In my customized workshops I share that we need to have a fundamental shift in philosophy when it comes to creating presentations. When I ask someone why they have done something a certain way in their presentation, the answer I almost always get is, “We’ve always done it that way.” I don’t think that approach…
Category: Latest Information
New graph formatting interface in PowerPoint 2013/2016; Issue #363 May 10, 2016
Almost all my clients are still using PowerPoint 2010, but I am starting to see the move to PowerPoint 2013 or Office 365. When I teach public workshops, I see more and more people coming with these newer versions of PowerPoint on their computer. Since I talk a lot about graphs, I want to point…
Creating some of the new graph types in older versions of Office; Issue #362 April 26, 2016
Office 365, Microsoft’s subscription method for getting Office, has a big advantage over the standalone method we used in the past, where we bought a new version every few years. Every month Microsoft adds new features to the Office programs if you are on the subscription model. These new features don’t get added to the…
Converting financial notation to visual indicators; Slide Makeover #84
Convert accounting notation to visual indicators the audience easily understands
2016 State of Financial Presentations; Issue #361 April 12, 2016
A couple of weeks ago I wrapped up my 2016 State of Financial Presentations survey. Thanks to everyone who participated and promoted it. Today I want to share the highlights of the results and what they mean for presenters in general. The full report of results is on my website. In the first survey question…
Audience with different levels of knowledge; Issue #360 March 29, 2016
In my six step RAPIDS approach to planning your presentation, the A is for analyzing your audience. A common question in my customized workshops is how to handle the situation where the audience has varying levels of knowledge about the topic you are speaking about. Some may be experts on the topic, and some may…
Breaking links to Excel; Issue #359 March 15, 2016
Many professionals use Excel to do analysis and then want to present the results of that analysis in a PowerPoint presentation. There are a number of different methods for including Excel data in PowerPoint. Some insert the Excel table or graph as an image, some insert them as a PowerPoint object, and some insert an…
The quickest way to create a timeline; Issue #358 March 1, 2016
One of the categories of messages I cover in my book Select Effective Visuals is messages that communicate a relationship over time. Too often presenters use a list of dates like this: Instead, use a visual that includes a timeline, like this: When I show this sort of makeover in my customized workshops, I often…
Makeover Monday Challenge February 29 2016
Comparing values to an average using a dashed line on a bar chart
PowerPoint table alternative to SmartArt; Issue #357 February 16, 2016
Use a table to group text instead of SmartArt