pitch unfairly

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John Snow, 1854. Pitched unfairly, 2026.

One map, one meeting, one handle. Same story, same numbers. Rebuilt the way we'd pitch it today.

Template: Case study

  • 616 deaths
  • 13 pumps
  • 1 handle
Play the 2026 deck Read the real story Steal the structure
1854 Case study

John Snow

One map, one meeting, one handle.

Legend
Original craft
Unfair

The story→12 slides

It's a live deck. Press start, then scroll or use the arrow keys, or play it full screen.

Play the 2026 deck

John Snow's case study, slide by slide

Every slide opens the live deck right where it is.

  1. John Snow deck, slide 1: Our outbreak, traced to one pump in eight days. 01Our outbreak, traced to one pump in eight days.
  2. John Snow deck, slide 2: A crowded Soho parish where a whole street drank from one pump. 02A crowded Soho parish where a whole street drank from one pump.
  3. John Snow deck, slide 3: Within a week, cholera killed nearly one in ten on Broad Street. 03Within a week, cholera killed nearly one in ten on Broad Street.
  4. John Snow deck, slide 4: We inspected everything. Nothing explained the edge. 04We inspected everything. Nothing explained the edge.
  5. John Snow deck, slide 5: One doctor, one register, and one question at every door: which pump? 05One doctor, one register, and one question at every door: which pump?
  6. John Snow deck, slide 6: Plot every death, and one pump sits in the middle. 06Plot every death, and one pump sits in the middle.
  7. John Snow deck, slide 7: The brewery's 70 men never drank from the pump. Not one of them died. 07The brewery's 70 men never drank from the pump. Not one of them died.
  8. John Snow deck, slide 8: Four in five who fell ill drank the pump water. Of those who stayed well, one in six. 08Four in five who fell ill drank the pump water. Of those who stayed well, one in six.
  9. John Snow deck, slide 9: The handle came off on 8 September. New cases had already fallen by nine tenths. 09The handle came off on 8 September. New cases had already fallen by nine tenths.
  10. John Snow deck, slide 10: Five days to the handle. Twelve years to convince. 10Five days to the handle. Twelve years to convince.
  11. John Snow deck, slide 11: Our curate set out to clear the pump. He proved Snow right. 11Our curate set out to clear the pump. He proved Snow right.
  12. John Snow deck, slide 12: Map the deaths before you blame the air. 12Map the deaths before you blame the air.

Then · 1854

How it really went

Read the real storyJohn Snow, On the Mode of Communication of Cholera (1855), the Wellcome Library copy
  1. Cholera breaks out around Broad Street, Soho, on the night of 31 August 1854
  2. More than 500 die within 250 yards in ten days; most residents flee
  3. Dr John Snow tests the pump water on 3 September and finds little to see
  4. He copies the death register and asks each household where its water came from
  5. On 7 September he briefs the Board of Guardians of St James's parish
  6. The pump handle is removed on 8 September, as attacks are already falling
  7. Snow maps the deaths; the brewery and workhouse, with their own wells, are spared
  8. The Rev. Henry Whitehead sets out to refute Snow, and ends up confirming him
  9. Whitehead finds the likely first case: a baby at 40 Broad Street, beside the well
  10. The Board of Health still favours bad air; Farr accepts the water theory in 1866

Now · 2026 · 12 slides

What we changed

  • Snow's map, rebuilt from the dataAll 578 deaths and 13 pumps from the digitized map. Press "Nearest pump" and 359 of them light up in Broad Street's patch.
  • The brewery puzzleA ledger of who died and who didn't, with the water column hidden. Reveal it: beer and a private well, against two tubs of pump water.
  • An honest result chartScrub Snow's own table day by day. The handle came off on 8 September, after cases had already fallen from 143 a day to 12.
  • The skeptic as the referenceWhitehead's own words play from "a careful investigation would refute it" to the cesspool two feet eight inches from the well.

Steal the structure

Build your case study like John Snow did.

  1. 01 Result in the title State the outcome and the time it took, with two or three summary metrics.
  2. 02 The customer Who they are in a few facts, so readers can check if they match; ask them.
  3. 03 The problem The stakes in the customer's own terms and numbers, plainly.
  4. 04 What they tried first The standard approach, done properly, and why it couldn't explain the problem.
  5. 05 The approach What was done, by whom, in what order, with dates.
  6. 06 The evidence The one picture that makes the cause obvious.
  7. 07 The exceptions The cases that should break the story and instead confirm it.
  8. 08 Independent proof The customer's own data, gathered separately, pointing the same way.
  9. 09 The result, honestly The numbers before and after, including what the product did not cause.
  10. 10 What it took Time, meetings, cost and effort, and how long adoption took.
  11. 11 In the customer's words A named quote that starts with doubt, next to the claim it supports.
  12. 12 What to do next If you're like them: three steps with owners and dates.

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