Transform Your Data Communication Strategy


Learn How to Talk About Numbers

PDF of workshop proposal here.

So, here’s the deal: I spent years researching and writing Making Numbers Count with my coauthor Chip Heath, the guy who also wrote Made to Stick and taught at Stanford Business School. We workshopped how to best build a framework for the book, for a while. What sounded nicest on paper.

AND THEN.

I learned a cold, hard fact: just because something sounds good in a lecture hall doesn’t mean that it’s the best way to actually teach the material. After a few years of speaking and revising my workshops, I’ve developed my own materials by adapting and revising hands-on experience for a diverse group of audiences.

See a 10-minute section of a workshop!


I’ve done user testing to help people in the kind of real-life scenarios that you may know well:

  • Staring down ugly spreadsheets under fluorescent lighting and trying to figure out what to write in the report that won’t make Cathy or Joel ask a million questions
  • Staring down the abyss of a blank Powerpoint document, knowing that Frank will somehow already have comments
  • Figuring out how to make your team’s efforts sound more impressive in the Q4 report

My workshops and instructional tools teach how to communicate complex data in a clear, engaging, and motivating way.

  • Customized training. My workshops run from 90 minutes to full-day sessions, and can be tailored to solve your group’s specific problems.
  • Easy-to-remember frameworks. Straightforward steps designed to make your data sing and nudge audiences into action.
  • Bespoke style guides. I work with brand and marketing directors to ensure consistency and limit the inherent stress of interdepartmental communication.
  • Ongoing support. Get virtual sessions, video explanations, follow-up calls, and email assistance.

I’m an award-winning science writer and the bestselling coauthor of Making Numbers Count: The Art and Science of Communicating Numbers. (My writing and brainstorming partner, Chip Heath, also wrote Switch and Made to Stick.)

I’ve worked as the data storytelling and communication instructor for Section4, and a former middle school math teacher with Teach for America, I bring deep experience as a teacher to:

(Ready to start? Go here.)


Select Clients


Testimonials

Absolutely superb. We had a blast while saving an untold number of hours, getting solutions we didn’t realize that we needed.

Nigel Glennie, SVP of Global Communications, Ecolab

What an amazing job, making sure that the materials were perfectly suited to our organization!

Claudia Trapp, HR Head of Learning & Development, CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Every organization needs this workshop. Helpful doesn’t begin to cover it…

CHLOE JOHNSON, HEAD OF INTERNAL EDUCATION AT SQUARE

Fantastic—I couldn’t believe how many insights were packed in.

SUE YORK, TRAINING MANAGER, AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH SOCIETY

I’ve helped:

  • Strategists and management to craft messages that resonate between departments
  • Financial planners to discuss plans for clients
  • Ad agencies
  • Small business groups and marketing mavens to perfect their messaging
  • Entrepreneurs and nonprofits pitching VCs and investors
  • Sales teams
  • Educational organizations transforming their communication strategies and devising new benchmark standards
  • Communications, marketing, and PR departments

Sample Offers

Includes:

  • 90-minute workshop
  • 35-page Making Numbers Count workbook
  • Private password-protected webpage for participants, featuring links to the deck, workbook, reading guides, and extra PDFs
  • Follow-up 1-hour consulting session

Includes:

  • Discovery session with clients to pinpoint messaging pain points
  • 2 workshops, 90 minutes each (same day or staggered)
  • 35-page Making Numbers Count workbook
  • Private password-protected webpage for participants, featuring links to the deck, workbook, reading guides, and extra PDFs
  • Follow-up session

Includes:

  • 30-minute call to outline workshop
  • 60 to 120 minute workshop (can be split into 2 sessions)
  • Exclusive Making Numbers Count 35-page workbook
  • Private password-protected webpage for participants, featuring links to the deck, workbook, reading guides, and extra PDFs

Includes:

  • Preliminary discovery calls with client
  • Workshop, ranging from 90 minutes to 4 hours (can be split up into 2-3 sessions)
  • Exclusive Making Numbers Count workbook
  • Bonus flowchart and customized style guide
  • Private password-protected webpage for participants, featuring links to the deck, workbook, reading guides, and extra PDFs
  • Book signing
  • 2 follow-up sessions

I offer a few slots of special pricing for small businesses and nonprofits each year.

Reach out now

Fill out this form, and I’ll be with you as soon as humanly possible.