Engagement is the holy grail of communication - getting people to pay attention and respond in some way to the stories you write. In terms of data-driven storytelling, you greatly increase your chances of engagement through emotion (and the judicious use of adjectives), energy, and empathy. Indeed, empathy - the ability to put yourself in your audience’s mindset - is one of the most important, most often overlooked skills in storytelling. If you stop and think about how your message will be received, you will shape it better and deliver it with more impact. You will also - inevitably - make smarter, more judicious, more selective use of data.