On Feb. 6: Numeracy Expert Matt Baron at Ela Area Public Library

In early 2001, newspaper journalist and numbers maven Matt Baron delivered his first “Go Figure: Making Numbers Count” program at a Wisconsin Newspaper Association conference.

Since then, he has shared the wonder of numbers to groups of adults and children throughout the country, from Texas and Wyoming to New York, New Jersey and New England.

Along the way, this former syndicated math columnist and statistics researcher for Sports Illustrated for Kids has taken on the role of “numeracy ambassador” while issuing warnings about the perils presented by our individual or collective misuse or misunderstanding of all things mathematical.

Permeating all of his interactive sessions is a zest for educating and entertaining others about numbers. Baron brings “Go Figure: Making Numbers Count” to the Ela Area Public Library, 275 Mohawk Trail in Lake Zurich, on Wednesday, February 6^th.

Starting at 7 p.m., Baron will peel back the curtain on how he has trained thousands of journalists and other professional communicators to use numbers accurately, effectively and responsibly in their story-telling.

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In the following Q & A segment, the Oak Park-based strategic communications consultant discusses what people should expect from “Go Figure,” what has motivated him to develop the program, and his goals for anyone attending the session.

Q: You have a segment of your program called “Golympics.” What’s that about?

A: I’m a big believer in making learning fun, and applying that learning as quickly as possible. So with every “Go Figure” program, I include “Golympics,” a quiz that I developed in 2001 and have adapted ever since.

Each of the nine letters stands for a math-related category and the competition between teams gets pretty fierce, though good-natured. It usually gets the most positive response, and it builds on principles that I cover earlier in the session. We learn much more when we’re also having fun. I used to suspect that was true, but from my experience I have come to know it is absolutely the case.

Q: How did you get started with “Go Figure”?

A: I can trace it back to two of my former editors, Dennis Robaugh and Scott Stone.

In 1997, when I was with The Courier News in Elgin, Dennis knew of my knack for math and asked if I’d be interested in writing a column that revolved around numbers.

Very quickly, I began “By the Numbers” and soon it morphed into speaking to math classes throughout the Fox Valley, developing a summer math series that was published in the newspaper, and having “By the Numbers” get picked up for national syndication.

After I became a freelance journalist and was writing mostly for the Chicago Tribune and Time, one day I was talking to Scott. He had just endured a mind-numbing math-themed workshop for journalists. “You would do a much better job than he did,” he said. “You should do that.”

I began thinking through what I knew about math and the ways that the media so often mess it up. From there, I created a curriculum and came up with the “Go Figure: Making Numbers Count” name.

At first, it was geared toward training journalists to be more effective and responsible in how they used numbers and math in their stories. Over the past few years, Go Figure has continued to evolve, and now I share it with audiences of all ages and from all backgrounds.

Q: What do you want people to get from “Go Figure”?

A: At minimum, I want to raise everyone’s antenna when they encounter numbers in their day-to-day life. Whether we like it or not, numbers are here to stay. There is a staggering volume of numbers thrown at us, in the news, on social media and elsewhere. It’s easy to become intimidated, confused, and overwhelmed. To be able to sift through all this data, and distinguish between the significant and the trivial, to discern the factual from the fictional—this is a vital life skill.

The Ela Area Public Library is online at https://www.eapl.org/. Phone: 847-438-3433.

For more information about Go Figure: Making Numbers Count, visit www.GoFigureMakingNumbersCount.com contact Baron at matt@insideedgepr.com or call 708-860-1380.