everything
Quantify Everything How to Quantify Everything Don t Do We ve seen this issue 172 times (86%) in the last 200 samples taken in from 4/5/22 4/20/22 This issue has come up a lot recently To improve performance, the team tried 15 experiments by changing variables related to data type and process set up, but had no success We exhausted all options for improvement, but nothing worked The project can be considered a success because we maximized performance in the 3 target areas and finished up under budget The project was successful 19
Quantify Everything Final Note Quantifying everything will take more work, but will help your audience arrive at your conclusion faster A lot of words are fine if they add value Your message will come across more credible because you clearly put things into perspective 20
Summary The goal of becoming a technical storyteller should be to make sure your message is received Topic Takeaway Choose the best medium for communicating your message Your preferred method of communication might be different from your audience s Step 1 Step 2 Remind the audience what you re talking about Not everyone is as close to the project as you are Call-out boxes ensure your audience receives the message you are sharing Step 3 Let the slide do the work for the audience Your document should be able to be referenced months and years later without a voiceover Step 4 Build a document that speaks for itself Step 5 Quantify everything A lot of words are fine if they add value 9/13/2024 21
Thank you Paige Kassalen paige.Kassalen.us@ieee.org
