How to present numbers with flair.

August 5, 2015 Lynn Larson

Delivering a presentation filled with numbers/statistics creates an added challenge for any presenter. For expert advice, Recharged Education invited Michael Campbell, Radiate Presentation Design, to offer tips. Before stepping in front of another audience, whether it is your management or industry peers, ensure your presentation meets Michael’s “three Bs” of presenting numbers.

The Three Bs of Presenting Numbers

by Michael Campbell, Radiate Presentation Design

In the time it takes you to read this sentence, millions of presentations have begun in boardrooms, conference rooms and coffee shops around the world. And while I don’t have an exact figure, we can assume these presentations feature a goodly share of numbers—lots of numbers. As vital symbols for storytelling, numbers quantify progress and failure. They offer a sense of scope and scale. They add, subtract, multiply and divide our understanding of a situation. Unfortunately, a vast percentage of these numbers are unreadable, under-utilized and under-valued in presentations.

Related Resources

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“You probably can’t read this in the back row.”

We’ve all been in the back row for these presentations. Heck, even the folks in the front row are squinting as the speaker clicks through spreadsheets and screen shots with tiny numbers. How do we stop the madness? How do we give numbers their due? It’s simple, really. When building presentations, we need to be mindful of the three "Bs" of presenting numbers: make them Big, Bold and Beautiful.

Big Numbers

Wizards are one of the biggest problems in presentations today. Not the white-bearded fellows who take you on quests for dragon’s gold. I’m talking about the step-by-step, "hand-holding" assistants in programs like Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint. Wizards promise "beautiful charts and graphs" in minutes—no design experience necessary—just turn the crank and Voila! Unfortunately, most people don’t look back after they’ve clicked "Create Chart.” The result is usually a pie or bar chart with a Day-Glo palette and tiny numbers in Arial Bold. Few presenters stop to consider the readability of these "insta-charts" for their audience—especially the poor folks in the back row who are destined to receive an apology from the speaker for the “eye-chart.”

If you are using a wizard, take another moment to review and reflect on the readability of the chart or graph. Step back eight feet from your monitor. Can you read it? Think about your audience. Can they read it? Guess what? You’re more powerful than a wizard. You can override their wizarding results. Double-click the numbers and double their size from 12 point to 24 point. Change the colors—double-click and darken pie slices for greater contrast. It only takes a few minutes and a few extra steps to ensure your audience gets the true impact of the numbers.

*Figure 1 - The pie chart on the left is directly from the PowerPoint chart wizard. The pie chart on the right shows what five minutes of editing can do to improve readability.*

Bold Numbers

A no-brainer, you say? Just click the "B" on the formatting toolbar and "BAM!" your numbers are bold. Yes, formatting numbers with bold helps readability; however, let’s consider another definition of boldness. I’m talking about Mick Jagger boldness. As the front man of one of the biggest arena acts of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Jagger uses his voice and body language to entertain his fans—even in the upper deck—with no apologies. So why are so many presenters hiding their numbers in text-heavy bullets? Let your numbers stand out. Give them the spotlight. Give them the microphone. Let them rock the audience.

What’s bolder than a giant set of digits in the middle of a slide? BAM! Now, that’s bold! A celebratory number shouting: we met our goal. A big, bad number representing an obstacle to overcome. A giant target number you want to burn into the memories of your team.

As you review your slides, consider the importance of each number. Find opportunities for boldness. Look for the numbers deserving the spotlight.

Figure 2 – The Rolling Stones wouldn’t get any satisfaction with the top slide—their achievements are buried in the bullets. The slide on the bottom pulls out the big numbers and helps the audience visually grasp their achievements.

Beautiful Numbers

Are you ready for some brain science? When the human brain detects a presentation with the fonts Arial or Calibri, the visual cortex flips an internal switch, sending the brain into a mild state of catatonia. Okay, I made that up. There is, however, some truth to the stimulating effect of beauty on the human brain. What does this all mean for our numeric heroes? There is a big wide world of typography to explore and plenty of free fonts to download and try (check out www.fontsquirrel.com for starters). Don’t stick with the default fonts. Go forth and find a font to enhance the readability and aesthetics of your charts, graphs and tables.

Wait! Hold on—not so fast. Here are some parting words of advice on this subject:

Avoid cursive or script fonts. While beautiful, most often they are not appropriate for displaying numbers.
Take a look at fonts like Bebas Neue and Passion One (both available on Font Squirrel).
Don’t beautify fonts with drop shadows, 3D effects or anything listed under a menu called “Type Effects.”
Look around. Take note of the use of typography in the world around you. I’ve found inspiration in breakfast cereal boxes, ESPN motion graphics, infographics and billboards. Pinterest is a great resource for ideas.

Figure 3 – Default fonts like Calibri and Arial (top row) are serviceable as readable text, but there can be beauty in numbers. The beautiful fonts above in the lower half of the figure (second row l-r): Bebas Neue, Passion One, Montserrat (third ro… — *Figure 3* – Default fonts like Calibri and Arial (top row) are serviceable as readable text, but there can be beauty in numbers. The beautiful fonts above in the lower half of the figure (second row l-r): Bebas Neue, Passion One, Montserrat (third row l-r): Brooklyn Samuels, Recovery.

