Numbers don't stick. Stories about numbers do.
From memory
Think of the last presentation you saw that was full of data. How much of it do you actually remember? Can you recall a single specific number? What would have made it stick?
Here's a number: 80,000 acres per day. That's the rate of global deforestation.
Now here's the same number: a football pitch of forest disappears every six seconds.
Same data. But only one of them creates a picture in your head. Only one of them will be in your memory tomorrow. The difference isn't the data — it's how you house it.
Each one transforms a forgettable number into a memorable moment.
Attach the number to something the audience already knows. "Our server processes 2 million requests per second — that's more than Google handled in an entire day in 2001."
Make a big number human-scale. Don't say "3.2 million users." Say "If our users formed a city, it would be bigger than Chicago." Bring it down to something a person can picture.
Put two numbers side by side to create tension. "We spend £400,000 a year on recruitment. We spend £12,000 on retention." Let the gap tell the story.
Wrap the number in one person's experience. "That 23% reduction in wait times? For Maria in Phoenix, it meant she got home to her kids an hour earlier every day."
"Our platform reduced processing time by 73%, saving an average of 4.2 hours per employee per week across 12,000 employees."
"Last month, our 12,000 employees got back 50,000 hours. That's the equivalent of 25 people working full-time for a year — except nobody was hired. The system just stopped wasting their time."
Techniques used: The Shrink (50,000 hours → 25 full-time people) and The Human Story (the system stopped wasting their time). The number becomes a character in a tiny narrative.
The rule of one: In any given presentation moment, your audience can hold one number. Not three. Not five. One. Choose the number that matters most, make it breathe, and let it do the work. Every additional number dilutes the one that matters.
Transform raw data into stories people remember.
"Customer churn rate decreased from 8.3% to 2.1% over 18 months."
How would you make this number breathe? Try using The Contrast or The Human Story. Discuss your approach, then write it.
The Contrast + The Human Story: "Eighteen months ago, for every 100 customers who walked through our door, 8 walked out the back. Now it's 2. And one of those 98 who stayed? She just referred her third friend last week."
The abstract percentage becomes a visual (people walking through a door), the improvement becomes a contrast (8 vs 2), and the impact becomes human (the referral).
For each, specify which technique you're using, then rewrite the data as a story.
"Annual revenue grew 340% year-over-year to $47 million."
Technique + your version
"Employee engagement scores improved from 61% to 84%."
Technique + your version
"The average response time to critical incidents dropped from 4 hours to 11 minutes."
Technique + your version
"Our carbon footprint reduced by 12,000 tonnes this year."
Technique + your version
Take a real number from your work and make it unforgettable.
Think of a number you regularly use in your professional communication — a KPI, a result, a projection, a budget figure. Something you need people to remember and act on.
The raw number
The story version (use at least two techniques)
Now deliver it
As if you're in the room where this number matters. Make them feel it.
If this number were the centrepiece of a slide in your next presentation, what would the slide say? Not a chart with six data points — one number, one sentence, maximum impact. Write the slide headline.
Identify the technique. Explain why it works. Connect it to what you know.
For each example, identify which data storytelling technique is at work. Say your answer before revealing.
"If you stacked every form our customers fill out in a year, the pile would reach the top of the Shard. We want to cut that pile down to the height of a lamp post."
The Shrink — an incomprehensible number of forms becomes a physical image (a pile reaching the Shard). Then The Contrast — Shard vs lamp post creates the gap that tells the story of the goal.
"Last year we processed 2.4 billion transactions. To put that in perspective, that's roughly one transaction for every person who used the internet yesterday."
The Anchor — attaching 2.4 billion to something the audience can grasp (global internet users). The number goes from abstract to "oh, that's a lot."
Here's where it all comes together. Pick a number from your professional life and tell a 90-second story that uses:
This is the integration test. Three lessons working together in a single story.
From Lessons 1 and 4 — from memory only.
Lesson 1: Story Structures
1. What's the difference between SCR and BAB? When would you use each?
Lesson 4: Show, Don't Tell
2. What is the Camera Test? Name the three showing techniques.
1. SCR is problem-driven (situation → complication → resolution) — use it when you need to explain what went wrong and what was done about it. BAB is transformation-driven (before → after → bridge) — use it when you need to sell a vision of change.
2. The Camera Test: before saying anything in a story, ask "could a camera film this?" If not, replace the adjective with evidence. Three techniques: replace adjectives with evidence, use sensory anchors, give the number not the judgement.
From memory. No peeking.
1. Name the four data storytelling techniques
2. What is "the rule of one"?
3. Why is "a football pitch every six seconds" more memorable than "80,000 acres per day"?
1. The Anchor (attach to something known), The Shrink (make it human-scale), The Contrast (two numbers side by side), The Human Story (one person's experience).
2. Your audience can hold one number at a time. Choose the number that matters most, make it breathe, and let it do the work. Every additional number dilutes the one that matters.
3. Because the brain stores images, not abstractions. "80,000 acres" is unimaginable — the brain has no picture for it. "A football pitch every six seconds" creates a visual (a known size) and a rhythm (urgency). It passes the Camera Test.
We're halfway through the course. Looking back across all six lessons, which technique has changed how you think about communication the most so far?
How confident are you with that statement right now?
1 = not yet | 5 = absolutely
Next time: The Boardroom Story — structuring presentations as narratives that move people to action.