Use a trick in a stacked bar chart in Excel or PowerPoint to create a graph that visually shows the range of values.
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.
The correct visual to show a trend; Issue #332 March 3, 2015
As I write my next book which is due out in late spring, I am forced to think deeply about the decisions business professionals should make when selecting visuals for their slides. One of those decisions is whether to select a column chart or a line graph when showing a trend or direction in the…
I disagree with the Canadian Business article on PowerPoint
I strongly disagree with the article James Cowan of Canadian Business magazine published today concluding that “PowerPoint is a terrible way to communicate anything important.” My study on PowerPoint usage is quoted and he uses a 12 word quote from me. By including me in this article, he gives the impression that I agree with…
Canadian Business magazine February 24, 2015
This article in Canadian Business magazine quotes Dave and his study on what annoys audiences about PowerPoint presentations. Dave does not agree with the conclusion of the article that “PowerPoint is a terrible way to communicate anything important”. He believes that PowerPoint can be used to enhance a presentation and his workshops help business professionals…
Graph labelling techniques; Issue #331 February 17, 2015
In this article I am going to share a couple of innovative ways to use the built-in graph data label feature of PowerPoint to make your graphs more effective. I’ve always taught that if the built-in data labelling feature does not work for your graph, just add text boxes with the labels you need. And…
The Globe and Mail February 16, 2015
The Globe and Mail Report on Business included Dave’s tip on checking how your slides look to people with color deficiency in their February 16th edition. The Globe article is here and Dave’s article they refer to is here.
CPAON course: How to Present Financial Data Effectively using PowerPoint (February 4, 2016, Markham, ON)
OBJECTIVE Accountants often use PowerPoint to present financial data to peers, executives, suppliers, and others. It is critical that others understand the impact of the financial analysis so that decisions can be made and the bottom line positively impacted. Unfortunately, too often the barrage of numbers is overwhelming to the audience and they leave confused.…
Testing how a slide looks to someone with color deficiency; Issue #330 February 3, 2015
For many years in my workshops I have been discussing the importance of considering how colors look to people who have color deficiency. The term many people commonly use is color blindness, but that is not accurate. Some people truly can’t see the colors red and green, but more commonly the colors don’t look the…
Full-day workshop for utility company (January 21, 2016, St. Louis, MO)
Customized full-day workshop for financial and other staff covering hands-on instruction in how to create effective visuals such as graphs & other data visualizations, diagrams, timelines, text & tables, and how to focus the audience during delivery of a slide.
SEV Resources
Thanks for investing in the book Select Effective Visuals! On this page you will find additional resources to help you use the ideas in the book. Most of the resources are links to other content that you can choose to explore. There are links to videos, other example visuals, articles, calculators, and more. If you…