You have gone through the research process, interviewed users/customers, synthesised the data, and crafted poignant themes and insights and now it is time to create the report and you are stuck…
As a researcher, you have the context behind the data and felt that the interviews were very meaningful and the data was compelling, but you are struggling to translate this into the report without it feeling flat.
Recently, I had a similar experience where, after compiling the report, some of the research magic was lost in translation which led me to think of other ways to bring the research, specifically the insights, to life during the final presentation.
Here are a few ways I tried:
- Create a story: Don’t just represent what happened, but explain why it happened and take the audience on the user’s or customer’s journey. This will keep the audience engaged and interested throughout the presentation.
- User Persona: Create a meaningful user persona that helps the audience empathise with their users, so when you describe the research insights everyone knows who they are relating to and can more deeply understand their experiences.
- Authentic quotes: Incorporate actual quotes from users to add authenticity. Hearing the voices of the users reinforces the reality of their experiences.
- Have the primary researcher in the room: As the primary researcher on a project I am always included in the final presentations even if I’m not presenting the report. I am available to add more context to any insights or data, which has been extremely helpful in the past.
- Visualize Key Insights: Infographics, charts, and graphs are powerful tools to illustrate data. Choose visuals that succinctly convey complex information and make your insights easier to understand.
- Summarise key takeaways: Often, there is a lot of information and insights to share so adding in summarises along the way to help highlight and simplify the key research points is very important. This is where using ChatGPT can be very quick and useful!
“When you do enough research the story almost writes itself.” – Robert Mckee
Finally, each research project is going to be different and some may be easier to wow the stakeholders with the research insights while with others the insights may seem more obvious and less impactful; however, there is always an opportunity to bring the research to life and create an engaging story that inspires action and positive change.