
Sam Knowles combines long and varied consultancy experience with a planner’s facility for turning relevant data into narratives that resonate and campaigns that deliver.
Insight Agents was founded in in the U.K. in 2013 by Sam Knowles, who’s the Managing Director. Sam combines long and varied consultancy experience with a planner’s facility for turning relevant data into narratives that resonate and campaigns that deliver. For a one-time PR man, he has unusually rich analytics experience and expertise.
Through Insight Agents, Sam helps all sorts of organisations – businesses and charities, universities and Governments – to identify and craft the most compelling, data-driven stories in their sector. He divides his time between consultancy, writing, and training.
Sam is the author of the best-selling book Narrative by Numbers: How to Tell Powerful & Purposeful Stories with Data, published by Routledge in April 2018. This was followed by a critically-acclaimed sequel – How To Be Insightful: Unlocking the Superpower that Drives Innovation – in May 2020.
Sam holds a doctorate in 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 Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and chairs the Data Storytelling Council of I-COM, a global association helping companies achieve competitive advantage through smart data marketing. Sam is a member of the Market Research Society (MRS), the Professional Speaking Association, the Media Research Group (MRG), Account Planning Group (APG), and the Public Relations & Communications Association (PRCA).
An experienced and sought-after conference speaker, he has given recent keynotes for the MRS, MRG, APG, PRCA, the International Communications Consultancies Organisation, and at the Festival of Marketing. He has also spoken at Big Data, big pharma, food technology, sensory science, academic, and procurement sector events.
A prolific blogger and an accomplished speaker, Sam is a regular commentator and guest on podcasts. He is the co-founder and co-host of the Small Data Forum, a podcast examining the uses and abuses of data big and small in business, politics, and public life.
"I have had the pleasure of working with Eva Hukshorn this year during an India event which we organised together with the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde in Leiden. We had hired Eva as moderator for this event, where she was always on top of her game and was ready to deal with any dynamic situation. She is great communicator in bringing across her message and was able to effortlessly switch form English to Dutch. I can highly recommend working with Eva and it would be a pleasure to work with her again."
“I've heard Sam speak on a couple of occasions most notably at the Professional Speaking Association's annual Summit in October 2020. His style is engaging and his topic important in these days of misinformation – how to get interesting and effective stories from reliable and relevant data. He goes through a clear six-step process telling stories along the way and turns what many may see as a dusty subject – data – into a compelling narrative.”
"Sam Knowles is one of the most interesting and engaging speakers I have ever seen – Full Stop. I first had the pleasure of witnessing the wonder of Sam at the 2018 Media Research Group Conference in 2018 in Bratislava, where Sam was the keynote speaker. Sam captivated the attention of the audience and presented new ways of thinking about data and insight in a way which demonstrated how the theories could be applied and more importantly how be turned into actionable results."
“Since then, I have been a great fan of Sam's work, and after reading his fantastic publications Narrative by Numbers and How To Be Insightful, I reached out to Sam to ask if he would be interested in presenting his work to the membership of the IPA. Sam kindly obliged and delivered an incredibly popular webinar which drew on his previous works and talked of how agencies and brands alike could apply the thinking to navigate the unprecedented times we are living in during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Needless to say, Sam's presentation was fantastic, evidenced by continued audience engagement throughout, so many audience requests and questions we couldn't answer them all due to time constraints and also the lowest audience drop off rate we have seen. The feedback from attendees was exceptional with one attendee stating that the webinar was 'mind altering' and 'completely changed the way they understood data and insight' and many others asking where they could see Sam present again as he was so good."
“The great thing about Sam is that he presents in such a great way that he makes what he presents so understandable and applicable for the audience he is presenting to. His speaking style is very engaging and his personality and enthusiasm make you feel like you are on a journey of discovery, while making sure you never feel lost or overwhelmed. As you can tell, we're huge fans of Sam and his work at the IPA and we very much hope to work with him again in the future. If you get the chance to see Sam speak, take it without hesitation – I can assure you, you won't be disappointed.”
“We booked Sam as a keynote speaker at our annual conference last year for insight and operations professionals working in fundraising teams. He was brilliant and received excellent feedback from delegates who awarded him a ‘stellar speaker’ score. Sam is an engaging, knowledgeable, and charming speaker. He clearly knows his subject matter well and made it interesting and relevant to our audience. I wouldn’t hesitate to book him again.”
"I have first-hand experience of Sam from both continued professional development as a trainer and also collaboration on business projects as a speaker and a facilitator. He is well-able to adapt to the needs of different audiences and deliver insightful content. I would highly recommend him to friends and colleagues."
“Sam Knowles combines science, storytelling, and humour in a perfect way. Our members not only enjoyed listening to his talk but were also eager to participate in his practice session. His input and coaching helped us to become better storytellers. He is also very easy to communicate with.”