On a graph that uses a measurement axis, like column, bar, and line graphs, one question that comes up is how the graph should be labelled. Should you use an axis, use data labels, or use both? The default in Excel and PowerPoint is to have the axis only. In this article I want to…
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.
Clearer line graphs; Issue #352 December 7, 2015
In my book Select Effective Visuals, I discuss that a line graph is the best visual to use when your message is to show the trend in a series of data. I also wrote a newsletter earlier this year on why line graphs are better than column graphs to show trends (click here to read…
The Globe and Mail December 7, 2015
Dave’s newsletter article on changing a standard presentation at a pace the audience can handle was mentioned in this article in The Globe and Mail.
Full-day workshop for manufacturer (November 24, 2016, London, ON)
Customized full-day workshop for engineering and other staff covering planning a presentation, focusing the message, and creating effective visuals. The session includes slide makeovers of their own slides to reinforce the ideas.
Change at a pace your audience can handle; Issue #351 November 24, 2015
Many business professionals have regular presentations they deliver. It could be a bi-weekly project update presentation in engineering, it could be the monthly financial summary to management, it could be weekly call center statistics, or it could be a monthly sales update. If you have been delivering this presentation for a while now, you have…
Math errors; Issue #350 November 10, 2015
What does an audience think when they see a math error on a slide? Do they ignore it and trust the numbers the presenter is discussing? Or do they start to question all the numbers and wonder what other mistakes there might be? My experience is that they start to question the numbers they are…
AFP Exchange Magazine article
Dave’s article in an upcoming AFP Exchange magazine (the monthly magazine published for members of the Association of Financial Professionals) is previewed in this extract. The full article was published in the March 2016 FP&A issue here.
Five Full-day workshops for healthcare company (November 7-11, 2016, Germany)
Five Customized full-day workshops for scientists and other staff covering planning a presentation, focusing the message, and creating effective visuals. The session includes slide makeovers of their own slides to reinforce the ideas.
Column Graphs vs. Bar Charts – When to choose each one
In my book Select Effective Visuals, I explain that there are many different visuals to use when comparing values in a single data series. The most common visuals are the column graph and the bar chart. They look like each other, just rotated 90 degrees. Does that mean that presenters can choose either one and…
Two-day workshop for financial services company (October 27-28, 2016, Lake Mary, FL)
Customized two-day workshop for financial professionals covering planning a presentation, focusing the message, and creating effective visuals. The session includes slide makeovers of their own slides to reinforce the ideas. The second day is hands-on practicing how to create the visuals in PowerPoint.