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LifestyleHow to tell a story with data (Udemy.com)
Learn how to pique and keep your audience's attention so they will understand and remember your data presentation.
Created by: Mike X Cohen
Last updated August 2026
Our take
Based on the ratings of 31,709 students, a sample of their written reviews and the syllabus, as the course stood in August 2026. No course pays to be reviewed.
This is a short course, about 1.8 hours across 31 lectures, on explaining data so people follow it and remember it. Mike X Cohen, a former neuroscience professor, builds it around a five-stage story arc. The sections then cover knowing your audience, making graphics, delivery tips and a closing unit on ethics. It suits anyone who presents numbers, from students to working professionals. The syllabus lists no coding exercises, and the focus is structure and delivery rather than tools.
Reviewers like the arc best. One says the idea of building suspense, not surprise, was great, and another notes it matches other presentation advice they had heard. The ethics section gets praise, and two reviewers call the instructor engaging, one adding funny. The complaints are small. One reviewer found some parts redundant or self-evident, and another felt the delivery needs more storytelling practice. A one-star reviewer saw no reason for technical staff to take it. Most of the 31,709 ratings are fours and fives.
The course was last updated in August 2026, and about 83,000 students have taken it. It is quick enough to finish in an evening. Treat it as a primer: good for making a KPI presentation more interesting, not a replacement for learning chart tools or design. It is worth a look if you present data at work and want one simple structure to hang it on.
Pros
- Clear five-stage arc that reviewers say is well explained and easy to follow
- Short at 1.8 hours, with 31 lectures that are easy to fit into an evening
- Includes an ethics section that reviewers singled out as a highlight
- Instructor described by reviewers as engaging and funny
Cons
- Under two hours, so every topic stays at overview depth
- One reviewer found parts redundant or self-explanatory
- Eight quizzes but no coding exercises or assignments, so practice is left to the student
Got a lot out of this course that I think will be useful in my role. Some things were redundant or self explanatory, but overall very useful!
Beginner level fits. The only listed requirement is an interest in better data presentations, so no prior skills are expected.
Featured in our guide: The 10 Best Data Analysis Courses on Udemy in 2026
What you will learn
- Give better spoken and written presentations about data!
- Have an arsenal of strategies for creating memorable data stories.
- Know and apply the "5-stage arc" for memorable data storytelling.
Course content
9 sections · 31 lectures · 1.8 hours of video 8 quizzes, 2 articles
- 1What does it mean to tell a story with data? 2 free previews2 lectures · 8 min
- 2The storytelling arc 1 free preview4 lectures · 2 quizzes · 17 min
- 3Know and prepare for your audience 1 free preview4 lectures · 1 quiz · 17 min
- 4Making visual graphics 1 free preview7 lectures · 1 quiz · 24 min
- 5Data storytelling tips4 lectures · 17 min
- 6Insights from storytelling 1 free preview5 lectures · 2 quizzes · 14 min
- 7Ethics of using data in storytelling3 lectures · 2 quizzes · 11 min
- 8Download the slides from this course as a pdf file1 lecture
- 9Bonus section1 lecture
Who it is for
The instructor says it suits
- Anyone from student to professional who wants to improve their data-storytelling skills.
What you need before you start
- An interest in improving data presentations.
How it compares
Against the other 371 rated Udemy courses in Data Analysis on CourseDuck:
- Rating4.4 out of 5higher than 35% of them
- Reviews31,709#6 of 372 by number of reviews
- Length1.8 hoursshorter than 84% of them
- Last updatedAugust 2026more recently than 82% of them
Course Description
Welcome to the course "How to Tell a Story with Data". If you've ever had to explain complex data to others or if you're interested in improving how you talk about data, this course is perfect for you.
Data are everywhere. Data are used by businesses to make decisions, by governments to create policies, and by researchers to understand the world around us. But data can be hard to understand -- and even harder to explain to others.
This is why being able to explain data in a simple, easy-to-understand way is so important. This skill is called data storytelling. This course will help improve your skills at data storytelling.
In this course, you will learn how to keep your audience interested, whether they're in front of you or reading your words on a page. You'll learn tips and tricks on how to explain the main points of your data graphs in a way that's easy to understand and remember.
