How to be Insightful

This course empowers individuals and teams to move from data to insight and from insight to action, unlocking the superpower that drives innovation.

Sam Knowles - How to be Insightful

How do we advance? As individuals, families, and businesses? As societies, nations, and as a species? In a world where it’s said there’s nothing new under the sun, humans are remarkably resourceful at creating new things. The key to progress is understanding, but not just by using facts, data, and casual observations. These are the building blocks to innovation.

Moving forward demands the profound and useful understanding of a person or a thing, a situation or an issue. And profound and useful understanding that truly effects change is that most elusive of phenomena: insight.

This engaging and immersive workshop, “How To Be insightful”, provides a novel and deeply practical framework that anyone can use to generate more powerful and impactful insights from the increasing volumes of data we all face every day, whatever we do. The STEP Prism of InsightTM provides structure to answer the profound question “So what?” (showing what the data mean) and the more useful question “Now what?” (charting what we should do as a result).

This workshop is particularly relevant for those in the insight industry, market research, and in insight roles in all sorts of organisations: businesses, charities and third-sector bodies, government departments. But because insight truly is the superpower that drives innovation, the workshop is relevant for those in innovation, R&D, new product development, and general marketing roles, too.

Learning outcomes

• Experience with a proven model for insightful thinking: the STEP Prism of InsightTM
• Appreciation of how to fuel and feed your curiosity, adding fresh stimulus to your subconscious mind, both acutely (for today’s task) and chronically (for life)
• Understanding why taking timeout is critical for insight development
• Application of a powerful and comprehensive template for capturing and sharing insights

Learning Method

A tried-and-tested blend of theory and practice, with simple and straightforward templates and frameworks introduced and road-tested in individual and team exercises. The course provides ample time for group discussion and individual reflection.

Course Delivery Mode

Online

Trainer Biography

Sam Knowles runs three popular training courses for the Market Research Society: “Asking Smarter Questions”, “How To Be Insightful”, and “Narrative by Numbers”. Since 2015, he’s trained approaching 5,000 people in almost 300 training sessions on the art and science of data storytelling, in person and online. Sam has been a trainer for the MRS since 2018.

As the founder and Chief Data Storyteller of the UK-based consultancy Insight Agents, Sam combines rich consultancy experience with a strategic planner’s facility for turning relevant data into narratives that resonate and campaigns that deliver. His purpose is to help organisations sound like people and to talk that rarest of corporate dialects: ‘Human’.

Sam is the author of the ‘Using Data Better’ trilogy of books with Routledge. This comprises the award-winning Narrative by Numbers (2018), the best-selling How To Be Insightful (2020), and the critically-acclaimed Asking Smarter Questions (2022).

Sam holds a doctorate in experimental psychology, one source of his understanding of human motivation and behaviour and his love of telling stories with data. He is a Fellow of the Market Research Society, the Royal Society of Arts, and the Professional Speaking Association. He chairs the Data Storytelling Council of I-COM, a global association focused on smart data marketing.

An experienced and sought-after keynote speaker, Sam is also a prolific podcaster, as both host and guest. He is the creator and host of Data Malarkey – the podcast about using data, smarter.

Testimonials

"Excellent session. Very insightful and actionable."

Glenn Gowen - ITV, July 2023

"A robust and concise learning tool."

Tanzia Nasrin - Savanta, July 2022

"Thought provoking and highly engaging, motivating me to apply it right away."

Martin Johnson - QA, July 2022