Web site design has gone through many evolutions with techniques coming and going. Most of this evolution has revolved around page layout and site navigation, today a modern site does indeed present a clear and easy experience for the visitor. However one area that seems to have been neglected is the display of numerical information. Perhaps this is due, in part, to that fact that not every site has numerical data to display or perhaps web designers are so focused on ‘look and feel’ that they neglect the clarity of information.

Getting visitors to a site is quite a task as we all know. So when we get them there we want them stay and understand the content. If that content involves numerical data then isn’t it worth making a little extra effort to present that data in a format that is both pleasing to the eye and enticing. So how do we do that? Well when you start to think about it, it really isn’t any different to the way we approach general site design. Today we wouldn’t dream of just chucking all the content at random on a page and expecting the visitor to make sense of it. So rather than just take the raw numbers and throw them into a table let’s give it a little thought. Think about what the data could be saying to user and then start to break it down into headline numbers and paragraphs as you would do with text information.

Numerical data can usually be quite easily segmented and totaled. Summing sections of data provide headline attention grabbing numbers, whilst segmenting provides the opportunity to paragraph the data making far more information easily accessible and far more interesting for the viewer. For example, let’s suppose we have a whole series of sales data and let’s imagine our organisation sells four products. Our raw data is a set of individual sales numbers. Simply placing this data in one big table, although displaying all the data, does not really provide very much information. For instance a normal user would have no idea which product is most popular or whether there are any trends or seasonal variations. With a little thought and effort we can do much better, let’s start by segmenting our sales figures by month and then within each month segment further by product. For each product / month cell we have two numbers, the total value of sales and the number of sales. Providing this in just a simple table will be far more meaningful than our original raw data set. The user can now begin to see which product is performing well and also whether any particular time of year is good or bad. However we can still do much better.

Even at this level of segmentation we are still making the viewer work to see the story contained within the data. Now that we have the data sensibly segmented it becomes a fairly easy task to display in graphical format. Done well graphs are extremely powerful because they both present information in a visual format and add dimension to the data. Relationships between adjacent data and trends across the range are made crystal clear. Choosing the correct chart style is key for making this work really well. Should we use pie charts, bar graphs, line graphs and something more exotic. In our sales data example remember we are looking to provide some attention grabbing headline followed by a paragraph of interesting detail. A viewer of our information may first be most interested in which of our products is the best performing. Although a bar graph of total sales for each product would provide this information, a pie chart representing the product totals would be more attention grabbing. So for our headline let’s provide the user with a pie chart of total sales. Now all we need to do is provide the paragraph, well the choice with our example data is a multi-series vertical bar chart. We have a series of data for each product segmented by month. Along the x-axis we will plot month and the y-axis will represent value of sales. Each month on the graph will contain 3 bars, one for each product. This simple approach provides the viewer with a great deal of information in one pleasing view. The bar chart tells the complete sales story for each of our products showing both trends and easy visual comparisons.

That’s all well and good, I hear you say, but web pages don’t lend themselves to easily generating graphical display. Well that’s true but there are today a wide variety of software packages that have specifically been designed to plugin to web sites and make the task of turning the numbers into eye catching, story telling graphs easy for the web designer. Generally you set a few options, like colours and then simply provide the segmented data to the software. At page view time your visitor is presented with the graph image.

In summary then, with a little thought and a small amount of effort the numbers can really be brought alive and provide a compelling story for visitors.

Our presentations, that is, when we speak to clients, owners, stakeholders, boards, councils, students, and colleagues, typically include traditional visual aids. PowerPoint is heavily used, or perhaps more accurately, over used.

On reflection, many of us have access to highly-varied potential prop material, the use of which could enhance our communication effectiveness, especially for visual and kinesthetic learners. These learners prefer to understand by, respectively, seeing and touching or handling objects, in contrast with auditory learners who tend to focus on spoken words.

Given that we rarely know the learning preferences of audience members, we should anticipate that all three types-auditory, visual, and kinesthetic-are likely to be present and plan our presentation accordingly. Accommodating all three learner types will increase the overall listening level of your audience.

Consider these actual illustrations of using props to enhance communication:

o An engineer was trying to explain various consequences of leaks in municipal water distribution systems. To illustrate one kind of damage he brought to the meeting and used a large, heavy brass valve that had been deeply eroded-several inches-as a result of proximity to a water jet issuing from a hole in a water main.

o A city administrator occasionally brought a baseball bat to meetings to, as he said, “get attention” (hopefully symbolically).

o A consultant was speaking to college seniors about “10 Tips for Achieving Success and Significance.” A memorable prop was used for each tip. For example, the speaker held a crystal vase drawing parallels between it and one’s reputation. Each person’s reputation, like a hand-crafted vase, is unique. Major time and effort goes into building a reputation and in creating a crystal vase. Once shattered, a reputation, like the vase, is impossible to restore.

o A professor used a rectangular cross-section foam beam, with longitudinal parallel lines drawn on it, to show tension and compression.

Perhaps my thoughts about recognizing different types of learners, especially the visual and kinesthetic learners, reinforced with the prop examples provided above, will stimulate you to think in a fresh way to use props to fully utilize your speaking opportunities. As noted by consultant Mel Hensey, “communication is not what is intended, but what is received by others.” Judicious use of props will help others receive what you intended them to receive.