Latest posts
Creating area graphs with Charticulator; March 17, 2020
What can you do if you want to create a chart but the values you have differ by an order of magnitude or more? If you use the standard column or bar graph, you risk the smaller values being virtually invisible because the chart is scaled to show the large values. In...
Creating non-standard shapes; March 3, 2020
In a previous newsletter I showed how using semi-transparent shapes to show categories or groups of items can help explain a complex diagram or image. In the example, I used rectangles because the groups of items were located neatly beside each other. What if the...
How one character in a file name can mess up linking Excel cells or graphs to a PowerPoint slide
I recently had someone contact me asking why the linking between Excel and PowerPoint was not working properly. They had followed my advice in this article & video but it wasn’t working properly. Let me explain the scenario, what I discovered...
PowerPoint Presentation Best Practices Audit; Issue #455 January 7 2020
The start of a new year is a common time to evaluate where you are and what you want to improve to make this year better than the previous year. If you are looking to make more effective PowerPoint presentations in 2020, I suggest you start with my Effective...
Showing key phrases in social media posts; Issue #454 December 10 2019
As social media becomes more important in organizations, you may want to include social media posts in presentations and highlight key words or phrases. This can be a compliment you want to use to congratulate a team on an event or it could be a complaint that...
The “last mile” in data analysis; Issue #453 November 12 2019
The “last mile” is a term that refers to delivering service all the way to the customer’s home, not just close by. It has been a significant challenge for companies like Amazon who deliver packages to people’s homes and for providers of high-speed internet. It is...
2019 Gift List for Presenters; Issue #452 November 12 2019
I'm seeing Black Friday previews and pre-Black Friday sales have started. For the past couple of years I’ve put together a list of the products and services I use and recommend to those looking for gifts to give presenters or business professionals who have to create...
Highlighting an area with a mask; Issue #451 October 29 2019
Sometimes you have a complex image, maybe a process diagram, chemical structure, or detailed schematic. You want to focus on one area to explain your message and you want the viewer to have context of where that one area fits into the overall picture. In this article...
Professional looking graphs; Issue #450 October 15 2019
It is relatively easy to create a graph in Excel or PowerPoint. But is the default graph good enough for a business presentation? I don’t think so. Recently I wrote three articles on how to make professional looking graphs for the three most common types of graphs:...
Results of the 2019 Annoying PowerPoint survey; Issue #449 October 1 2019
Thank you to everyone who took the time and shared your honest opinions about the PowerPoint presentations you see. I have compiled all the responses and produced a full report which is linked below. To give you the highlights, I've included here the executive summary...