Statistics help bring credibility and influence to your speeches. However, statistics alone are not enough. See the 5 keys below for ways to educate, entertain, and influence your audience with stats.
Key #1: Do not Drop Stats off; Drive them Home
Many times you’ll see a speaker go into a list of statistics in order to prove his or her point. Statistics are certainly desirable in speaking, but only if you use them in an effective way. Simply listing statistics is not enough. You must interpret them so your audience knows exactly what they mean to them.
For example, when I first started speaking, I often used the following statistic when driving home a point about life-long learning: “Each year you will spend between 500 and 1000 hours in an automobile.” This statistic might be interesting but it certainly is not compelling. That’s because it hasn’t been driven home. Here’s how you might drive it home:
“Each year you will spend between 500 and 1000 hours in an automobile. If you live to be 75 years old, you will spend approximately 4-8 years of your life in an automobile. Eight years! Here’s my question to you. What are you doing with that time? [pause]. Are you simply passing time or using it? Do you know 8 years is enough time for two PhDs? Again, what are you doing with that time? [pause]. I suggest turning your car into a traffic school. That way, the more traffic you hit, the more school you get. You can listen to books and audios and quickly become an expert compared to the rest of the country. Oh, but there is one caveat. Please don’t use any meditation audios in the car!”
Show how the statistic can affect them directly
This is how you can drive a point home by showing your audience exactly how that statistic affects them and what they can do about it. Don’t just drop off the statistic, but drive it home.
Key #2: Use Statistics within a Story
One of the best ways to drive home statistics is by using them inside of your stories. For example, I tell a story about a homeless woman who began teaching me the power of using my imagination to create my future. In the middle of the story, I state the following:
“She struck a chord in me…and anytime someone strikes a chord in me, I go to my rule of three. By the way, if you use this rule, you will be light years ahead of most people in any endeavor you choose. What is it? It’s simple. I read three books on that topic. Why? Unfortunately, the average American reads less than one book per year. And 58% of Americans, that’s almost 6 out of every 10 Americans, never read another non-fiction book after they finish with their formal education. I have to tell you that the world is wide open for people who are willing to read! So I read something somewhere that said if you read 3 books on any one topic, then you are an expert on that topic compared to the rest of the country. [pause] Don’t get excited; you’re expert by default because nobody else reads! Nevertheless you’re ahead of the game. So I read 3 books on Imagination, one was Creative Visualization by…”
What’s in it for them?
If I had stopped at the fact that the average American reads less than one book per year, then I would have simply dropped off the statistic instead of driving it home. I drove it home by letting my audience know how it affects them and how they can use it to their advantage. In other words, they can get light years ahead of any competition by reading 3 books on a single topic. After this statistic, I continue my story about the homeless woman and how the 3 books on imagination helped me win the World Championship of Public Speaking and become a professional speaker. Because I cited the statistic within the story, my audience was able to see first-hand how using the statistic to my advantage really paid off. Therefore, they were sold on the benefits and they were primed to take the suggested action of reading 3 books on 1 topic.
Key #3: Statistic vs. Story
The problem with simply listing statistics is that they are relatively impersonal and unemotional. Of course we think, “Oh that’s terrible” when we hear about thousands of people living with a certain disease or hundreds of thousands of people living in poverty. However, those statistics won’t bring us to tears like the story of one person will. A story will outdo statistics most of the time.
Please remember that your audience often makes decisions based on emotion backed up by logic. The story is the emotion while the statistic is the logic. Stating that 1000 people were mugged this year won’t touch us like the one story about little Jenny being mugged will. Little Jenny will outdo big statistics every time. Use statistics to back up and give depth to little Jenny’s story. It’s often more powerful to see the world not from a birds-eye view but through the eyes of one person.
Key #4: Literally point us to the source
Whether you cite statistics or a sentence from someone’s work, please attribute it to them. In addition, there is an advanced way to have your audience members leave your speech thinking, “Wow, I really got more out of that than what I expected?” What you can do is not only mention the source where you got your statistic or your statement, but point them directly to it. This gives them the opportunity to further their research it if they want. For example, in one of my past speeches I said…
“If you pick up the hard copy of Michael Port’s book called Book Yourself Solid, thumb through to page 36, and look down at the very last sentence in the second paragraph, you will come across the following powerful statement: ‘Most business problems are personal problems in disguise.’”
Now that’s much more visual than simply saying, “Michael Port once said…” It’s better because it builds credibility for you. Your audience knows you read it firsthand. Plus, it gives your audience an actual page to turn to in that book and a reason to purchase it. Remember, if they leave your speech and purchase a book you referred, then you are still touching their lives long after you left the speaking platform. That’s the kind of impact you want as a speaker. Point them directly to the source.
Key #5: Use Statistics for Involvement
Finally, you can also use statistics to get your audience involved and to strengthen the kinesthetic connection you have with them. For example, 20 years ago I once heard a fantastic motivational speaker say this to a conference of aspiring speakers:
“Look around you. Look to the person on your left. Now look to the person on your right. Next year at this time, only half you will still be in this organization. Statistics show that half of you will give up. Half of you will not renew your membership. You will give up and quit. Those of you who stay will be on your way to success as a speaker.
That was very powerful to us newbie speakers because nobody wanted to be in that bottom half of quitters that would be absent next year. When I have my own tough speeches today, I still think back to what that speaker said. As a result, I keep thinking, “I’ll keep coming back no matter what.” His long-lasting effect is what you want as a speaker and proper use of statistics will help you have that.
Final Thought on Stats
I once read that there are three types of people in this world; those who can count and those who can’t.
Your Turn
What’s one way you drive stats home for your audience?
One year from now, how would you like to be 3 times better than the speaker you are today?
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