Data Visualization for Slide Presentations - Storytelling, Charts, Formatting

Are you looking to improve your data visualization for slide presentations? When creating slide presentations, data visualization can help for effective storytelling. Creating strong charts and formatting charts in the right way is key to visualize your data in a professional way. In management consulting firms like McKinsey, BCG, Bain or Big 4 (PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, EY), the PowerPoint plug-in think-cell is frequently used. think-cell for PowerPoint is a strong tool to create great data visualizations. In this think-cell tutorial for PowerPoint, you can learn to improve your PowerPoint slide presentations using communication skills like leading strategy consultants with this data storytelling course.
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This video is sponsored by think-cell.
Chapters
00:00 Data visualization basics
01:16 Chart formatting
04:47 Chart selection
08:26 Introduction to think-cell
10:40 Additional exercise
12:16 Typical errors
#datavisualization #thinkcell #consulting
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[@FirmLearning]

Start using think-cell with an extended free trial and Firm Learning-exclusive single licenses: link.firmlearning.com/think-cell

[@albertonatale4447]

Hi Heinrich, thanks for the great video and this offer but I think think-cell haven't been honest with you and us. The trial is only valid for professional email addresses and not private ones, so all the students that follow you can't benefit from this. Additionally I tried using my work email, and got an email back from Think-cell saying someone else at my company already has a trial license so they won't be able to give me this free trial... which makes almost impossible for anyone to actually use this trial...

[@FirmLearning]

@@albertonatale4447 Hi Alberto, these email checking scripts usually allow all emails except the very big private providers like yahoo etc. Have you tried your university e-mail? That one should usually work! Will raise this with think-cell though to check whether they can take out some of these limitations from this Firm Learning signup page. Thanks for making me aware! Best, Heinrich

[@dealman6237]

This guy got paid 6 figures to make slideshows for 6 years so trust him yall

[@philipcockayne1057]

Another excellent video. I work in the Big 4 in a Management Consulting role and agree with all your points. I'd add a few more. The first is to always consider your audience; a presentation to a Logistics Manager, Finance Business Partner, Clinician, or Executive will all look different and will have to use different degrees of simplicity to communicate sometimes complex messages. The second depends on the deliverable; is it a 'talking aid' or a formal report. Typically the types of charts and style I will use will fluctuate significantly depending on how I would be delivering the product as sometimes you need to be able to 'talk to the chart' as opposed to simply 'presenting the chart and letting it speak for itself'. Finally, in my role (Senior Manager/Engagement Lead) I'm often once removed from the analysis that sits behind a report yet still responsible for presenting the findings. I very frequently find myself obsessing over formatting and whether you can tell what a slide is trying to communicate within five seconds of looking at it (signposting, as Partners sometimes refer to it as). I often challenge Consultants and Analysts to reflect on that before they give me decks to review; as five seconds can be infintely longer than the attention span of an Exec in their 20th MS Teams meeting of the day. Keep up the good work though, Heinrich!

[@judyl.7811]

data visualization = formatting. 0:20 arguably the most important part and also the most challenging part of slide writing. 0:35 creating charts and diagrams is 1. look professional 2. to the point way. 2:50 connector lines here don't add any value. 4:30 Data-Ink ratio: show as much data as possible with as less ink as possible: delete filler lines, helper lines, background lines, axis, and so on. 4:55 choose the right chart type: complicated as it might look. 5:30 basic rule of thumb: when you have more than 5 elements then pie chart is too difficult to work with. 6:15 thus, the bar chart may be a better option to show. 7:40 which chart type to communicate that, these two elements are correlated but not the others. 8:00 bubble charts: good at when there are 3 number dimensions into one chart. 11:15 data-entry window 11:30 you can also stacked waterfall segments. 13:00 profitability surface chart. some pre-comfigured charts don't make sense and even provide insights. 13:35 key thumbs of rule: one message one page.

[@DXdelta]

Great video as always Heinrich! I would be interested in a video where you would show us some personal slide archetypes you use to save time when building slides. I believe when it comes to a time crunch, being able to reuse some personal favourite slides will save an immense amount of stress. Looking forward to it!

[@FirmLearning]

Thanks for the comment - great video idea :) Might pick this up in the future! Best, Heinrich

[@futsal_fugazi]

Great idea!

[@projectconsultant7174]

3 hrs lecture vs 15 min Heinrich video. and the winner is Heinrich :)

[@Jo-qc8eg]

Fabulous - a single ThinkCell license, this is amazing thanks Heinrich!

[@sahilgaur9782]

One of the finest videos on slide presentations. Appreciate the effort you put in teaching us such wonderful skills.

[@ashley85919]

Hey Heinrich! I cannot express what a gem this channel has been for me over the past week. I am currently participating in a BCG Case Competition at my university and your videos have been immensely helpful on this journey. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us!

[@jehsd1234]

This literally could not have been released at a better time for me. Thank you.

[@FirmLearning]

Download the Chart Type Selection Guide as shown in the video: link.firmlearning.com/chartselection

[@barbarawenger2956]

Sieht grossartig aus! Link für das 60 Tage Trial gefunden. Nun fehlt mir der Single User Preis.....

[@akosuakoranteng3327]

I used your tips from the How to create storylines for business presentations video in my work and got really good feedback thanks Heinrich!

[@nickcannon2176]

Fantastic video, can’t wait to try out think cell! I’ve often found how quickly #s can change. Instead of Oct-21 YTD, we want to pipe in November numbers last minute before the CFO presents to investors. Having the data in a way that is as flexible as possible to pipe in data (ideally automatically via Microsoft odbc connections and SQL wizardry) that allows charts to auto refresh can make your life much easier.

