storytelling with data podcast

Join Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic as she shares how AI can quietly flatten your data stories. You’ll learn why AI tends to smooth over the tension that makes a story compelling, how to keep the sharp edges that move your specific audience, and practical ways to stay in control—from analog brainstorming to sharper prompts. The goal: use AI as a thought partner without letting it dilute your perspective.

Show notes: https://...

Join data storyteller Alli Torban as she shares a very common slide title mistake: using questions as your slide titles. You'll learn why question-based titles can divide your audience's attention, how to write a better title, and a simple bonus tip for making both your slide titles and chart titles work together. It's a small change that can make your presentations much easier to understand.

Show notes: https://www.storytellingwith...

Do you have to be a designer to create better visuals?

Join data storytellers Alex Velez and Alli Torban as they share practical ways to train your design eye by studying great examples, recreating charts, and seeking feedback—all while making intentional design decisions that help your audience understand your message faster. If you've ever thought, "I'm just not a designer," this episode will show you where to begin.

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Can "nothing changed" still be a compelling data story?

Join data storyteller Alli Torban as she shares why "everything is performing as expected" can still be a meaningful data story. Through three examples from the storytelling with data community, you'll learn practical techniques for making "normal" meaningful by establishing expectations, adding helpful context, and giving your audience confidence to make a decision—even ...

How do you teach data storytelling—and how does that change across disciplines, audiences, and experience levels?

Join data storyteller Amy Esselman and members of the storytelling with data university instructor community as they discuss how they help students move beyond analyzing data to communicating it clearly. You'll hear practical teaching strategies, including hands-on critique, real-world datasets, audience-centered a...

In this special 100th episode, the storytelling with data team looks back at our favorite podcast moments and shares the episodes we'd recommend depending on where you are in your data storytelling journey.

Whether you're learning the fundamentals, trying to create more compelling stories, thinking more strategically, influencing stakeholders, or presenting with confidence, we've curated special playlists to help you find the right ...

Cole and new SWD teammate Alli talk about how to get more comfortable receiving feedback—even if you’re sensitive to critique. They explore how mindset shapes the way you hear feedback, why separating yourself from your work can unlock growth, and how building feedback into your process can help you improve faster. Along the way, they share personal stories—from Cole coaching a fourth-grade presentation to Alli&rs...

In this episode of the storytelling with data podcast, Simon and Amy tackle common presentation challenges submitted by subscribers to the storytelling with data YouTube channel.

They discuss how to turn complex analysis into a clear and engaging story, why storyboarding can help you structure your message before jumping into slides, and how to decide what to include—and what to leave out—when your analysis contains more...

In this episode of the storytelling with data podcast, Amy talks with Shahar Meir, a data executive with more than 20 years of experience leading data teams at companies including Meta and PayPal. Together, they explore what it really takes for data professionals to move beyond producing dashboards and reports to driving meaningful business outcomes.

Shahar shares why technology alone rarely solves an organization’s data chall...

How do you ensure your data visuals are consistently effective—and on brand? In this episode, SWD data storyteller, Simon Rowe chats with Maxine Graze, Senior Data Visualization Engineer at King, about the process of building data visualization style guides. They explore why “structure liberates,” how to balance aesthetics with usability, and why stakeholder feedback is critical. Whether you're designing for dashb...

What if the numbers you work with every day weren’t as neutral as you thought?

In this episode, Mike is joined by Heather Krause, founder of We All Count and longtime quantitative researcher, to unpack a powerful concept: data equity. Together, they explore how every step of a data project—from survey design to chart choices—involves hidden decisions that impact what gets measured, who is represented, and what conc...

Chris Dalla Riva is a musician, data analyst, and the author of Uncharted Territory: What Numbers Tell Us about the Biggest Hit Songs and Ourselves. In this episode, he joins data storyteller Mike Cisneros to talk about musical myths, hidden industry incentives, chart data, and underappreciated hits, as well as the thorny questions about authenticity, categorization, and what it really means to tell an honest story with numbers.

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In this episode of the storytelling with data podcast, Simon chats with Allison Horst—developer advocate at Observable, educator, and beloved data illustrator—to explore the difference between dashboards that get used and those that don’t.

They dig into why so many data products go to waste, the importance of co-creating with your audience, and the overlooked power of early feedback. Allison reflects on her exp...

Data visualization veteran Andy Cotgreave joins host Mike Cisneros for a lively, wide-ranging conversation about the evolution of dashboards, the craft of data communication, and the future of generative AI in analytics. Andy reflects on his early career building “dashboards” in Excel for a demanding boss, how that experience shaped two bestselling books (The Big Book of Dashboards and Dashboards That Deliver), and what...

Asking good questions can help improve our own and others’ work: both when exploring and explaining data. In this rebroadcast of episode 19, Cole covers five smart queries to pose and answer during the analytical process and five more to consider when getting ready to explain that data to others.

We’re sharing this popular episode again as we look ahead to what’s next: Before and After, the fifth book from storytel...

Data storyteller Alex talks with Nadieh Bremer, an award-winning data visualization practitioner, about her new book, Chart: Designing Creative Data Visualizations from Charts to Art.

Nadieh talks about her data visualization journey, from losing passion while creating dashboards to finding joy as she pushed the boundaries of data art. During this journey, she shares her tips for becoming a freelancer, suggestions for add...

In this founder series edition of the storytelling with data podcast, Randy sits down poolside in Antalya, Turkey with Fares Ksebati—CEO and founder of MySwimPro, YouTube creator, and author of Swim Like a Pro and How Not to Drown.

From humble beginnings as a walk-on college swimmer to building one of the world’s most recognized swim coaching platforms, Fares shares the behind-the-scenes journey of scaling a global remo...

In this second installment of our new podcast series, The Founder’s Journey, we sit down with Odun Odubanjo, CEO and founder of Insight7, a platform making qualitative data instantly actionable.

Odun’s story starts in Lagos, Nigeria, where a chance internship at Google Zurich opened a door that would eventually lead to founding multiple startups, scaling a business across Africa, working at Shopify in Canada, and ...