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Needle Your Facts - Part 1
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Data, at best, are dull. Yet nine out of ten speakers want to present figures. They want to startle the audience with some statistic, to juggle some data. If you are one of the nine, your problem is to make that data, those statistics, or those figures interesting. For no matter what kind of audience you have, they don't want to be bothered too much with information. They'll take a smattering of it unvarnished, and more of it if it is sugar-coated. But when you try to lay it on thick, they just can't take it.
And yet you have heard speakers throw data until the audience is punch drunk. Nobody knew what the man was saying and most of them doubted whether or not he knew. Not long ago, after listening to a speaker, one of the audience said, "That fellow sure could quote figures." "Do you remember any of them?" I asked. "No, I don't," he replied. Of what use was this man's data? Was it to give the impression that the speaker knew his stuff? Okay, if that was his purpose, he surely achieved it. But if he wanted to inform the audience, he surely failed in his point. He left nothing at all with them. If you plan to leave something with your audience, you had better give your data some life. How? Well, start with the premise that the data in your speech will be the dullest part. Then see what can be done to make it more interesting. Here are some suggestions. 1. Don't Mind the Odd Cents—When quoting figures, one good rule is—don't mind the odd cents. Let's say you plan to explain that your business last year amounted to $3,364,392. Why not say "three million" or "three and one-third million," a figure which the listeners can picture quickly? All they'll remember, anyway, is three million, so why not write it that way? If you raised $1,017, why not write "over one thousand dollars"? You may say, "Look, Hegarty, I want them to remember these figures exactly." That happens at times. But when you have that need, why not give them the figures in a printed piece. Then when you quote the figures you ask them to pick up the printed piece and go over it while you talk about it. If you want to emphasize that amount over three and one-third million, you might say, "We did over three and one-third million. And you know how much over it was? Well, it was enough to buy a fleet of twelve bright, shiny, new Cadillacs." In making such a statement select an article on which they can readily figure the cost. If you want to emphasize the seventeen dollars over the thousand in the club fund, you might say, "We raised over one thousand bucks. Do you know how much over? A buck twenty-five for every worker in this room." Yes, figures are dull except to a figure filbert. You have to put some life into them when you talk to a general audience.
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