When you want to show a comparison between the current results and a standard in order to determine performance, how do you create a visual that works when the standard changes for each category? It could be different time periods (think 1 yr, 3 yr, 5 yr, 10 yr investment performance against the industry average) or different customers (this year’s sales volume vs last year). A visual I show in my workshops is a multiple-width overlapping column or bar graph. In this video, I show you how to use gradient fills to create this effective data visual.
Dave Paradi has over twenty-two years of experience delivering customized training workshops to help business professionals improve their presentations. He has written ten books and over 600 articles on the topic of effective presentations and his ideas have appeared in publications around the world. His focus is on helping corporate professionals visually communicate the messages in their data so they don’t overwhelm and confuse executives. Dave is one of fewer than ten people in North America recognized by Microsoft with the Most Valuable Professional Award for his contributions to the Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams communities. His articles and videos on virtual presenting have been viewed over 4.8 million times and liked over 17,000 times on YouTube.