The Language of Numbers: How to Clearly Communicate, Part One

Numbers are at the core of a public finance professional's job, and a big part of the job is communicating those numbers to other people. This is challenging because numbers are abstract concepts. We teach children to count objects, like their fingers and toes, to make numbers more concrete, but the numbers that finance professionals need to communicate often go well beyond what can be accommodated by fingers and toes. These webinars will share examples of how we can take a cue from our childhood and communicate numbers more effectively by relating them to human experience. Each webinar will feature the best submissions to GFOA’s Fiscal Fluency Challenge.

This is first part of a two-part series, though you do not need to attend both sessions.

Part One will feature the winner of GFOA’s Fiscal Fluency Challenge, the City of Arlington, TX, along with two governments that earned honorable mentions: Leon County, FL and Saco, ME.

Who Will Benefit: Budget Analyst, Budget Manager, CFO/Finance Director, Other (Communications)

• Explore the research behind the language of large numbers and how it is useful for finance officers
• Learn about how other practitioners are presenting fiscal information to non-finance stakeholders using more visuals and manageable numbers
• Understand various ways to increase engagement in the budget process