I recently attended a public event where community members were invited to share ideas for the region’s future. To capture the demographics of those who attended, people were asked to place stickers on each of several pie charts in the lobby. Pies were drawn on large sheets of butcher paper and included a chart for gender, age, and ethnicity.
In addition to providing attendance data for the sponsor, it served as a powerful visual for the participants to see that the demographics were heavily shifted in certain areas and that other groups had less representation and input at this event.
Consider the pie chart/sticker method the next time you wish to gather and display demographics in real time or don’t wish to put people on the spot by asking them directly.
