Transform Your Data into Impactful Insights: Mastering the Art of Data Storytelling in Power BI

One thing we pride ourselves on at Metis BI is that we don’t just build Power BI reports.

These days, I find anyone can create a Power BI report or any report, really. In fact, it’s easy to do. Now don’t misunderstand me… when I say it’s easy, that’s exactly what also bothers me. People say it so casually:

• "What is it that you do?"
• "Oh, I’m a data engineer, I build xxxx."
• "I’m a data scientist, I do xxxx."
• "I’m a data visualisation and storytelling expert..."
• And the reaction?
• "So... you just create reports?"

No! It’s not just reports and interactivity. It’s not just drag and drop. Sure, maybe that’s what you think a report is, but that’s what we like to call “What do you want?” reports. The ones built by simply taking the high-level requirement and just running with it. The ones built where little to no time was spend with the end-users. The ones that end up being binned because they aren't linked to solving a business challenge or resonate with your audience. So, what should we be doing instead?

BUILD THE STORY, THEN THE DASHBOARD - Bring Your Data to Life!

Now, quick side note... I will be using "report" and "dashboard" interchangeably in this blog. Technically, they're different in the Power BI world, but most people refer to reports as dashboards anyway. As for actual Power BI dashboards... let’s just say I’m not their biggest fan.

Okay, Before Getting Into It All, What Is Data Storytelling in Power BI?

Not going to spend a lot of time on this, I am sure you already have a good ideas since you are reading this blog... but I like to say data storytelling is all about taking the data, the visuals and the narrative and bringing them all together through an easy to understand dashboard that promotes action. This is achieved by starting with data analytics that focus on what matters most.

Now, this isn’t anything new, in fact, if you type "Data Storytelling" into Google, this is what you’ll see. But I think, at a top level, it’s still a good way to explain it. Of course, the key part many miss… and this is where data storytelling comes to life, is the narrative.

Right now, we just take different data points (ingest it into Power BI) and then drag that data onto the canvas to make some pretty visuals. But throughout the process of gathering requirements, wireframing/design and development… we neglect the narrative. We neglect asking the right questions to the right people to derive a story. Think business objective and business challenge! And remember, it’s not just about the analytics.

Power BI Is Brilliant - But It's Not Where the Story Begins

Now let me be clear… Power BI is a powerful tool for consolidating complex data and improving the decision-making process. It's user-friendly, powerful, feature-rich. From drill-through, to cross filtering/highlighting, to AI-Influenced visuals (I love the Decomp Tree), to Copilot and slicers to bookmarks and so much more. It gives end users serious analytical power. It’s honestly one of the best tools out there - especially considering what Power BI offers. But here’s the thing… Data storytelling doesn’t start with Microsoft Power BI. Storytelling starts way before we touch the tool. It begins when we’re gathering reporting requirements, it continues into wireframing and it stays alive through development. This is exactly where so many people go wrong and they launch Power BI Desktop way too quickly. They jump straight into development without spending enough (or any!) time with the actual end users. You know, the people who will be using the solution. So what happens? They end up building someone else’s story. A story shaped by assumptions or high-level stakeholder opinions… not the people who will actually use the report. Think about it, if it’s not the end user’s story that aligns to their goals and challenges, why should they trust it or why would they use it?

With that said, this blog isn’t here to highlight what Microsoft might label as “data storytelling features”, like embedding live Power BI reports into PowerPoint (btw some recent feature updates here from March 2025 with annotations). That’s all well and good, but not the focus here. Instead, I’ll walk you through a few key things to consider and a high-level process when trying to derive a story and embed it into your report.

What Should You Consider for Effective Data Storytelling (and Data Visualisation)?

Alright, so if Power BI isn’t where the story begins, what should we be focusing on first? Let’s break it down.

Know Your Audience - Derive Data Stories

This is probably the number one reason reports fail… we’re building for the wrong people. It happens way too often. Some influential person steps in and says, “Don’t worry, I’ll give you everything you need.” And sure, they mean well. But here’s the reality, they’re not the ones using the thing.

