How do you share data analysis insights with others in your field?

Always adjust your discourse to match your audience. Executives are looking for a different level of insight and information than the operational level. There is no need to explain to C-level suite how a calculation works. It is important for them to understand how the results affect the organization and how they can use it to drive decision making. I can't emphasize enough how important recurrent contact with stakeholders is. Clients change minds, analysts find new insights, users have opinions. It's very important to keep an eye on the prize. We want stakeholders to benefit and use our analysis to drive decision making. Always check with stakeholders as the project progresses in order to keep the scope and objectives aligned.

Knowing your audience is probably the single most important component when presenting findings. Different audiences care about different insights and this should be taken into account when presenting. Data scientists and ML engineers might be more interested in model performance (AUC, R2, etc.) or clever feature engineering approaches. Business managers and product teams will probably care more about the ROI implications and revenue impact of improved ML models or exploratory data analyses. By knowing our audience we can better align the key takeaways to suit different needs and convey the right message.

Select the most suitable medium to present your data analysis insights, such as reports, presentations, dashboards, blogs, podcasts, videos, or online platforms. Each medium has its advantages and limitations, so choose based on the complexity of information and audience preferences

Dialog is critical but before starting that do your due diligence. I try to answer these types of questions. Get some basic demographic information and ask others about their personality. What are they responsible for in the organization? How do they measure success and how are they evaluated? Can you get examples of previously approved dashboards and excel files? Do I understand as much about the project and request as possible before meeting. I find it much easier to frame out an initial dialog and get a more meaningful meeting with diligence. Your goal in the initial meetings is to move the stakeholder to a valuable partner which will minimize issues later and greatly increase your later success, visibility and validation.

It is also important to know what decisions your audience has the power to make. You can present them great analysis and findings on some area of their business but if your audience cannot make any changes regarding your information you missed the mark. Sometimes an audience may be a gatekeeper for you to the people that can actually make the decision. If that is so then try to make them part of the process. Ask them what it needs before you can present to your target audience. Or note questions they might have as those are questions you can have clean prepared answers for once you get past the gate. Adding them to your coalition can be very valuable to ensure your ideas get to the right folks.

When sharing data analysis insights with others in your field, choose the medium that best suits the audience and the complexity of the information. Utilize presentations, reports, dashboards, or interactive visualizations to effectively communicate key findings and actionable insights.

It is not only important to choose the best medium for the audience but to also choose the best medium for your constraints and priorities. For example, if you are simply teeing up an idea for further analysis with your internal team its not as important to deliver a super clean beautiful presentation. Give it the attention it needs but don't bog yourself down. Perfection can be the enemy of the good. Perfect it when it becomes necessary.

Storytelling is both an art and a science. It begins by understanding the roles of the story: You, Your Audience, and Technology/Tools. You need to know what you need your audience to know, feel, and do to reach your objective. You are the narrator, not the main character. Technology helps you communicate and visualize effectively. Frameworks: Aristotle's 3 Acts (setting, conflict, resolution) is helpful. You may also choose the more robust SCQA framework (Situation, Conflict, Question, Answer) for additional structure. The hero's journey is a helpful model for transformational or change initiatives. Visuals are there to support you, not replace you. Decide how to use them to emphasize the story, not distract from it. Lastly, practice!

Without good story telling your message while it may be great can be lost. Often as an analyst the story comes so easy to us as we've been sifting through the data and preparing all the graphs and analysis but its lost to our audience. We need to take story telling into account every step of the way and even take a step back when complete to ask ourselves, "If I didn't do this analysis would I understand the so what?". Sometimes it is helpful to leverage a less technical friend to see if they understand your message before you present to your real audience.

Analysis is never done, complete, or perfect. There are always new factors that may be necessary to consider or alternate reasons or outcomes within your analysis. Remember your audience is the customer. They are often the experts in the field you are analyzing. Don't sleep on their ideas for improvement or get upset when they poke holes in some of your logic. Add it and strengthen your story. Never get married to your idea or results and seek to prove it. Seek to understand.