In a recent ad to defeat the debt there’s an interesting example of using statistics (just numbers, actually) and making the numbers real for the audience, something we always tell our public speaking students. In this example, the $9 trillion debt for the next ten years is made real in this way: How big is a trillion? Well, one million seconds equals 12 days; one trillion seconds equals more than 30,000 years.
Of course we can expand that and say that 9 trillion seconds would equal 270,000 years.
Regardless of what you think of the political implications of this ad, it illustrates very clearly how large numbers can be made meaningful to an audience.
Of course we can expand that and say that 9 trillion seconds would equal 270,000 years.
Regardless of what you think of the political implications of this ad, it illustrates very clearly how large numbers can be made meaningful to an audience.
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