[@robinjung9897]

Great video and insights. Might look trivial to some seasoned professionals, but once you get these basics right, your entire (visual) communication will be on another level. An so are your results. And great tool, btw! Every upcoming business professional should get their hands on it asap and learn how to create great slides! Keep up the great work, Heinrich :)

[@philiprubio8526]

I loved this! Super practical and realistic, I learned this kind of stuff last year in school but this video helped a lot to recall and point things out for myself :)

[@hakankeskin9566]

Vielen Dank Heinrich für solche sehr Wertvolle info Du gegeben hast. Grüss aus Izmir / Türkiye

[@foutzitube]

Another video- diamond, thank you Heinrich :)

[@THEHORMAS]

Great video. Thanks!

[@venkat2002]

Excellent video, you dont need to put ex-this, ex-that or ex-gf, your name is already known and is a brand by itself. Great work.

[@toiyeumetre]

Thanks for your another great video Heinrich!

[@FirmLearning]

Happy to hear it was helpful! Best, Heinrich

[@RobS_Kingmakers]

Thank you, this is awesome.

[@dy2cakc1]

Ridiculousy good content!

[@almonddonut1818]

Needed this! 🤩

[@Gorlenius]

Great insights, thanks for sharing! Will also check out think-cell!

[@FirmLearning]

Thanks for watching, appreciate it!

[@thecrippler555]

That was a great vid, thank you

[@robertovalle655]

OMG I just discovered your awesome channel. Where have you been all my life!! 😂 LOL

[@Zalo184]

Great video, congratulations! Can you share what kind of software or ppt add-ons you are using apart from PowerPoint? Whats your take on BI software such as Tableau or PowerBI?

[@lfguimaraes]

Great video, thank you! I used the waterfall graph to show the change from revenue to net revenue, but because total costs add to 5% of revenue, it’s hard to see the cascade of cost components. Do you have any recommendations in this case? I was trying to avoid showing a table with numbers and use a more graphical representation instead.

[@kryptoxfranco]

Thanks for the great content again! Just wondering if there are any industry standards relating to the ideal structure/format or number of pages required for c-level executive presentations.

[@ajb229]

Love it!

[@FirmLearning]

Thanks for watching Alistair, appreciate the comment!

[@ESkengman]

Where do you get all your extra PPT options and dropdowns - like all the colour accents? Are you on a Mac or something - I don't have the fly-out wheel (2:49) to format anything?

[@aularje]

Gracias!! Danke!! Amigo

[@KleinmeisterPang]

Nice video can you recommend a book source that teaches this kind of thinking?

[@spankadin5616]

What want when trying to create a dashboard any differences? How to layout so you can tell a story?

[@kamalnavlay700]

Hey Heinrich, Can you make a video comparing product management and Consulting, thanks!

[@Danniel.souzza]

super awesome

[@shemeeraraother1556]

Which tool is best for data visualization and which is best for charts..

[@MananVyas1993]

Thanks!

[@FirmLearning]

Thanks for your support Manan (and apologies for late reply)! Appreciate the comment! Best, Heinrich

[@sdfasdfasdfsadfafsdfasdf9926]

Broski can you teach us how to do this in the default PPT tools?

[@fabricef6825]

This is pretty clean. However you dont rely on checklist and templates? Building slides from blank pages looks so long. Main challenge is the right information detail level and order, more than the techniques of aligning. I imagine some process is needed for the title itself, the type of slides to choose and why

[@killahkari]

Sometimes, I hear that clients "want" to see a bunch of info piled into a single slide, which doesn't follow the "single message per slide" advice. I guess the thinking might be that you need to provide backup info and share as a report rather than a story. How would you advise against this or educate others to avoid doing this? I find that it makes for complex slides that are not engaging and hard to follow.

[@skch1219]

Your content and the way you explains is amazing, but you are not showing how you’re doing the process without explaining the process then how can we know how to do it????

[@adriansrfr]

Nice

[@bagazazharzone]

I think the powerpoint itself is different, like the features for just clicking directly to the chart to change something, and also the circle options. does anyone know how to activate it for office 365, or what apps that he used on the video?

[@bagazazharzone]

oh now i know after watching 60% of the video..

[@joashlim207]

Can confirm that big4 management consulting uses think-cell. You need to know how to use this when someone sends you a deck to edit with think-cell charts.

[@Qaharman012]

Here is the problem that this service requires the work email for license. I tried to purchase the single user license for my private account but unfortunately it doesn’t work.

[@FirmLearning]

Hi Sergey, trust that any email address outside of the big consumer ones (yahoo etc.) will work. E.g. university email. Best! Heinrich

[@Qaharman012]

@@FirmLearning thank you for advice. I got access till May)))

[@mooko85]

Can you say "Get to da choppa!" for me?

[@Genci0]

Yes Ex-McKinsey you did work there, not anymore. Cant you just say something learn about chart and diagrams for data points.

[@Idgafabouturopinion]

Sadly, as a student, think-cell is just way too expensive…

[@maximsayenko6755]

conZZZZZulting

[@FirmLearning]

❤

[@markdawson425]

I appreciate the video, but you might want to cut down on the hand waving... I know other 'creators' do this, but it exactly like having 'extra ink' in your slides. It's distracting, and always makes me question the information presented.

[@Zockerkanal24]

You can hear it directly that he is German 😂

[@FirmLearning]

Sehr richtig Michael ;)

[@Holt196]

Your german accent is hilariously strong, to a distracting extent

[@VoodooD0g]

20€ per month to get some excel charts? rofl nice try

[@stephaniehale946]

*I got a headache after listening to his accent. Is he German or French?*

[@keysover6455]

Your comment is rude, stupid and pointless. Don't watch the video if it's not for you!

[@MeEraVideo]

Obviously German ; )