In the age of big data, we think data is persuasive.  If we can just visualize it,  harness it, and display it in a very detailed presentation, we can convince people with it.  All they need to do is see our numbers, facts and figures, and they will be convinced to follow our lead. Unfortunately, this is where the human mind comes to play – as  neuroscientists have discovered,  most decisions are informed by emotional responses rather than by cold and hard rational thinking.

In his Wall Street Journal article on the topic, “To Persuade People, Tell Them a Story”, Dennis Nishi tells a story of Paul Smith, associate director at P&G. For many days, Mr. Smith prepared to present to P&G CEO, A.G. Lafley. However, on the day of the presentation,  CEO entered the room,  greeted everyone and turned his back to the screen. As Mr. Smith tells his side of the story,

“I felt like maybe I hadn’t done a very good job because he wasn’t looking at my slides like everyone else.It didn’t occur to me until later that he did that because he was more interested in what I had to say than in what my slides looked like.”

To address this issue, presenters need to connect to their audiences on an emotional level.   The above mentioned Paul Smith, now a corporate trainer and an author, has a new book:  “Lead With a Story: A Guide to Crafting Business Narratives That Captivate, Convince, and Inspire”. In it,  he told a story of a mother’s plea to P&G executives about hardships and trade-offs she had to make for her children, and how that story convinced them to lower the price of shortening, underscoring the power of an emotional connection.

In another book mentioned in the article,  “Beyond Bullet Points” by Cliff Atkinson,  Mr. Atkinson tells us to move beyond facts in figures. He suggests  structuring our story in three acts – starting by establishing context,  following with a description of how the main character fights to resolve the conflicts, and finishing with a call to action.

Stories are important to human communication – they started long before PowerPoint presentations,  and we have strong emotional connections to them. So it is important that we do not start our story with an apology or ask a permission to tell it – we should be confident enough for it to stand on its own.

You may read the rest of  “To Persuade People, Tell Them a Story” at http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303482504579177651982683162.