Presenting numbers can be a little abstract sometimes, and it takes effort to make them vivid and interesting.

One way is to present them in terms that people can visualise. Accordingly, some objects have evolved their own official units of measurement outside of the usual metric or imperial systems.

The top 10 Standard Presentation Units of Measurement are:

1. Water flow
Is measured in Olympic Swimming Pools per hour or day. If it’s a really colossal flow of water, it’s Sydney Harbours (US equivalent is Niagaras).

2. Computing Power
The calculating grunt of small digital devices is measured in Apollo Elevens, i.e. “this tiny PDA carries three times the computing power of the entire first moon mission.”

3. Cattle Stations
The area of outback cattle stations is measured in Belgiums (should that be Belgia?), or similar small European nations.

4. Hailstones
Which according to reports, are never more or less than 1.0 Golf Balls.

5. Cyclones / Hurricanes
Their destructive power is measured in Hiroshimas, a multiple of the power of the first A-bomb dropped in combat.

6. Ocean Liners
No decent ocean liner these days is less than 4 on the Football Field scale.

7. Dinosaurs
Evoking a nearly-as-extinct species of public transport, the height of dinosaurs is measured in Double Decker Buses.

8. Broadband Cabling
Major initiatives in this area are measured on the Lunar Return Trip scale, ie. “With this roll-out, we plan to install enough cable to reach to the moon and back.” If the roll-out isn’t quite that big, it can be measured in Equators.

9. Miniaturised things
Micro-technology is worthy only if it rates less than one on the Human Hair scale (US equivalent is 2.43 Olsen Twins).

10. Health Insurance
Or gym memberships, or anything else that costs about $1000 per year, are measured in Cappuccinos, i.e. “It may seem a lot, but for less than the price of a cappuccino a day…”

These have all had their fair share of exposure, so feel free to keep the audience alert with some new ones of your own.

“Next year, the bank aims to restrict its sub-prime losses to a quarter of an Enron.”

“Our PR efforts have resulted in 1.3 Bransons of media coverage.”

“The new sustainable office has an energy consumption of less than a dozen Krispy Kremes per day.”

Tags: capuccino a day, measurement units, Presentations, presenting numbers, scale

Posted by Ian on Friday, July 17th, 2009. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.