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.

  • Checklist before delivering a PowerPoint presentation in a Zoom or Microsoft Teams meeting

    If you will be delivering a PowerPoint presentation in a Zoom or Teams meeting, there are a number of things you will want to do to ensure that it goes as smoothly as possible. Use this as a checklist each time you get ready. Most of these items come from the lessons I and others…… Continue reading

  • 4 Options for How to Present a PowerPoint Slide Show in a Zoom meeting

    If you are using Zoom to meet with others who are working remotely, you may not realize that you have six choices when it comes to how you will present your PowerPoint slides to the group (I added two options I discovered after the article was first published). In this article I will share more…… Continue reading

  • 5 Options for How to Present a PowerPoint Slide Show in a Microsoft Teams meeting

    If you are using Microsoft Teams to meet with others who are working remotely, you may not realize that you have seven choices when it comes to how you will present your PowerPoint slides to the group (I added two options I discovered after the article was first published). In this article I will share…… Continue reading

  • Virtual presenting resources and tips; Issue #462 April 14, 2020

    Two weeks ago my newsletter focused on the massive changes we have all been going through due to the need to socially distance and so many people now working from home instead of an office. Today I want to share some resources and tips for those who have moved their presentations to a virtual platform…… Continue reading

  • Special COVID-19 update; Issue #461 March 31 2020

    Since the last newsletter two weeks ago, so much has changed. Non-essential businesses are closed, we are asked to stay at home, and so many people have started working from home (something I’ve done for over twenty years). I hope that you and your family are following the guidance of local health authorities and staying…… Continue reading

  • Creating area graphs with Charticulator; Issue #460 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 my customized workshops…… Continue reading

  • Creating non-standard shapes; Issue #459 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 items you want to group are not in a neat…… Continue reading

  • Scaling values for related data series; Issue #458 February 18 2020

    It is not uncommon that to communicate a message you need to show two or three related data series. It is relatively easy to create a single graph that has all the data series shown. The challenge comes when you have values in the data series that are different by an order of magnitude or…… Continue reading

  • Test slides when using video wall; Issue #457 February 4 2020

    As more conference rooms move from using projectors to using monitors to display presentations, an issue is coming up in larger rooms. While a single large monitor will work in a small to medium sized room, it is too small for a medium to large sized room. To create a larger display, organizations install a…… Continue reading

  • 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 the problem was, and the solution that shows how changing one character in the…… Continue reading