Dr. Steven Franconeri is a leading speaker and teacher on data storytelling, a professor at Northwestern University and the Founder of Becise - a platform helping people transform their data into compelling narratives. 

(Steven ALSO just so happens to be one of our guest speakers of our first-ever Story Camp—an annual presentation thinking skills summit that you should definitely check out next year.) 

Steven joins the pod to discuss why we should take PowerPoint more seriously, his consulting experience, how decks differ dependent on audiences and how to avoid the curse of expertise in data storytelling. 

With his professorial experience and research, Steven has seen validation after validation wherein data and debate presented with stories always resonate better than those without. 

This is an episode for: data viz nerds, the family “debater” and storytellers of all kinds.

What’s in the Spice Cabinet? 

Where to find Steven and his work: 

• LinkedIn

• Follow Becise

• Check out his newest creation, Point Taken Game—A writing-based conversation game that turns heated topics into moments of reflection, connection, and clarity

Steven’s walkout song? 

• “Something electronic and melodic like house or funk”

Parting shots for Presentation Nation?

• “Beware the ‘curse of expertise.’ …We're all overconfident, we're all seeing the world through a certain perspective, and if you haven't gotten that perspective sharpened by having other people argue with you. And if you haven't had your presentation vetted by others to make sure that it makes sense to them—be uncomfortable.”