Reporting craft
Footnotes that save Friday meetings
Meetings derail when a chart implies certainty. Footnotes are not decoration; they are the contract between analyst and room. Here are three patterns we reuse in Attribution Canvas critiques.
1. The window sentence
“Includes conversions within 14 days of last eligible touch; brand search excluded.” One sentence prevents twenty minutes of speculative decoding.
2. The decision sentence
“Use this view to reallocate mid-funnel tests — not to judge brand lift.” Tie the visual to a decision class so someone cannot weaponize it for an unrelated debate.
3. The known-gap sentence
“Offline boutique assists are not in this model.” Naming the gap earns trust faster than pretending completeness.
If your dashboard tool limits caption length, keep a linked one-pager. The Friday meeting needs the words more than another sparkline.