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.

  • FinancialViz: “cool” visual doesn’t give accurate comparison

    Too often I see financial professionals get seduced by the desire to create a “cool” visual. Maybe its one they’ve seen online or in a publication. It looks really neat and they think it would make them look goo if they used it in a presentation. Too often these “cool” visuals don’t communicate the message…… Continue reading

  • FinancialViz: waterfall chart using rectangles instead of Excel introduces doubt

    When things don’t add up in a data visual used in a financial presentation it introduces doubt in the mind of the viewer. If this visual is not correct, what else may not be correct? When presenting financials we want to inspire confidence. It is important to ensure that the visuals we create are accurate.…… Continue reading

  • Why “We’ll send one person to a public course and then they can train the entire department” doesn’t actually improve productivity

    Instead of investing in a customized training course on a key software tool for a group of employees, too many managers think the cheap route will work. They send one person on a public course with the instruction that when they get back they will teach the rest of the group what they learned. The…… Continue reading

  • Use critical thinking skills to accurately interpret a graph (& create accurate graphs yourself)

    When you look at a graph, you immediately interpret the message using the visual cues in the graph. If one column is twice as tall as another column you deduce that the value of the taller column is double that of the shorter column. When looking at graphs we need to use our critical thinking…… Continue reading

  • Hybrid Event Lesson 11: Use one device in the room for audio

    This article shares one of the lessons I learned when planning and running a hybrid class reunion event in May 2022. Read the introduction and see the other lessons in this series here. Lesson Poor sound is one of the biggest complaints in hybrid meetings. Either the people in the room can’t hear the remote…… Continue reading

  • Why today’s Apple Watch Series 8 and iPhone 14 launch is not a model you should follow in your business presentations

    Apple just finished its latest product introduction. Soon we will see the parade of presentation experts and enthusiasts who say you should use today’s launch as a model for your own business presentations. Please don’t listen to them. Here’s why. First, you don’t deliver global product launch presentations. As a business professional you deliver project…… Continue reading

  • “Our staff don’t have time for training!” Why this myth is hurting many Canadian businesses and leading to “quiet quitting”

    Since the 2008-9 recession many Canadian business professionals have been doing the work of 1.5-3 people. Companies downsized during that time and have never returned to staffing levels required to actually do the amount of work required. Add on the stress of the pandemic and employees have had enough. The recent “quiet quitting” is a…… Continue reading

  • Excel/PowerPoint tip: Accurately estimating the values in a column/bar/line chart image

    What do you do in this situation. You get a chart from another source, like a website or PDF and it doesn’t have data labels with the values. You need the values to incorporate into your analysis or your chart. How can you accurately estimate the values from an image of the graph? This video…… Continue reading

  • Dual-axis graph makeover: create a better visual for your data using Excel

    I see dual-axis graphs frequently in the customized FinancialViz courses that I teach. In this video I show you an alternative to a dual-axis graph that better communicates the message to executives and stakeholders. It is possible to create the type of effective graph you see in this video just using Excel. If you want…… Continue reading

  • 5 Tips for handling the increased financial reporting workload after colleagues get laid off

    We are in another round of layoffs in many organizations. This time it is a slowing economy due to rising interest rates. In the past it has been different factors and the result is the same: fewer financial professionals doing the same (or more) work every month. Here are five tips to get those monthly…… Continue reading