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.

  • Zooming in on a column graph; Issue #446 August 20 2019

    In a previous article I talked about giving context first for complex diagrams by showing the overall view before zooming in to look at the details. The same approach can apply to a column graph where the values don’t differ by much. Too often I see column graphs where the vertical axis does not start…… Continue reading

  • Big Data Tools and Executive Reporting; Issue #445 August 6 2019

    In the opinion of some commentators, presentations of results and analysis to executives will soon be replaced by dashboards created with big data tools such as Power BI or Tableau. They claim that by giving executives access to these tools, the executives will be able to discover all the insights they need and presentations from…… Continue reading

  • Comparing actual to budget with explanations; Issue #444 July 23 2019

    Comparing actual spending to budgeted spending is an important topic in many presentations. Too often the actual and budget amounts are shown in a table and the audience is expected to subtract large numbers in order to understand the difference. My latest makeover demonstrates how you can use a diverging bar chart with explanations to…… Continue reading

  • Visualizing Net Income from Inflows and Outflows; Issue #443 July 9 2019

    Via Twitter I came across an interesting visual created by Nadieh Bremer to show the inflows and outflows that resulted in the Net income for an organization in their annual report. Here is the visual, used with Nadieh’s permission from her article. Here are some of the things I really like about it. It visually…… Continue reading

  • Speed slide creation and enjoy the summer; Issue #442 June 25 2019

    It is officially summer here in North America and the promise of warmer weather makes us want to get our work done quickly so we can go outside and enjoy the sun. In this article I want to share some tips and resources for speeding up the creation of PowerPoint slides so you can get…… Continue reading

  • Selecting Dataviz based on message; Issue #441 June 11 2019

    In my recent sessions at regional AFP conferences I spoke about the issue of spreadsheets on slides in presentations of financial results and analysis. Business professionals copy these large tables of numbers on to slides because they think you need to have design skills to select the right visual and it takes a lot of…… Continue reading

  • Reflections on 20 years in business; Issue #440 May 28 2019

    Twenty years ago today I worked my last day at Trimark Investments. That was my last day in the corporate world as a full-time employee. In the twenty years since then I have run my own business. Today I’d like to reflect on some of the lessons and joys of the last twenty years. I…… Continue reading

  • Clues to indicate diagrams; Issue #439 May 14 2019

    Participants in my customized workshops often find the makeovers I’ve done of their own slides the most impactful part of the session. The makeovers demonstrate how the ideas apply to the presentations they create and deliver. How do I know when to select a specific type of visual? I explain my entire process in my…… Continue reading

  • Showing component and total variance to budget; Issue #438 April 30 2019

    A common message in financial, project update, and operations presentations is to explain the total variance in expenses to the budget by looking at the variance in each expense line item. The common approach is to show the spreadsheet of numbers extracted from the accounting system. My latest slide makeover shows how you can visually…… Continue reading

  • For complex topics, give context first; Issue #437 April 16 2019

    How do you present a complex topic that may be hard for the audience to understand? Don’t follow two common pieces of advice. Don’t try to make your topic simple, as some would advise. Complex and simple are opposites. If you have a complex topic, it will always be complex, it can’t be simple. And…… Continue reading