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.

  • Dealing with requests for spreadsheet slides; Issue #341 July 7, 2015

            Often in the corporate presentations I analyze for my workshops, I encounter spreadsheets copied onto the slide. It usually results in far too many numbers being on the slide, and leads to the audience being overwhelmed by detail. It is not uncommon when I suggest alternative visuals, I get the response…… Continue reading

  • What top leaders do when requesting staff to create a presentation

    Merge Gupta-Sunderji asked me write an article for leaders on “When asking your staff to prepare slides for you, which type of leader are you?” In the article I explain what typical leaders do and what top performing leaders do when requesting slides from their staff. Typical leaders waste a lot of their staff and…… Continue reading

  • Showing trends as lines, not clustered columns; Slide Makeover #82

    Use a line graph instead of a clustered column graph to show trends Continue reading

  • Making text look better; Issue #340 June 23, 2015

    Three options for grouping text in shapes instead of bullets and sub-bullets Continue reading

  • New book: Select Effective Visuals; Issue #339 June 9, 2015

    In this issue I let my subscribers know about my latest book, Select Effective Visuals: The Business Professional’s Guide to Selecting & Creating Effective Presentation Visuals. Learn more about the book and get your copy here. Continue reading

  • The cost of executives redoing presentations; Issue #338 May 26, 2015

    In the last 12-18 months, I have been hearing a similar story from those who contact me inquiring about my customized workshops. Often the inquiry is driven by a request from an executive. Do they want fancier slides? No. They want to stop spending so much time redoing the slides that their staff create. Executives…… Continue reading

  • Visibility of slide elements; Issue #337 May 12, 2015

    Fellow PowerPoint MVP Steve Rindsberg recently explained in a discussion how the visibility setting on slide elements is persistent after being set. That may sound technical, but it is actually very useful in a couple of situations. Let me start by explaining what the visibility setting is and how you can use it. In PowerPoint…… Continue reading

  • Alt Text on images; Issue #336 April 28, 2015

    Too many presenters think that if they grab an image off a website, it is OK. They may be aware that it is violating the copyright of the image owner, but they figure that there is no way they will get caught. How will anyone ever find out? I recently discovered something that should make…… Continue reading

  • What to do with text on your slides; Issue #335 April 14, 2015

    Recently, presentation designer Johanna Rehnvall wrote an article about ten ways you can avoid death by bullet points (full article here). She shows ten ways you can apply design to a bullet list of text to make it more visually appealing. I know and respect Johanna and the good work she does designing presentations. I always…… Continue reading

  • Small multiples makeover April 8, 2015

    Compare multiple data series across multiple categories using small multiple bar graphs Continue reading