Engaging Stakeholders with Your Science Findings

Everyone loves a good story. You should be using your data to tell one every chance you get. The importance of narrative in scientific communication cannot be understated. And that includes communication in traditionally technical environments! One thing that gets beaten into you in graduate school is that a scientific presentation is a technical affair. Communicating science is fact based, it's black and white, here's the data, this is the conclusion, do you have any questions? Actually, I do. Did you think about what story your data could tell before you put your slides together? I know this is a somewhat provocative question because a lot of scientists overlook the importance of telling a story when they present results. But if you want to keep your audience engaged and interested in what you have to say, you should think about your narrative! This is true for a presentation at 'The Mountain Lake Lodge Meeting on Post-Initiation Activities of RNA Polymerases,' the 'ACMG Annual Clinical Genetics Meeting,' or to a class of 16 year old AP Biology Students. The narrative doesn't need to be the same for all of those audiences, BUT IT SHOULD EXIST! There is nothing more frustrating to me than seeing someone give a presentation filled with killer data only to watch them blow it by putting the entire audience to sleep with an arcane technical overview of the scientific method. Please. Tell. A. Story. With. Your. Data. Here's how: 1. Plot - the series of events that drive the story forward to its resolution. What sets the scene, the hypothesis or initial observation? How can the data be arranged to create a beginning, middle, and end? 2. Theme - Good vs Evil, Human vs Virus, Day in the life of a microbe? Have fun with this (even just as a thought experiment) because it makes a big difference. 3. Character development - the team, the protein, gene, or model system 4. Conflict - What were the blockers and obstacles? Needed a new technique? Refuting a previous finding? 5. Climax - the height of the struggle. Use your data to build to a climax. How did one question lead to another and how were any problems overcome? 6. Resolution - What's the final overall conclusion and how was the conflict that was setup in the beginning resolved by what you found? By taking the time to work through what story you can tell, you can engage your entire audience and they'll actually remember what you had to say!

Imagine you've performed an in-depth analysis and uncovered an incredible insight. You’re now excited to share your findings with an influential group of stakeholders. You’ve been meticulous, eliminating biases, double-checking your logic, and ensuring your conclusions are sound. But even with all this diligence, there’s one common pitfall that could diminish the impact of your insights: information overload. In our excitement, we sometimes flood stakeholders with excessive details, dense reports, cluttered dashboards, and long presentations filled with too much information. The result is confusion, disengagement, and inaction. Insights are not our children, we don’t have to love them equally. To truly drive action, we must isolate and emphasize the insights that matter most—those that directly address the problem statement and have the highest impact. Here’s how to present insights effectively to ensure clarity, engagement, and action: ✅ Start with the Problem – Frame your insights around the problem statement. If stakeholders don’t see the relevance, they won’t care about the data. ✅ Prioritize Key Insights – Not all insights are created equal. Share only the most impactful findings that directly influence decision-making. ✅ Tell a Story, Not Just Show Data– Structure your presentation as a narrative: What was the challenge? What did the data reveal? What should be done next? A well-crafted story is more memorable than a raw data dump. ✅ Use Clean, Intuitive Visuals – Data-heavy slides and cluttered dashboards overwhelm stakeholders. Use simple, insightful charts that highlight key takeaways at a glance. ✅ Make Your Recommendations Clear– Insights without action are meaningless. End with specific, actionable recommendations to guide decision-making. ✅ Encourage Dialogue, Not Just Presentation – Effective communication is a two-way street. Invite questions and discussions to ensure buy-in from stakeholders. ✅ Less is More– Sometimes, one well-presented insight can be more powerful than ten slides of analysis. Keep it concise, impactful, and decision-focused. Before presenting, ask yourself: Am I providing clarity or creating confusion? The best insights don’t just inform—they inspire action. What strategies do you use to make your insights more actionable? Let’s discuss! P.S: I've shared a dashboard I reviewed recently, and thought it was overloaded and not actionably created

