Brad Phillips is a numbers guy, but he’s the first to tell you they won’t help you persuade your audience unless you use them the right way. “In the end human beings don’t remember numbers. They remember how they feel. So, it’s really important that you pick just a couple of key data points and focus on telling a story using the data.” Brad spent many years using data himself to help students succeed in California’s community college system before founding the Institute for Evidence-Based Change. Through IEBC, he’s helping education stakeholders throughout the country craft data-informed solutions to improve practice and increase student success. He and his team also counsel clients on the keys to storytelling based on years of experience, and the Disney storytelling formula. On top of all of that, he’s created the increasingly popular Caring Campus initiative to help employees learn simple behaviors that can have a dramatic impact on a student’s sense of belonging, which studies show is key to keeping them on their educational journey. You’ll leave this conversation with a new sense of the possibilities of data as a communications tool, and a new appreciation of the importance of each and every college employee making an effort to connect with students.
