BIA106 · Data Storytelling for Leaders

Categories: Data & BI
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About Course

Turn analysis into clear, honest stories that help leaders decide: one main message, a logical structure and visuals designed to be understood in seconds.

Advance · 8 hours · 4 lessons, a lab, an assessed assignment and a portfolio piece

Who it is for

Analysts, managers and owners who present data to leadership teams, partners, investors or boards.

Prerequisites

BIA103 or equivalent: able to build charts and dashboards; BIA105 is helpful for presenting uncertainty.

What you will be able to do

  • Define the audience, the decision at stake and a single main message for a data story.
  • Structure a narrative using situation, complication and resolution with the conclusion first.
  • Redesign cluttered charts using decluttering, focus color and action titles.
  • Present uncertainty and limitations honestly and avoid misleading visual techniques.

Lessons

  • Lesson 1 · Audience, decision and the main message
  • Lesson 2 · Structuring the story
  • Lesson 3 · Visual design and honest charts
  • Lesson 4 · Lab and assignment

Lab: From cluttered report to five-slide decision story

You will receive a cluttered monthly report for a regional chain of fitness studios. You will identify the decision leaders face, write the main message, redesign three charts and build a five-slide story with an executive summary, evidence, options, a recommendation and the ask.

Free tools: Google Slides (free) with Google Sheets or Looker Studio charts

Assessed assignment

Using your own analysis from an earlier course or the sample fitness-studio data, create a data story for a leadership audience. Deliver a five-to-seven-slide deck or a two-page written brief, plus before-and-after versions of at least two charts. State the audience, the decision and the main message on the first slide, and include one slide or section that explains uncertainty and limitations.

Criterion Weight What excellent work looks like
Message and audience 25% The decision and audience are explicit; the main message is one clear sentence that a leader could repeat.
Structure 25% The story leads with the conclusion, follows a logical situation-complication-resolution flow and ends with a specific ask.
Visual design 30% Charts are decluttered, use focus color purposefully, carry action titles and are readable in a few seconds.
Honesty 20% Axes, scales and comparisons are fair; uncertainty and data limits are stated plainly.

Portfolio piece

A five-to-seven-slide data story (or two-page brief) with before-and-after chart redesigns that demonstrates your ability to communicate analysis to leaders.

Self-paced, 12-month access. Questions are answered in writing through the student panel. A completion record is issued when you finish the course.

Next step

Continue with BIA107 · Final Project: A Decision Dashboard for a Real Business · 8 hours · $56.00

Continue to the next course

Prefer the whole program? Program in Business Intelligence & AI Decision Making · $277.00 (10% less than buying the courses separately)

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What Will You Learn?

  • Define the audience, the decision at stake and a single main message for a data story.
  • Structure a narrative using situation, complication and resolution with the conclusion first.
  • Redesign cluttered charts using decluttering, focus color and action titles.
  • Present uncertainty and limitations honestly and avoid misleading visual techniques.

Course Content

BIA106 · Data Storytelling for Leaders (8 h)
Turn analysis into clear, honest stories that help leaders decide: one main message, a logical structure and visuals designed to be understood in seconds.

  • Lesson 1 · Audience, decision and the main message
  • Lesson 2 · Structuring the story
  • Lesson 3 · Visual design and honest charts
  • Lesson 4 · Lab and assignment
  • BIA106 Assessment · Data Storytelling for Leaders
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