Books Slideshow: Making Numbers Meaningful: 10 Ways to Improve Your Presentations

Budgeting and bean counting come with the territory for C-level executives, and often times CIOs have to build their business cases with metrics. But how you communicate that information can have a big impact on your budget and your team's projects. In his new book, "Painting with Numbers: Presenting Financials and Other Numbers so People Will Understand You" (John Wiley & Sons/April), author Randall Bolten contends that the presentation of numbers is nothing more than a communications skill, no more or less difficult than assembling a report or putting together a speech. The biggest mistake people make, he says, is forgetting to make your numbers meaningful to your audience in your effort to ensure that your information is correct. Bolten outlines best practices for getting the most out of your quantitative communications. With more than 20 years experience as a CFO in Silicon Valley, Bolten now runs Lucidity, a consultancy on enterprise business models, management and financial reporting packages. For more about the book, click here.