End users have completely different day to day challenges. They have specific needs, goals, pain points. If they’re not involved in shaping the story, why would they believe in it or use it in the end? So please, go straight to the source. Speak to the merchandisers, the store managers, the ops staff, whoever will actually be clicking around in that report. That’s your audience and they will have a story to tell. If you can’t speak to them? Raise it as a risk. I always do. Often, early conversations can uncover hidden insights that otherwise would be missed.

Honestly, I could write an entire white paper just on this (or maybe more accurately... a vent paper). But why is this still so common? It happens to me all the time, even now. They’re too busy, they’ve got other business priorities, it’s hard to align calendars… heard it all. But if this were any other profession and someone said “we’re going to build a product but not include the actual end users” you’d call them mad. So why is it any different here for dashboards?

Define the Goal or Challenge for Storytelling in Microsoft Power BI

Once you have identified the audience, one of the most important things we should be answering right from the start is “Where are you trying to go?”. This should not be skipped. Think about it, if you don’t know what you are trying to achieve (goal) or what you are trying to overcome (challenge), how on earth can you build an impactful solution that adds value and is actionable?

So, instead of just saying “tell me what you want to see,” ask, “what’s the goal you’re trying to achieve or the challenge you’re trying to overcome?” This keeps things focused. We want data storytelling with Power BI. It also prevents us from building reports and dashboards just for the sake of it and then blaming dashboards as a whole for not working in today’s world. I also like to say that by starting with a goal or challenge that is somewhat measurable, we know whether we’ve moved towards it, away from it or actually achieved it. Now, isn’t that a better way to measure ROI than just looking at how many people accessed or viewed the report?

Lastly, by starting with the goal or challenge, it helps us funnel everything down into a more focused objective and avoids those Frankenstein dashboards, where someone’s just dumped 50 KPIs onto a single canvas. So yes, this is an important consideration when deriving a story. It ensures a data-driven process from the start and allows us to transform data into meaningful narratives.

Derive KPIs (Don’t Just Copy-Paste) for Insight

I would like you to think of it like this… KPIs are not just numbers. They’re part of the story that started when you met with the audience. The KPIs that we gather should somehow be linked to the goal or challenge we discussed above. They show progress. They tell us whether we’re heading in the right direction or if it’s time to panic (well maybe not panic, but you get the point… do something). But here's the catch… you can’t derive meaningful KPIs if you’ve not nailed the core objective. In fact, a well-defined objective helps highlight key performance measures. They offer deeper insight they you may have initially thought.

From personal experience, if you don’t have a clear vision of the overall purpose of the solution, one that’s focused, this is where you’ll get flooded with a long list of KPIs. Now, please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying end-users providing many KPIs is a bad thing. It’s a good thing that KPIs exist - organisations need them. However, my approach with data storytelling and dashboards is… are all 50 KPIs really needed for a single audience or group of end users with a common purpose? Not likely. These are usually just called out during workshops and having a clear objective helps narrow down the KPIs to only those that actually answer the question of "are we moving towards achieving our goal or overcoming our challenge?". So, you know the audience and the purpose, now help the audience and help guide your audience to understand if they’re moving towards it or away from it through the relevant KPIs on the canvas. This process also allows us to transform raw data into key insights that matter.

Don’t Start With the Tech (Seriously, Don’t)

Now you may be thinking… coming from someone who builds Power BI solutions for a living, this might sound a bit ironic. But stick with me. Up until now, I haven’t even mentioned data or tech. Why? Because when it comes to building a story, the last thing I want to do is start with what data is available or what visuals we should use. After running more data storytelling workshops than I can count, I’ve adopted the principle of avoiding talking about data entirely. Sounds mad, right? But it opens up conversations that wouldn’t normally take place. It forces everyone to focus on the goal or challenge… the BUSINESS! Of course, there will always be a moment to discuss data, availability, visuals and all the other very important stuff. But my point is, in the early stages, purposely leave it out. We’re not just here to discuss tech and present data, we’re here to uncover the data insights that drive decisions.