🟠 Most data scientists (and test managers) think explaining A/B test results is about throwing p-values and confidence intervals at stakeholders... I've sat through countless meetings where the room goes silent the moment a technical slide appears. Including mine. You know the moment when "statistical significance" and "confidence intervals" flash on screen, and you can practically hear crickets 🦗 It's not that stakeholders aren't smart. We are just speaking different languages. Impactful data people uses completely opposite approach. --- Start with the business question --- ❌ "Our test showed a statistically significant 2.3% lift..." ✅ "You asked if we should roll out the new recommendation model..." This creates anticipation and you may see the stakeholder lean forward. --- Size the real impact --- ❌ "p-value is 0.001 with 95% confidence..." ✅ "This change would bring in ~$2.4M annually, based on current traffic..." Numbers without context are just math. They can be in appendix or footnotes. Numbers tied to business outcomes are insights. These should be front and center. --- Every complex idea has a simple analogy --- ❌ "Our sample suffers from selection bias..." ✅ "It's like judging an e-commerce feature by only looking at users who completed a purchase..." --- Paint the full picture. Every business decision has tradeoffs --- ❌ "The test won", then end presentation ✅ Show the complete story - what we gained, what we lost, what we're still unsure about, what to watch post-launch, etc. --- This one is most important --- ✅ Start with the decision they need to make. Then only present the data that helps make **that** decision. Everything else is noise. The core principle at work? Think like a business leader who happens to know data science. Not a data scientist who happens to work in business. This shift in mindset changes everything. Are you leading experimentation at your company? Or wrestling with translating complex analyses into clear recommendations? I've been there. For 16 long years. In the trenches. Now I'm helping fellow data practitioners unlearn the jargon and master the art of influence through data. Because let's be honest - the hardest part of our job isn't running the analysis. It's getting others to actually use it.

There’s a dangerous assumption in the scientific world: facts speak for themselves. They don’t. This is the Enlightenment Fallacy—the belief that truth alone is enough to persuade. Meanwhile, master storytellers use cognitive science, marketing, and repetition to embed ideas into public consciousness. If you want people—investors, customers, or the public—to care about your work, you need more than just the science. This is especially crucial for systemic issues like climate. Here’s where most founders go wrong: → Skipping the process and only showing the results Spending years refining a method but only presenting the final answer leaves people disconnected. Fix: Showing your journey—the hurdles, pivots, and breakthroughs—builds trust and intrigue. → Assuming credibility is implied Grants, peer reviews, and pilot results aren’t obvious to outsiders unless they’re highlighted. Fix: Weaving credibility markers into your story instead of dumping them in a bullet list. → Overpromising without showing the work Making bold claims without proof creates skepticism. Fix: Balancing ambition with evidence. Highlighting milestones and proof points that back up big ideas. → Hiding the “why” behind the “how” Explaining the mechanics before explaining why it matters makes people tune out. Fix: Leading with the problem, urgency, and stakes—then diving into the solution. → Leaving the audience intrigued but not invested Getting people interested but not giving them a clear next step keeps them on the sidelines. Fix: Closing the loop with deeper data, case studies, and execution details to convert interest into action. → Saying too much or too little Drowning people in details makes them disengage. Being too vague makes them skeptical. Fix: Showing just enough for the right audience to get interested and ask for more. A great pitch doesn’t answer every question—it makes people want to lean in. You don’t just need to do the work You need to show the work —clearly, strategically, and in a way that builds belief and moves people and gets people to say “Tell me more”, “ Show me that graph” --- I'm Akhila, the founder of What if Design. Here to elevate climate organizations with crisp messaging and visuals on websites, pitches and brands. Reach out to see if we can help!

Your research is only as good as your ability to get people to listen to it.  Here's 7 tips for making sure your insights actually land. 📂 Start with conclusions, not methodology Think of your debrief as a landing page–you need to hook people immediately. Put your key takeaways front and center. No one has time to wade through your research methods before getting to the good stuff. Everyone is busy with their jobs already. 📂 One finding per slide Don't overwhelm your audience with multiple insights at once. Share one finding per slide, support it with data (mix qualitative and quantitative), and include a clear recommendation. Yes, recommendations! Don't just drop insights and run. Your job isn't done until you've suggested what to do next. 📂 Connect to business goals Your organization cares about metrics and outcomes, not research for its own sake. Frame your insights in terms of business impact. For example, this finding will help us reduce the 30% churn we're seeing in week 1. 📂 Use real user voices Nothing makes research stick like hearing it directly from users. Include direct quotes and, if possible, short video clips. The more human connection you create between stakeholders and users, the more memorable your insights become. 📂 Ditch the UX jargon Simplify everything and speak in terms business stakeholders understand. 📂 Address stakeholder fears When executives push back, it's usually fear-driven. Find out what they're afraid of missing, losing, or failing at—then frame your insights as solutions to those fears. 📂 Save methodology for last Your professional expertise should be trusted. Keep the "how we made the sausage" details for the end. What's your best tip for making research insights stick?