Good Information Bad Delivery

Yankees Game

Our first day in New York City my wife and I attended the Yankee game.  This picture is the view from our seats taken from my iPhone 3G.  The stadium was great, the Yankees won and I learned from some A’s fans that Matt Holliday was traded to the Cardinals but that really isn’t the point of this post.  While waiting in line to get garlic fries (you can get better ones at Safeco Field in Seattle) I noticed that the calorie count for each item was listed on the menu.  I guess New York has some requirements for listing caloric stats at some dining establishments.  While in line I heard two people start to order the “small” size only to change to the large size upon encouragement from others.

This got me thinking; the way information is presented matters as much as the information itself.  Simply putting the nutrition info up may not change people’s behavior.  What if New York required restaurants to display full sized card board cutouts of people in bathing suits, showing the difference between someone who has eaten the large size vs the small size over a 5 year period of time?  We often fall into presenting valuable information in a boring way that does not influence people to change just because that is how everyone else does it.  Take 5 minutes to think about a creative way you can present information in your church, family, school, or work that makes the information come to life.  Let me know what you come up with.