Talks - Sebastián Flores: Python and Data Storytelling to the Rescue: Let's Avoid More Deaths by...

Data storytelling is crucial for effective presentations - facts alone don’t create impact, emotions drive actions and memory retention

Key storytelling principles:

• Never reveal the ending upfront
• Focus on important details, skip irrelevant ones
• Show don’t tell - demonstrate rather than explain
• Create a narrative arc with conflict and resolution

Presentation software recommendations:

• PowerPoint for simple, no-code presentations
• Quarto for talks with related documents
• Jupyter+Rise for workshops requiring live code
• Streamlit for custom interactive presentations

Visualization best practices:

• Avoid default settings and excessive options
• Direct audience attention to key insights
• Only include numbers where relevant
• Customize visualizations to serve the story

Tips for better presentations:

• Master one visualization tool thoroughly
• Craft content around peak emotions and strong endings
• Target specific audience personas
• Iterate and refine content multiple times
• Think of AI as an ideation partner, not solution

People remember presentations based on:

• The most intense emotional moments
• How the presentation ended
• Stories rather than raw data
• Clear narrative structure

For technical presentations:

• Keep code demos live and interactive
• Focus on showing how things work
• Use tools that allow seamless code integration
• Balance technical detail with storytelling