In short: Lead with one person, then bring in the figure that shows the story is not a one-off. Once the room cares about someone, show one number per point, rounded to something people can hold, and say what it means in plain words. Do not read a table aloud.
Numbers persuade the mind. Stories move people. A talk with only one of them is either forgotten or ignored. The working order is story first, then figures. Present Yourself guidance on this is simple: lead with a story or a testimonial, then back it up with the data.
Why the order matters
If the figure comes first, the room spends its attention deciding whether to trust the number. If the story comes first, the audience is already interested in a person, and the figure arrives as the answer to a question they have started asking.
Choose one figure per point
Most talks carry too many numbers. For each point, pick the one that changes what the audience will think or do. Leave the rest in the handout, or cut them. A slide with five figures on it asks the room to do the sorting, and most of them will not.
Say it in plain words
Round the figure so the room can hold it. "About one in three" is easier to remember than a long decimal, and easier to say well. Then say what it means in one sentence: what it changes for the people listening.
Steps
- Find the person at the centre of the point: a customer, a learner, a patient or a colleague.
- Give one or two sentences about what happened to them.
- Show the single figure that explains whether their experience is common.
- Say what the figure means in plain words.
- Return to the person in your close, so the story and the number finish together.
A worked example
Here is an invented example. A speaker wants to argue that a school's new booking system works. The weak version opens on a bar chart of bookings per term. The stronger version opens: "A parent rang the office three times about the same form. [pause] Since the new system went live, that call has stopped happening." The speaker then shows one figure, the drop in repeat calls, and says what it means for the office staff. The figure now answers the parent's question.
Common mistakes
- Opening on the chart. The room has no reason to look at it yet.
- Using the story as decoration, with no link to the figure.
- Reading every number on the slide aloud.
- Inventing a person or a testimonial. Use real people with their permission, or say plainly that the example is made up.
Slides should support the message, not carry it. A blank screen is fine when the story is doing the work. For the way a sentence should sound when it is spoken, see writing for the ear, and for keeping the audience with you, see WIIFM: why should anyone watch?.
Related guides
- Hook, Message, Recap, Call to action: the HMRC structure
- Fifty ways to open (hooks that work)
- How to end: bookends, loops, last lines
- Writing for the ear: short sentences, short words
- Words that cost you credibility: fluff, superlatives, -ly words, jargon
- All guides and tools
The picture at the top of this page is an illustration, not a photograph of a client or a real job.
Questions we get asked
How do I present data to a non-technical audience?
Start with a person the audience can picture, then show one figure that explains whether their experience is common. Say what the figure means in one plain sentence.
How many numbers should a presentation slide have?
As few as you can manage. Pick the one figure that changes what the audience will think or do, and leave the others in a handout or cut them.
Should a talk start with the statistics?
Usually not. If the figure comes first, the room spends its attention deciding whether to trust it. A story first gives the figure a question to answer.
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