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.

  • AFP Exchange Magazine article

    Dave’s article in an upcoming AFP Exchange magazine (the monthly magazine published for members of the Association of Financial Professionals) is previewed in this extract. The full article was published in the March 2016 FP&A issue here. Continue reading

  • Column Graphs vs. Bar Charts – When to choose each one

    In my book Select Effective Visuals, I explain that there are many different visuals to use when comparing values in a single data series. The most common visuals are the column graph and the bar chart. They look like each other, just rotated 90 degrees. Does that mean that presenters can choose either one and…… Continue reading

  • Visual documents vs. Presentations; Issue #349 October 27, 2015

    After I published the results from my latest Annoying PowerPoint survey, I got two emails regarding the SlideShare deck that I created to summarize the results. Both emails expressed the same concern that the SlideShare had violated almost every rule I teach about effective presentations. One of the emails asked if it was some sort…… Continue reading

  • Dealing with quad charts; Issue #348 October 13, 2015

    For those of you not familiar with the term “quad chart”, it is a slide divided into four quadrants, as this example from NASA illustrates. (in case you are wondering, yes, that is the Comic Sans font because the template they use says that it should be the default for text in their quad charts)…… Continue reading

  • Re-emergence of donut charts; Issue #347 September 29, 2015

    Many data visualization experts like to rage against pie and donut charts. They make valid points about the mis-use of these charts by some presenters. But as I explained in my book Select Effective Visuals, pie and donut charts can be useful for showing how one segment compares to the total. Donut charts, in particular…… Continue reading

  • Axis or data labels; Issue #346 September 15, 2015

    On a graph that uses a measurement axis, like column, bar, and line graphs, one question that comes up is how the graph should be labelled. The default is to have the axis only. In my workshops I often show how data labels can help the audience more than the axis. One thing you don’t…… Continue reading

  • Avoiding “Are we there yet?”; Issue #345 September 1, 2015

    In a recent workshop, the participants asked how to deal with something that often puts them on edge early in their presentation. In their presentations to senior management, they found that the executives interrupt them with questions after only a few minutes. This often disrupts the flow of what they wanted to say and takes…… Continue reading

  • Data visualization in business; Issue #344 August 18, 2015

    In the last 18-24 months I have been following the data visualization industry to learn more about creating visuals that communicate the key messages from analysis. I have learned a lot, and figured out how to use PowerPoint and Excel graphs to create some of the visuals. I created the Calculators for Visuals to help…… Continue reading

  • Ignore the advice to only use images; Issue #343 August 4, 2015

    A couple of articles I read in the last two weeks have advocated removing data and text from slides in favor of pictures. The author says that research shows that pictures are more effective at communicating your message, so just use pictures. This advice is consistent with other articles I have seen in the past…… Continue reading

  • Limiting the # of slides doesn’t work; Issue #342 July 21, 2015

    In almost every workshop I deliver, we have to discuss the request from executives to limit the number of slides their staff uses to present. The executives commonly ask that no more than five slides be used when presenting to the management team. In this article I want to explore why this request is made,…… Continue reading