One scenario that always comes to mind is when we were working with a client and promoted not to talk about data while gathering requirements and shaping the story. If we had, we’d have missed some of the most important KPIs. Instead, by focusing on the business need first, we uncovered something that was genuinely valuable. After taking it away and doing a quick check, we realised that with a little extra effort from the engineering side, we could actually start tracking that KPI. Total gold!! Had we limited ourselves to what was already available, we never would have uncovered it. So, we want more focus on storytelling in Power BI, deriving a compelling narrative, compelling story, not just a graph and discussion around visualisation tools.

Ask “Why?”… A Lot

It’s okay to ask why. Is it necessary to ingest the last five years of data into the semantic model, include all 19 KPIs with variances and distribute it daily as a PDF? Sometimes, maybe! However, we should always step back and question the need. Why do we need five years of history if the analysis focuses on this year versus last year? Do all 19 KPIs belong on a single canvas if only a few directly link to the goal or challenge? Why send reports by email if they could be accessed online when needed? By asking these questions early, we can shape the solution around what the users actually need. We help them derive the true story.

As mentioned already, a lot of the work behind a good story happens before Power BI is even opened. It’s not about the tech, it’s about understanding the business challenge and the vision. Whether working with internal teams or external clients, the goal isn’t just to nod along and say everything’s great. It’s to give proper recommendations and deliver insight. To do that well, we need to ask the right questions and often, that starts with 'why'.

So, What Does 'Build the Story' Actually Look Like?

It should now be clear that we need to dedicate more time and effort to gathering requirements as we saw from all the above considerations. Business intelligence is more then just tools. We cannot simply ask end-users questions like the ones listen below and call it a day. In all honesty, this is lazy work by the reporting expert, Power BI Consultant or Power BI Freelancer. Our job is to HELP users uncover what they truly need.

• What do you want?
• How do you want to see it?
• Do you have an existing report you can share?

Instead of these surface-level questions, we should be diving deeper with more tailored questions that get the end-users thinking.

• Where are you trying to go?
• What are the objectives you are trying to achieve?
• What challenges are you looking to overcome?
• Why do you need this report?
• What actions do you want to derive?

One additional element I want to call out is wireframing. After we derive the story, we should create a wireframe to present and validate the story with the audience. Do not dive headfirst into development without giving the solution the right level of thought and attention.

Now, I am not going to breakdown each section as I believe the diagram below provides a good overview of the elements I consider when gathering an effective data story. For this one, it's a Power BI retail case study example and it highlights the process of transforming end-user requirements into solutions that deliver genuine insights. While this showcases the foundational steps, there is far more depth to the method than meets the eye.

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The below was derived by various workshops with a group of regional managers, each overseeing a group of retail stores across the country. The regional managers are to rely on robust data analysis to uncover actionable insights on store performance and identify key trends. It was created using the approach, "Build The Story, Then The Dashboard".

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Challenges This Solution Solves for the Retail Regional Managers:

• Struggle to act quick on underperforming stores due to unclear insights.
• No single view of core KPIs like ATV, and Conversion to track progress.
• Missing opportunities to upsell, cross-sell and optimise inventory.
• Data isn’t accessible on mobile or tablets, limiting decisions on the go.
• Enable teams to optimise store-level performance.

Key Questions Answered By This Solution:

• Are we hitting this week’s regional sales targets?
• Which stores are struggling, and why?
• What actions can I take today to boost ATV, footfall, or conversion?
• How can I replicate success from top-performing stores?
• What trends are shaping sales and performance over time?
• How can I equip my team to act faster and smarter?

Lastly, by ensuring our discussions help guide the process and maintain a consistent narrative flow, we ensure that our solutions not only deliver actionable insights but also empowers users to make informed decisions.

Summary

So much of reporting today skips the most important step… understanding the story behind the numbers. We rush to tools, visuals and outputs without truly understanding the end users, their challenges and what they’re trying to achieve in the business. But when you flip that process, when you build the story before the dashboard, everything changes.

You shift from building something that looks good to building something that works. Something trusted. Something used. If you or your team are stuck trying to figure out how to do this properly, how to gather requirements that actually lead to insight, how to ask the right questions, how to align your reports with real business goals - we’re here to help.

Ready to Get More from Power BI?

If any of this sounds familiar, we can help! We’re end-to-end Power BI experts, with proven approaches, who know how to get it right. Book a free call using the link below or click “Discuss my project.”

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