USE STATISTICS EFFECTIVELY IN ALL YOUR PRESENTATIONS

In our Effective Presentation Skills Workshops, we at EffectiveCommunication.com.au share the dangers of using statistics in a presentation. A main reason is that you can adapt data to make it mean whatever you want it to mean.

There are times, however, when statistics can be used effectively. Those times are when we answer these two questions, “How much?” & “How many?” When you answer those questions, qualify your answers with these three characteristics: Few, Fresh, and Forceful.


Use Few Statistics

Take for example the problem with garbage. Edward Humes in a recent Wall Street Journal article wrote that Americans toss out over seven pounds of trash per person each day.

 A single statistic was sufficient to cover “how many.”



Make The Statistics Fresh


Recency is important. Check the internet regularly to find the latest statistics on your topic. Because we all take garbage to the curb each week, garbage is continually fresh—well, the garbage isn’t, but the idea of it is on our minds.


In one town, a huge controversy arose over the need to build a new bridge across the town’s river. The bridge presently in use is old and was never made to handle the amount of traffic that now flows over it.

A column in the local newspaper presented that a billion dollars worth of goods crosses the bridge every week, and each month that construction is delayed the cost of the new bridge increases eight million dollars.


Few and fresh are both inherent in these two statistics. These two statistics are sufficient to answer “How much?”




You Can Make All The Above Data Forceful By Your Delivery


Pause before you speak the statistic and then punch out the number. Perhaps take a step toward the audience as you deliver a particularly powerful statistic.

Don’t make statistics a major part of your presentations. Instead, carefully place one or two statistics in your presentation. Make sure the number you mention is relevant.

Add some drama by pausing and punching out the data. Then you will have answered the two most important questions audience members want answered: “How many?” and “How much?”


All the best with your future presentations!