Latest posts
Matching Excel charts to a PowerPoint color scheme; Issue #434 March 5 2019
If you create a graph in Excel, how do you get the colors to match the organization’s PowerPoint template? The two most common approaches are: 1) spend time typing in the RGB values for the correct colors into Excel for every graph, or 2) ignore the desire to make the...
Showing future differences; Issue #433 February 19 2019
When we want to show the impact of a proposed change, one of the ways we can do it is to show a line graph of the current state and the proposed state with a shaded area between the two to emphasize the difference. This is much better than the default table of values...
Comparing only one value to a standard; Issue #432 February 5 2019
When you want to compare values to a standard, such as comparing output in various production plants to the goal, a dashed line on a column graph is a good visual to use. The dashed line runs across the graph and it is easy to see if each column is above or below the...
Showing difference with diverging bars; Issue #431 January 22 2019
To see how well we are doing in the current year, we compare this year’s results to last year’s results and to the budget we set at the start of the year. Too often presenters show a spreadsheet of the numbers and expect the audience to figure out the result. My...
Showing difference between this year and last year/budget; Slide Makeover #93
Visually show variances: This Year compared to Last Year and Budget To see how well we are doing this year, we compare this year’s results to last year’s results and to the budget we set at the start of the year. Too often we show a spreadsheet of the numbers and...
Ten steps you can take to improve your PowerPoint presentations in 2019; Issue #430 January 8 2019
It is the start of a new year and people often take this opportunity to consider what changes they will make to improve their lives. In this article I share ten steps you can take to improve your PowerPoint presentations this year. Step 1: Adopt a new philosophy...
Making presentations more accessible; Issue #429 December 11 2018
Last week I was working with an organization who has a library of graphics that they encourage their staff to use. This gives a consistency to the look of their presentations. Each graphic represents a specific role, service, or element of their business. When I was...
Bar charts with long category labels; Issue #428 November 27 2018
How do we create graphs with category labels that contain a lot of text? If you are comparing values to each other, a column graph can get tricky since Excel and PowerPoint will turn the text at an angle and cut off labels that are really long. This makes it very hard...
2018 Gift List for Presenters and Recommended Products & Services; Issue #427 November 13 2018
As soon as Halloween was done two weeks ago I started to see Christmas decorations go up in stores and on homes. When I was walking around Chicago last week the decorating was in high gear in the city. It is the time of year we start to think of gifts for others (and...
FinancialViz Makeover: Comparing to an average with long labels; Issue #426 October 30 2018
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...