About the Guest Blogger

Michael Campbell is a Presentation Strategist and Creative Director at Radiate Presentation Design in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Radiate helps clients like Cargill, Land O’Lakes, Hewlett-Packard and Medtronic connect with their audiences using memorable content and visual storytelling. Campbell has a passion for making his clients’ voices heard, their messages understood, and their visions realized. You can view project samples and read more about Radiate at www.radiatepresents.com.

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Where do rebates rank?

July 22, 2015 Lynn Larson

I started in the industry when cards were all about convenience, but it did not take long for rebates to take center stage. This has shown no signs of slowing, which is why recent emails in my inbox intrigued me. One referenced a study about surprising consumer attitudes toward credit card rewards. Another email had an eye-catching subject line: ‘Rebates are toxic’—do you agree?

Consumers vs. Organizations

Last month, the results of a 2015 Bankrate Money Pulse survey made headlines with these statistics:

Only 14% of American consumers noted that points and cash back are their major driver of card use
51% of respondents would continue to use a card in the same manner as before if their issuer eliminated rewards*

I am certain that the results would be very different for a survey aimed at Commercial Card users. Why don’t our consumer views carry over to the workplace?

*On a related note, at least two European issuers have cut consumer credit card rewards in light of new debit and credit interchange regulation in the European Union (excludes Commercial Cards).

Industry Perspective

The “rebates are toxic” email was from Commercial Payments International (CPI). They are generating a discussion now in preparation of their fall Global Commercial Cards & Payments Summit during which they plan to tackle this sensitive topic.

I would not necessarily say rebates are toxic (nor did CPI claim this as their belief), but I previously wrote about the dark side. I questioned how long the high levels, especially in the United States, would be sustainable. Even without U.S. regulation of credit interchange, banks/issuers face pressures stemming from other regulation. Yet, I recognize no one wants to be the first issuer to cut back on rebates. It is an interesting topic, so I applaud CPI and their partner EuroFinance for being willing to discuss it.

A couple years ago, I had a hypothetical conversation with an end-user about what would happen to their traditional P-Card program if rebates were reduced. He quickly replied that they would decrease or even cease card usage. In reply, I observed this would cause a huge increase in work for their accounts payable staff (e.g., handling invoices for every purchase, most of which were under $2,500, and setting up all suppliers in the AP system). He initially overlooked the bigger picture, but then acknowledged the value of Purchasing Cards even without the rebate. How would your organization react?

What You Can Do

I do not know where rebates will be in the future. Everything might remain as-is. Regardless, I do suggest that organizations routinely evaluate the other benefits gained from Commercial Card usage. For a review, see benefits of Purchasing Cards, and benefits of electronic payables and how they compare to P-Cards. As an end-user, make metrics a regular part of program management to ensure your internal decision makers are aware of the advantages. Industry providers can play a role by helping end-user customers measure the status of their card programs and identify improvement opportunities.

About the Author

Blog post author Lynn Larson, CPCP, is the founder of Recharged Education. With more than 15 years of Commercial Card experience, her mission is to make industry education readily accessible to all. Learn more…

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Three program success factors for Canadian company.

July 14, 2015 Lynn Larson

If asked about the top three things that drive Commercial Card program success, what would you say? The collective answers from industry professionals would likely be diverse, which is a good thing. The more insights we garner from others, the stronger we can make our card programs. During the first half of 2015, I caught up with Linda Dyck, CPCP, manager, corporate accounting, Canadian Blood Services, to hear more about what has made their programs successful and what might be in their future. She specified technology, supportive management and card diversification, as described below.

Technology Instrumental to Growth

When Linda joined Canadian Blood Services 11 years ago, she inherited what she called a “poor program” primarily due to a lack of technology and too many manual processes. She recalled few reporting options and reconciliation that “was a mess.” By her second year, this began to change after they completed a request for proposal (RFP) process that resulted in a new provider and more online tools. The online tools, providing easy access to transactions, also initiated an attitude change as management loosened their conservative approach toward card issuance.

A few years later, receipt scanning was another victory. They only keep paper records approximately six months, whereas, in the past, they had the expense of storing paper for seven years.

Supportive Management Keeps Program on Track

Overall, Canadian Blood Services sees the value of Commercial Cards, so Linda has never had an issue obtaining executive management support. She shared they are smart enough to know that cards decrease the number of invoices processed by AP and also reduce the number of full-time equivalents (FTEs) needed.

Managers take their reviewer/approver role seriously, which Linda views as a key reason that internal fraud has not been an issue. They know what their employees are buying and why. She likened manager review of transactions to their sign off on time sheets for payroll purposes; both responsibilities are equally important.

Program success involves getting key components in sync.

Card Diversification Resolves Pain Points

In addition to Purchasing Cards, Canadian Blood Services makes use of traditional Ghost Cards. For example, purchases of office supplies by their various sites are tied to Ghost Cards, eliminating what used to generate approximately 1,000 invoices per year for AP to manually process. They also utilize Visa Payables Automation (VPA) with around 30 suppliers—a program that is steadily expanding and further reducing their use of paper checks.

Looking ahead, Linda is intrigued by an upcoming type of prepaid card with enhanced controls from Payabillity. She would be able to keep unfunded cards on hand until she needs to fund and distribute them. They could be used for things like honorariums and petty cash replenishment, which today involve cumbersome processes.

Based on my discussion with Linda, I can easily see that her success is driven by an ongoing pursuit of improvement. She does not cease learning and evaluating how what she learns can benefit her organization. Excellent approach!

To continue expanding your education, see also four tips from another industry professional and check out the growing content from Recharged Education.