Intrigue first, introduce second
Intrigue first, introduce second
Three creative ways to begin your next (data) presentation
Hi, my name is Evelina Judeikytė. I’m a data storyteller and designer and I live in Paris, France. It’s a real honour to be invited to speak at your conference. Today, we’ll talk about what makes a good chart.
Yawn. 🥱 Did this introduction put you to sleep? I don’t blame you. This is the most basic (not to say, boring) opening I could come up with for a conference talk. Unfortunately, I hear similar introductions rather often, and I’m sure you do too. Speakers begin by introducing themselves before they mention anything of interest for the audience. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the audience doesn’t care that much about you, your job or your life. They care about what you can teach them. They want to learn and to be inspired.
So let’s look at three creative ways to open your next presentation that won’t make your audience yawn.
The story
People love stories. I know that. You know that. Everyone knows that. So why not use one as an opening? It’s an easy-to-follow yet compelling means to invite your listeners into your world and to start making a point. At the beginning of his TED talk called The best stats you’ve ever seen, Hans Rosling shares his teaching experience. Here is an excerpt:
About 10 years ago, I took on the task to teach global development to Swedish undergraduate students. That was after having spent about 20 years, together with African institutions, studying hunger in Africa. So I was sort of expected to know a little about the world. And I started, in our medical university, Karolinska Institute, an undergraduate course called Global Health. But when you get that opportunity, you get a little nervous. I thought, these students coming to us actually have the highest grade you can get in the Swedish college system, so I thought, maybe they know everything I'm going to teach them about. <…>
How do you feel? Do you want to learn more? To find out what the end of the story is and why it’s important? I bet you do. I strongly recommend watching the whole talk to get all the answers! Hint: Hans Rosling realised that most people knew little about the world, and made it his mission to change that.
If you want another great example, watch how Shonda Rhimes opened her (also super famous) TED talk on saying yes to everything for one year.
The visual
We may love visuals almost as much as we love stories. Or perhaps we just need them to make sense of the world. Either way, introducing a visual aid right off the bat can be another powerful opening for a talk. Show a visual, pause, and then explain it. Choose a compelling chart or image that will make the audience curious to learn more. At the onset of her TED talk How we can find ourselves in data, Giorgia Lupi shows this visual and says:
This is what my last week looked like.
She then moves on to explaining the chart and what she does, drawing a beautiful parallel between herself, data, and data humanism that she advocates for. So next time you’re presenting, can a visual help you introduce the topic elegantly?
The prop
Are you presenting a product? A solution to a problem? A design? Can you bring it with you on stage? My favourite example of using a prop in a talk is Bill Gates’ presentation on malaria and education. After describing the problem of funding, he literally released mosquitos into the audience and said:
Malaria is of course transmitted by mosquitos. I brought some here <…> we’ll let those roam around a little bit.
The listeners were thrilled (and perhaps just a little scared?!). Bill Gates certainly grabbed and held their attention for the remainder of his stage time. Can you think of something similar? It doesn’t have to be insects; any physical object can do, really. When we were practicing data presentations with employees at Dior last month, one group brought the physical perfume bottle as a prop, and it worked great.
I’m convinced that a successful opening can make or break a presentation. But just to be clear, you can introduce yourself. I’m not saying you should never mention who you are or that you’re excited to be on stage. All I’m saying is that it shouldn’t be the very first thing you utter. Take a look at how I did it during my DataFest talk in 2020: I asked the audience a rhetorical question first, and introduced myself second.
Don’t be afraid to get creative with your next opening, as long as it supports your key message.
As always, thanks so much for reading The Plot.
See you next week!
— Evelina
Resource corner
Nightingale issue #2. Have you ordered your print version yet? I hear there are only a few copies of this edition left, and I can assure you that its content is rich and the design stunning.
Elevate dataviz community. The membership price dropped significantly this year, which could be a great time for you to join this creative space.
Can you X-ray dataviz? A new podcast episode by Alli Torban on how to organise your dataviz inspirations.
Did you know that I run my own data design studio called Parabole? 📡 If you like The Plot and my approach to data storytelling, do reach out for help with design projects, trainings or consulting services. Just shoot me an email at evelina@parabole.studio and we’ll get things going! See you soon :)
I keep a list of great first lines in my journal. Here's a few:
STEVE JOBS: "Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along. First of all, you’re fortunate if you get to work on one of these in your lifetime." https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=x7qPAY9JqE4
SETH GODIN: "We’ll start with the good news: there’s no golf in Utah. That’s good because it’s the worst spectator sport."https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJU3mBb8lLw
ANNE LAMOTT: My seven-year-old grandson sleeps just down the hall from me, and he wakes up a lot of mornings and he says, "You know, this could be the best day ever." And other times, in the middle of the night, he calls out in a tremulous voice, "Nana, will you ever get sick and die?"
ELIZABETH GILBERT: I am a writer. Writing books is my profession but it's more than that, of course. It is also my great lifelong love and fascination. And I don't expect that that's ever going to change. But, that said, something kind of peculiar has happened recently in my life and in my career, which has caused me to have to recalibrate my whole relationship with this work.
CARMEN SIMON: A few years ago I started using a scientific neuroscience and business approach to a question I consider to be very sobering. How much do people remember about your presentations. I have been noticing two trends: too much information and a lot of content is the same...
Great post, Evelina! Love the examples from so many difference spheres :)
I'd add a particularly interesting example: Shirley Wu's keynote at EYEO 2022 doesn't open directly into a story or prop, but rather she sets the tone of how vulnerable of a space she's going to create. But she then delays introductions in an interesting way, too: she dives straight into her childhood, and only AFTER that gives your professional overview. I feel like that uses the thoughts from this piece in several ways.
Lately I've been also thinking about this in the frame of cognitive vs embodied understanding. I think our bodies (our feelings etc) are way more computationally powerful than our rational mind. When we open with something vivid in a presentation, we engage all those intelligences. It sets the context for the cognitive work to happen on top of a more embodied connection.
In the Western/Mechanistic paradigm, we don't like talking about "touchy-feeling" things like how we feel in our body, but posts like this remind me how crucial it actually is! :)