Are you showing all your working out? 📝
Have you ever thought,
‘I want everyone to see how hard I worked on this’?
Bad news, that's the wrong goal. The best category stories look effortless, so that your audience thinks ‘of course that's the answer’. Counterintuitive when you've spent two weeks knee-deep in data, I know!
Here's why: analysis and storytelling need opposite instincts.
In analysis mode, we pull on every thread: chase the anomaly, check the alternative, follow the dead end, because that's how we find the truth.
In storytelling mode, we do the opposite. We stick to one thread, followed all the way through, no detours.
So why do we always want to show the detours?
It’s our comfort blanket. If people see how hard we worked, surely they'll believe we are right. Except it backfires, extra detail buries the point instead of proving it.
Here's how to make the switch.
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1. Storyboard first
You’ve done your analysis, but you’re going to resist the urge to present it all.
Start with a blank slate and create a storyboard.
The next step is to write the headlines that will help you land your key messages, so your audience understands and acts on your insight.
2. Pick your evidence
Go back through all the work you’ve done and ask yourself which bits prove your headlines?
Is there an even simpler way to back up the headlines, something you didn’t even look at before?
You followed a dozen threads to get your answer, but your story only needs one.
One or two killer data points per headline is plenty. Keep the rest in your back pocket for follow-up questions.
3. Set the scene, then dive in
Your story doesn't have to follow the order you researched in.
Start big picture (macro, category, market), then zoom in on the problem or opportunity.
It's tempting to narrate chronologically, first I looked at this, then this, because that's the path you took. But your audience doesn't need your diversions, just the path that leads somewhere.
4. Cut ruthlessly
Look at every slide and ask, does this earn its place, or is it here to show you looked at everything? That's the comfort blanket talking.
If a chart takes two minutes to explain before you reach the point, simplify it.
A 30-minute presentation that could be 10 isn't more impressive, it's more painful. Be brave, and cut out what you don’t need.
5. End with the “So what?”
Land on three clear takeaways, no more.
It'll feel like you're leaving loads out, and you are, that's the general idea.
Three is what people can actually remember. Give them ten and they'll remember none. Tell them exactly what to do next, don't expect them to connect the dots.
The takeaway
Analysis mode pulls on every thread. Story mode sticks to one path. Trying to show all your working out can lose your audience.
If you want a hand turning analysis into a story people act on, that's exactly what weeks two and three of our Category Bootcamp cover.
Thinking about joining? The buy one get second half price offer ends on 31st July!
Fancy a chat about it, or just want to compare notes on a story that didn't land? Drop me a line, I'd love to hear it.
All the best,
Ella & the May Insight Team
July 2026