But why learn data storytelling?
We live in a world full of data. Businesses, governments, and researchers use data to make important decisions. But understanding this data can be hard. This is where data storytelling comes in.
Data storytelling helps us understand and remember data. It's a skill that's becoming more and more important as we use more data in our everyday lives. This course will help you improve your data storytelling skills.
So, what will you get from this course?
Simply put, this course will give you a framework that you can use to make your data exciting and memorable to your audience. You'll also get lots of tips on how to make and present data graphics. This course is designed to help you become a better, more confident data storyteller. So, if you're ready to learn, I'm ready to help :)
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Instructor Details
- 4.4 Rating
31,709 Reviews
Mike X Cohen
I am a full-time educator and writer, and former professor of neuroscience. I "retired" from that position so I could focus my time and energy creating high-quality educational material just for you.
I have 20 years of experience teaching programming, data analysis, signal processing, statistics, linear algebra, and experiment design. I've taught undergraduate students, PhD candidates, postdoctoral researchers, and full professors. I have taught in "traditional" university courses, special week-long intensive courses, and Nobel prize-winning research labs. I have >100 hours of online lectures on neuroscience data analysis that you can find on my website and youtube channel. And I've written several technical books about these topics with a few more on the way.
I'm not trying to show off -- I'm trying to convince you that you've come to the right place to maximize your learning from an instructor who has spent two decades refining and perfecting his teaching style.
Over 350,000 students have watched over 50,000,000 minutes of my courses. Come find out why!
I have several free courses that you can enroll in. Try them out! You got nothing to lose ;)
-------------------------
By popular request, here are suggested course progressions for various educational goals:
MATLAB programming: Get Started with MATLAB; Master MATLAB; Image Processing
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Reviews
By Fran Dai on 8/24/2026
yes, it's a good course for me, in my job I need to do presentation often and the structure always starts with some KPIs this is helping me to think about how to make it more interesting than just another data to present to all.
By Zama Msomi on 8/7/2026
The narrator is quite compelling - his storytelling needs more practice
By David D Carpenter on 6/26/2026
The perception of data as a story is a great way to process information and allow those you are presenting to absorb said information clearly and concisely
By Brandon M Wilson on 6/23/2026
The mathematics sprinkled into all this keeps me interested! It's a great balance between the nerdiness of data and the pomp of presentation. Best of both worlds!
By Marvin LeRoy Hatcher on 6/2/2026
This is providing information I really with as far as things I like to learn when it comes to storytelling. Helping me understand how to provide the audience with clearer guidance when telling a story with graphic.
By Shondon Martin on 5/4/2026
Yes. This course is a good match for me and the workforce learning that is required for me to continue to do my job efficiently, at the professional level.
By Dena Brisco on 4/20/2026
Professional Thank You sharing my pleasure and being happy to keep remember about the tell a story with data/ lecture is very important for my job.
By Danielle Como on 4/17/2026
I'm in the middle of creating my own presentation on not-the-most-exciting material. The information I learned will help me to better engage my audience, make it more personal to them so they will use the information/tools I will be providing. I learned to keep some things more simple and how to emphasize important details that I want my audience to take away.
By Heriberto Rodriguez on 4/2/2026
Interesting point about data storytelling. I like the in-field or out-of-field awareness, sometime I have made that mistake when presenting information to out-of-field audience, i using technical terms.
By Shad Harris on 3/30/2026
Did a great job explaining what makes data memorable. Showed how to put story arcs into practice for data presenations that most wouldn't normally think of doing.
By Tiruchanur Muralikrishnan on 11/15/2020
it is good and will try add same in our presentation
By Randy VanderLeest on 11/8/2020
The presenter talks about bring life/passion to your story telling, however he is the most non-inspiring personality/voice (dis-jointed).
Quality Score
No CourseDuck member has rated this course yet. Taken it? Give each part a thumbs up or down.
Overall Score : 88 / 100
- Video Duration:
1.8h - Price: $14.99
- Provider: Udemy
- Updated:
August 2026 - Level:
Beginner - Language:
English - Certificate:
Yes - Lectures:31 in 9 sections
- Practice:8 quizzes
- Students:83,100
- Subtitles:19 languages
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