I've Got No Story to Tell

That was what I got myself into by the time I finish putting in all the commentaries into my quarterly report. Being in the Market Research (MR) industry, I've been trained and nagged by my mentor and seniors that when presenting a MR findings, always tell a story. Most of the time, you may get a few short stories but having the challenge of linking them together (like linking Snow White with Harry Potter!). And the worst, especially for a tracking study, there are times when you would end up having no story to tell...

The presentation was less than 48 hours away and I'm desperately in need of a story to tell, since my 'recommendation' slide is totally blank. It was 1am, that I decided to give up, not that the music coming from pandora helps since it was breaking frequently. And the fact that I have another report to go through and create another story does not make it any easier.

Fortunately, it was the next morning that I somehow stumble upon a little storyline (or it was me who force it a storyline) which I quickly leverage to complete my report. At least I have a story.

True enough, my client did not buy the story, which almost end my career as a Storyteller. The top management has been telling us to provide more insightful analysis, more detailed and actionable ones. And when we decide to do it, we got f**ked left and right by the client simply it's not something that they want to hear. A good lesson learned...next quarter, I'll stick to a classic fairy tale storyline.