Counting on you: Writing about numbers

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Irene Wong
Independent information consultant

Your audience is counting on you to present numbers that are easy to find, easy to understand and easy to use.

Regardless of whether you are writing to help your audience do something or to learn something, you often cannot avoid writing about numbers. Or as some might say "communicate quantitative information".

Although our lives are awash with numbers in health, financial services, weather, shopping, transport, gambling and so on, this doesn't mean your audience is comfortable with numbers. You need to engage them with your numbers so they grasp their importance and their relevance. This is your challenge.

In this presentation, Irene will briefly talk about innumeracy and offer some tips and warnings about conveying numbers in narratives, tables and charts.

About Irene

Irene has been a regular presenter at ASTC conferences over the last 10 years. After a brief stint as a teacher, she joined the Australian Bureau of Statistics as a research officer and later joined their publishing section.

After about 13 years at ABS she moved on to edit occupational health and safety content and statistics and then moved to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. Here she undertook various roles including production editor, content editor, internet manager and information designer.

Irene left ASIC in 2010.

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