Latest posts

Below are the most recent articles or resources I’ve published. If you are looking for help on a specific topics, it would best to look at the topics in my Articles archive as I have grouped my recent and best articles by topic there.

  • Use an iPad as a second screen for a laptop – no app required!

    Now that iPadOS 17 has been released, you can easily use your newer iPad (one that has a USB-C connector instead of a lightning connector) as a second screen for your Windows laptop (or desktop) without needing an app on your computer or iPad. In the past, you needed an app, such as Duet Display,…… Continue reading

  • Here’s how to use a laptop as a second monitor connecting it with HDMI (Windows & Mac any combination)

    If you’ve been wondering if it is possible to use a spare laptop as a second monitor for a primary laptop or a desktop so you can have two screens to work on, I want to share the great news that, yes, this is possible! You can use a Windows or a Mac laptop as… Continue reading

  • Genius Hack to Turn 1 Windows Laptop Screen into 1 Screens Using HDMI

    If you have a Windows laptop, you may think it only has one screen. But you can use a hack to create a second screen on the laptop screen. Use this second screen for PowerPoint Presenter View and to share your slides in a Zoom or Teams meeting. Here’s an animated summary of the process.… Continue reading

  • Excel Dataviz Tutorial: Show Max, Min, & Scores for multiple criteria

    I created this visual based on a request from a student in the Master of Finance program at Queens University. They asked how to visually show the scores on multiple criteria for the organizations they were analyzing. I created a bar chart for each criteria that shows the score, how far it was from the… Continue reading

  • Remove the background of a photo from your iPhone and add it to a PowerPoint slide

    If you want to add a photo of a person or an object from your iPhone to a PowerPoint presentation without the background, the video below shows you how easy it is using the background removal feature of the Photos app on an iPhone. The video was recorded on my iPhone (4-year-old model!) so you… Continue reading

  • Use HDMI to connect a laptop to a desktop PC as a second monitor/screen (Windows)

    If you have a Windows desktop computer and you want to use a spare laptop as a second screen, you can do that and in this video I’ll show you how. Links to products mentioned in this video: Pluggable DisplayLink adapter for HDMI output port: https://amzn.to/3NveVS9 HDMI to USB Video Capture Device: https://amzn.to/3IZQGX4 Laptop stand:… Continue reading

  • Slide makeovers for non-financial metrics

    If you work for a government affiliated agency you do not report profit-focused metrics because profit is not your objective. You report on metrics that are important to your organization but are often not financial in nature. You have goals or targets to meet and you measure progress against them. In this article I want… Continue reading

  • Excel Chart Hack: Put data series labels in the bars of a bar chart instead of the legend

    In a previous video (https://youtu.be/jqA5BUbgAFM) I showed how to replace the legend in a column chart with labels added using a scatter chart. Someone asked if this could also be done for a bar chart. This video shows you how. It is a slightly different approach because the scatter plot has to be placed on… Continue reading

  • Create a graph in PowerPoint using data and formulas from Excel for increased functionality

    Using the default copy and paste for an Excel graph into PowerPoint results in a link back to the Excel file. If that file is on a drive you can’t access, you can’t edit the graph. If you use the Embed workbook option when pasting the graph into PowerPoint you make the PowerPoint file large,… Continue reading

  • Cool effect for presenting Excel column charts/graphs in PowerPoint | Morph alternative hack

    Morph, the great PowerPoint feature that you can use with images, shapes, and text to create effects that look like a professional video is not available for charts. Charts are much more complex and Morph isn’t able to figure out where all the different elements should move. This video will show you a cool effect… Continue reading