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 a second laptop as a second HDMI screen monitor for your primary laptop (Windows or Mac)

    A second screen is great for PowerPoint Presenter View or for being more efficient at getting work done. If you don’t have a monitor to plug into your Windows or Mac laptop as a second screen but you have an HDMI port and a second Windows or Mac laptop, you can do it. (If you…… Continue reading

  • No more “next slide please”; Share keyboard and mouse control with other presenters in Teams & Zoom

    You are part of a team that is delivering an important presentation to the executive group. Each person will present a few slides in the overall deck sharing the results in their area. When we were in person, you’d just have the next presenter come up to the front of the room and take the…… Continue reading

  • Presentations at in-person meetings shouldn’t go back to the way they were before

    Now that many business professionals are returning to the office, more meetings will have everyone in a meeting room like in the past. I don’t think this should mean that presentations go back to the way they were before: the presenter standing at the front of the room beside the screen. The lessons we learned…… Continue reading

  • Use Windows Magnifier to zoom in and pan around a slide or other content in a Zoom or Teams meeting

    I recently discovered a new way to present complex or dense slides in a Zoom or Teams meeting. The challenge with complex visuals is that the audience gets easily overwhelmed and doesn’t know where to look. You can’t easily use a laser pointer to direct their attention because they get distracted by the movement. If…… Continue reading

  • AFP article February 25, 2022

    AFP (Association for Financial Professionals) wrote an article about the webinar I was part of discussing data visuals. I shared some tips and showed some makeovers. The response was very positive and we will be doing it again in the spring. The article summarizing the webinar is here. Continue reading

  • Force a column, bar, or line chart in Excel to start at zero

    Excel changes the starting value for the measurement axis of column, bar, and line charts based on the values being graphed. This can cause a chart to be misleading just because the data got updated. In this video I show you how to add a second invisible data series that forces Excel to always start…… Continue reading

  • Should you have 2 webcams active for Zoom and Teams meetings? Here are 3 situations where you might consider this setup.

    Suggesting you consider having two webcams active during a Teams or Zoom meeting might initially sound like something only a high-end production would consider. While it may not be common, there are cases where having a second webcam active can help you deliver a more effective business or sales presentation. Here are three situations where…… Continue reading

  • The strategic use of color in Excel charts

    A few dataviz experts tweeted about a great new article by Lisa Charlotte Muth called “10 ways to use fewer colors in your data visualizations”. I highly recommend you read it because it is very well written and has great ideas. If you create data visuals in Excel like many business professionals do, let me…… Continue reading

  • Why Bluetooth keyboards, mice, and remotes are preferred over ones with dongles

    Recently a visitor to my website sent me a question about a problem he was having with his presentation remote. Often at some point during his presentation his slides would start advancing on their own and he would have to shut down his computer to make it stop. He was wondering what was going on…… Continue reading

  • Play a YouTube video in a clean browser window in Teams, Zoom, or Google Meet

    When you want to share a YouTube video in a Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or Google Meet meeting and you don’t want to show the ads and rest of the YouTube default interface, the video below will show you how to create a web page that has just the YouTube video embedded in it. This allows…… Continue reading