How to Create a Storyboard in Tableau

While data dashboards help you explore what’s happening in your business, a Tableau Storyboard is all about explaining the why. It’s a powerful feature that turns static charts into a guided narrative to persuade, inform, and drive action. This article will show you exactly how to create a compelling storyboard in Tableau, from the initial setup to the final presentation.

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What is a Tableau Storyboard, Anyway?

Think of a storyboard as a PowerPoint or Google Slides presentation built directly within Tableau. Instead of static slides, each "point" in your story is an interactive worksheet or dashboard. This allows you to walk your audience through a sequence of data visualizations, one insight at a time, explaining your findings with annotations and captions.

You use storyboards when you have a specific narrative you want to communicate. It's different from a dashboard, which is typically designed for open-ended exploration. A storyboard has a beginning, a middle, and an end, designed to lead your audience to a specific conclusion.

For example, you might create a storyboard to:

• Showcase how a marketing campaign's performance evolved from launch to completion.
• Explain the root cause of a sudden drop in sales by drilling down from region to product to store level.
• Present a business case for a new initiative by showing current trends and projecting future outcomes.

The Building Blocks: What You Need First

Before you even click the "New Story" button, you need two things in place:

1. Your Visualizations: Your story is built from existing worksheets and dashboards. You should have all the charts, graphs, maps, and tables you need already created. The storyboard is the presentation layer, not the analysis layer.
2. A Clear Narrative: What story are you trying to tell? A great storyboard isn’t just a random collection of charts. Have a clear outline with a beginning (the high-level C-Suite view), a middle (the detailed analysis), and an end (the conclusion or key takeaway). Just like writing an essay, mapping out your points beforehand makes the entire process smoother.

Once your visuals are ready and you have a narrative in mind, you're ready to start building.

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Step-by-Step: How to Create a Storyboard in Tableau

Follow these steps to assemble your data story. We'll use a hypothetical scenario of analyzing quarterly website traffic from several marketing channels.

Step 1: Create a New Story Tab

At the bottom of your Tableau workbook window, you'll see a row of tabs for your worksheets and dashboards. To the right of those tabs, click the icon for "New Story." It looks like a book.

This will open a new, blank story canvas.

Step 2: Add Your First Story Point

On the left-hand side, you'll see a panel with all your existing worksheets and dashboards. To create your first "story point" (think of it as your first slide), simply drag a worksheet or dashboard onto the canvas.

For our example, let's start with a high-level line chart called "Overall Website Sessions" that shows total traffic for the quarter. Drag it onto the canvas. Above the worksheet, Tableau will automatically add a caption box where you can add a title or description for this point. A good first caption could be, "Overall, website traffic saw a 15% increase in Q3."

Step 3: Add More Story Points to Build Your Narrative

To continue the story, click "Blank" in the Story panel to add a new story point canvas. You can also duplicate an existing story point if your next point builds directly on the previous one.

For our second story point, let's drag over a bar chart called "Traffic by Channel." We can then add a caption that guides the audience, such as, "Paid Search and Organic Search were the primary drivers of growth."

You’ll now see a "navigator" above your canvas allowing you to click between 'Story Point 1' and 'Story Point 2'. Continue adding more worksheets and dashboards as new points to flesh out your entire narrative.

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Step 4: Customize Each Story Point with Filters and Highlights

This is where the magic happens. Each story point is a snapshot of a visualization at a specific moment in time. You can use the same worksheet in multiple story points, but show a different facet of the data in each one.

Let's say our "Traffic by Channel" bar chart lives on our third story point. We can duplicate this story point to create a fourth point. On this new point, we can now interact with the chart directly.

• Click on the "Paid Search" bar in the chart to highlight it.
• Use the quick filters to show data only for "Paid Search" campaigns.

After you make changes, an "Update" button will appear on the navigator box for that story point. Click it to save this state. Now, Story Point 3 shows all channels, while Story Point 4 shows only Paid Search performance.

This allows you to build a progression: you start broad, then focus your audience’s attention on one specific detail, and then another - all while using the same base visualization.

Step 5: Add Narrative with Captions, Text, and Annotations

Your charts don't tell the full story on their own. Each story point has a caption area at the top where you can describe what the audience is seeing and what it means.

• Captions: Use the space above each story point to write clear headlines, summary statements, or questions.
• Descriptions: On the panel, click "Add a description" to add more detailed context in the caption box itself.

You can also add text objects anywhere on your story canvas. Drag the "Text" item from the Story pane panel onto your canvas. This is great for adding larger introductory-level titles or conclusions at the end.

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Step 6: Customize Your Story’s Layout and Formatting

Tableau offers several ways to change the look and feel of your story. In the Story panel on the left, you'll see a "Layout" section.

• Navigator Style: Choose how you want to display your story points from dots, numbers, or caption boxes. "Caption boxes" is usually the most descriptive.
• Story Size: You can pick from preset sizes or create a custom size to match your screen to avoid scrollbars when presenting. "Automatic" will fill whatever screen it's displayed on.

Step 7: Present Your Story

Once you've built your story with all your points and narratives, it's time to present. Go to Presentation Mode by clicking the screen button in the toolbar at the top-right (or you can just press "F7"). This will hide all Tableau’s menus, leaving a clean viewer screen so you can focus on the content of each point and your narrative with your audience.

Best Practices for Effective Data Storytelling

Creating a storyboard is straightforward, but building a great one requires more than just technical skills. Here are some tips:

• Keep It Focused: Each story point should focus on a single idea to capture your audience's attention. Showing too much at once can confuse the main message.
• Start Broad and Drill Down: Begin with the big picture and gradually zoom into details. This creates a logical flow for your audience to understand how you got your insights.
• Guide Your Audience: Don't assume your audience will reach the same conclusions as you do from the data. Use highlights, captions, and annotations to explain what they should focus on and what conclusions they should draw.
• Make It Visually Appealing: Your story's visual appeal matters! Ensure your use of colors, fonts, charts, and layouts is clean and consistent throughout. A well-designed storyboard is not just engaging - it’s also more memorable.

Final Thoughts

Creating Tableau Stories is less about building charts and more about putting the pieces together into a narrative that tells your data's story in a way your audience can understand. By leading one point to the next, you help turn raw data into a compelling, step-by-step journey that communicates insights and recommendations clearly.

While powerful, manual dashboard creation in Tableau can be time-consuming. This is where automation tools come in handy. Graphed provides an AI-powered platform to streamline this process. With Graphed, you can create, share, and automate your dashboards, reports, and stories, freeing up time to focus on actual analysis and insights.