If I told you that the Apple iPad Mini was 7.2mm thin, would you be excited about it? Probably not. What if I told you that it was as thin as a pencil? The product suddenly becomes more interesting, doesn’t it? Apple spokespeople have all mastered a communications technique that every leader should use when presenting statistics—they make numbers come alive by putting those statistics into context.
On Tuesday, October 23, Apple announced several new products including a new iMac, MacBook Pro, and iPads. The iPad Mini stole the show. It’s thinner and than a regular iPad and starts at the lower price point of $329. Apple marketing chief, Phil Schiller revealed the details. “This iPad Mini is just 7.2 millimeters thin,” he said. “That’s about one quarter thinner than the 4th generation iPad (introduced minutes earlier). To put it into context, it’s as thin as a pencil.” Schiller’s presentation slide only had two images—a photo of the product next to a pencil. In this case, why clutter the slides with text when the visual tells the story?
Schiller continued. “It weighs just .68 pounds. That’s over 50 percent lighter than the 4th generation iPad. In context, it’s as light as a pad of paper. We were going to say a book but a book is much heavier.”
The visual representation of the statistics in the form of a pencil and a pad of paper caught people’s attention. A CNET blogger said, the iPad Mini is “Lighter than most books you own.” A USA Today reporter wrote, “It’s pencil-thin, as light as a pad of paper.” Twitter also lit up:
@huffingtonpost: New iPad mini is 7.2mm thin, ‘as thin as a pencil’ and ‘as light as a pad of paper.’
@ABC7: iPadmini. As light as a pad of paper
@CNBC: Apple’s new iPad Mini is as thin as a pencil
Earlier in the presentation, Apple CEO Tim Cook, sounding more passionate than I’ve ever heard him, used the same technique to put sales numbers into context. Cook said, “Two weeks ago we sold our 100 millionth iPad. That’s 100 million in just two and a half years. This is unprecedented for a new product in a new category. To put this into perspective, we sold more iPads in the June quarter than any PC manufacturer sold of their entire PC lineup.” Cooks slide contained the numeral 100 Million in a big, bold font. That’s the second part of the technique—when you deliver a key statistic that you want your audience to remember, don’t clutter the slide with extraneous numbers. The statistic should be the only numbers on the slide.
Cook has been using this technique for as long as I’ve been watching him. He often introduces an important number and follows it with “To put this in context…” or “To put this into perspective…”
Most presentations include statistics or numbers. If the number is important enough to communicate, I can only assume you want your audience to remember it. If you put it into context, they won’t forget it.