The latest FinancialViz makeover video I posted illustrates how to create an effective visual when dealing with two situations: first, values are compared to an industry average, and second, the company names are long. The original visual was published in the June 2018 issue of the Globe and Mail Report on Business magazine. This is the…
Author: Dave Paradi
Dave Paradi has over twenty-two years of experience delivering customized training workshops to help business professionals improve their presentations. He has written ten books and over 600 articles on the topic of effective presentations and his ideas have appeared in publications around the world. His focus is on helping corporate professionals visually communicate the messages in their data so they don't overwhelm and confuse executives. Dave is one of fewer than ten people in North America recognized by Microsoft with the Most Valuable Professional Award for his contributions to the Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams communities. His articles and videos on virtual presenting have been viewed over 4.8 million times and liked over 17,000 times on YouTube.
FinancialViz Makeover: Comparing to an average with long labels
This makeover shows how using a dashed line as part of a graph allows easy comparison of values to an average and a bar chart makes long category labels easier to read. (this is a silent video and you can pause it to spend more time on any of the slides) https://youtu.be/MUjhlbdvqRQ
P2F2 Conference (October 20-23, 2019; Salt Lake City, UT)
At a conference for financial professionals in the pension plan industry I will be delivering a pre-conference workshop on advanced Excel graphing techniques and a concurrent session on how to present financial results and analysis visually. This conference is restricted to association members only and is not open to the public.
Change indicator characters; Issue #425 October 16 2018
The difference between two numbers is a common element of many presentations. It could be the difference between actual and budget, this year and last year, industry average and our performance, or any two numbers that measure an important metric. Visually showing whether that difference is positive, negative, or neutral in a table is what…
Presenting the income or P&L statement: How to highlight the largest revenue segment or expense item
You’ve analyzed the income and expenses and need to communicate important findings to the executives or Board. If you want to focus on the largest revenue segment (product, geographic region, etc. ) or expense item, watch this video to learn how to use a bar chart with color focus to show the data and direct…
Accurate Design Ideas-like Timeline; Issue #424 October 2 2018
In a previous newsletter I showed an example of how PowerPoint’s Design Ideas feature (last week Microsoft changed the name from Designer to Design Ideas) can create a visual from a bullet list of dates for events. Here is the example it created. I like the idea of the events being placed on a timeline…
FinancialViz Makeover Change in sectors over time; Issue #423 September 18 2018
The latest FinancialViz makeover I posted illustrates a better way to show change in values over time. The original visual was published in the July 2018 issue of the Globe and Mail ROB magazine. Here is the original visual. I selected this visual because it illustrates two issues that lead to audiences misinterpreting the meaning…
FinancialViz Makeover: Change in sectors over time
This makeover shows how using color and the right visual helps the audience compare the change in sectors between two time periods. (this is a silent video and you can pause it to spend more time on any of the slides)
SWD Challenge September 2018
I think makeovers of slides or visuals is a great way to see what is possible in our own presentations. If we have never seen a visual used in a certain way before, we would never think of applying it to what we present. The makeovers that I use in my custom workshops are always…
Getting Designer ideas without Office 365 at work; Issue #422 September 4 2018
Software and services are always looking for ways to improve our work, and PowerPoint is no different. About two years ago PowerPoint introduced a feature called Designer. This feature interprets the content on your slide as you create it and suggests different layouts to improve the look of the slide. Designer suggests a more visual…