Data is supposed to spur people to action, but it rarely does. Why not? It’s because numbers, on their own, are boring, and the words people use to describe numbers tend to be boring, too. Boring numbers + boring words = tuned-out audience. Thankfully, there is this thing called a thesaurus.* In between overly flowery synonyms it has words that mean the same thing you’re trying to convey but have significantly more emotional oomph.
Just last week, I helped clients refine their quarterly KPI presentation (and feel more confident about it) with a few strategic word-swaps. For example, one slide was titled “Metric XYZ declined;” I pushed them to for a more nuanced alternative. Did it slide? Plummet? Creep? All four imply the number “went down” but evoke different emotions.
A few slides later, the word “increased” showed up. Again, I pushed. In this case, they told me the story was less about how much the number moved and more about why. It’s wasn’t spontaneous or accidental; the team made a concerted effort to improve in that particular area over the past 12 months. Rather than force the audience to translate upward movement as good news internally, we changed the slide headline to say it straight out…”Our Hard Work Appears To Be Paying Off.”
In my experience, people shy away from strong words when presenting data because it feels risky. “I’ll just say ‘declined’ and let the audience decide if that’s a big deal or not.” That’s fine if your goal is to be a human dashboard. If you want to lead change, you need to have – and communicate – a strong point of view.
(If you want a fun distraction, try saying “the thesaurus” quickly. It’s the ultimate word-nerd tongue-twister!)
