Unlocking GenAI’s Creative Potential for Data Storytelling

I sat down with Crispin, Chairman at QuMind, CEO at Insight250, Senior Strategic Advisor at mTab, CEO at IDX, to discuss how GenAI offers more than just time-saving benefits and has the potential to become a true creative collaborator for data storytelling. In this article I share my thoughts on how GenAI can elevate data storytelling and the value in using GenAI to explore alternatives, draw connections and provoke deeper thinking. We also discuss the skills we need to build and nurture to leverage the tools in practice.

From Capability to Culture: What really embeds data storytelling into ways of working

The greatest reward, for me, as a trainer and coach, is returning to teams six months, a year, even two years after a development programme and seeing the practices we worked on still alive in the day to day. Not as training content, but as habits. I love hearing from people who made a conscious choice to apply the learning in practice, to experiment with what works for them, and to persist with a change in behaviour even when everything is busy and the pressure is on. In this post I’ll share the insights gained from the feedback and what practices and behaviours made the biggest difference.

Working with AI: Your Creative Partner in Data Storytelling

When I completed my chapter on the future of data storytelling in January 2024, I explored how AI, synthetic data, augmented reality, and transmedia storytelling were beginning to reshape the field. Fast forward nearly two years, and that future has well and truly arrived. GenAI’s influence on data storytelling is no longer a prediction, it’s a daily reality. The explosion of generative tools has transformed AI from a simple time-saver into a genuine creative collaborator, capable of shaping narratives, refining visuals, and deepening audience engagement. In this post, Caroline Florence explores how generative AI is transforming data storytelling and highlights four tools to help you turn complex insights into stories that stick.

Draw It Out: How Visual Thinking Unlocks Cognitive Superpowers

I was recently reviewing a client’s “best practice” slide deck. On the surface it was well-structured and visually tidy. But as I started sketching patterns across the different slides, a problem jumped out. The real strategic insight was buried under layers of interesting findings. The mistake? Instead of spotting patterns in the data first and then building the deck, the team had simply visualised separate analyses and tried to summarise them afterwards. I see this often – data storytelling that documents rather than distils. The result? More noise than signal. In this post, I’ll show why diagrams are more than presentation tools. They’re thinking tools that offer a way to synthesise complexity, surface insight, and recode overwhelming detail into clarity.

Why Great Data Stories Start with Better Questions

Picture this: a senior stakeholder emails you and says, “Tell me everything we know about X.” Your instinct? Get moving. Start pulling numbers, building slides, crunching data. After all, being quick to act shows value, right? Not always. In the rush to deliver, we often skip the most important step: pausing. Asking why the question is being asked in the first place. Because the truth is, the quality of your insights, and the impact of your data story, depends far less on how fast you work, and far more on whether you’re answering the right question. In this post, we’ll explore what makes a great question, why it matters, and how just twenty minutes of reflection before you dive in can turn your analysis from information-heavy to insight-rich.