Presenting Data with ExcelD.A. Whatley (SMG ‘15) – SMG ITS Student Consultant

Agenda

Charting Concepts Selecting Proper

Charts “Big Four” Charts Common Chart Styles

Chart Tools (Editing Charts)

Design Tab Layout Tab Format Tab

Chart Building General Rules Creating A Quick

Chart How To Graph Specific

Data How To Graph

Contiguous Data How To Graph on a

New Worksheet

Inserting Excel Charts into PowerPoint

As a Picture As a Link

Charting Concepts

Selecting Proper Charts

Subjective to you, your professor’s or company’s conventions

Over 70 basic chart types available

We will focus on what is known as the “Big Four” of Charts

“Big Four” Charts

Column – great for accentuating volumes

Line – great for showing trends

Bar – same as Column, but rotated at 90 degrees

Pie – showing how categories make up for a total amount (e.g. a breakdown by regional sales)

Common Chart Styles

Clustered Default, basic view Not recommended for dealing with lots of data

Stacked Good for displaying total sales as a whole and raw

numbers Hard to read with data across numerous periods

100% Stacked Somewhat of an alternative to a pie chart as it shows

numbers as a percentage of a whole Focuses more on a number’s proportion of a whole

rather than its raw value

Chart Tools (Editing Charts)

Design Tab

Change Chart Type Allows us to go and choose another chart to convey our

data

Switch Row/Column To swap the data located on the x- and y-axis

Quick Layout 12 template styles to apply titles and other pertinent

information to your chart

Quick Styles A fast way to easily change the data lines/bars/etc.

appear on your chart

Layout Tab

Insert – applying pictures, shapes, and text boxes Great for pointing our a significant event on your chart

Labels Allows for customization of labels within charts

Axes Adjusting major and minor gridlines and the axes titles

Background Customize the background of the chart with colors or

pictures

Format Tab More options to customize the colors, text, and other elements within the graph itself

Chart Building

General Rules

Before creating any graph, hold the left mouse button and highlight any data you want to be graph

Don’t graph averages, percentages, and totals with raw data.

Creating A Quick Chart

After highlight the data you wish to graph, hold ALT and press F1 to create a quick chart.

It will appear immediately on the current worksheet that has your data.

More often that not, however, the chart might not contain everything we need (e.g. chart titles, legends, etc.).

Use the Chart Tools tab to fix your chart.

Graphing Specific Data

Sometimes we might not want to include certain data in our graph.

To include a few elements you want, hold down the CTRL button and highlight the data you want to graph.

Graphing Contiguous Data

If working with a huge amount of data (e.g. sales for the late 10 years), select one cell within the data and hold down ALT and press F1 for a quick graph

How To Graph on a New Worksheet

To avoid having your graphs appear on the same worksheet, select the data you want graphed and then press F11.

Inserting Excel Charts into PowerPoint

As A Picture

Best for using a graph with static data – data that won’t be updated in the future

Select the chart you want to be incorporated in your PowerPoint.

Go to the Home tab of the Ribbon and go to the Clipboard section.

On the Copy dropdown menu, select Copy as Picture.

On the pop-up menu, don't change any of the options and select OK.

Open PowerPoint.

Under the Home tab of PowerPoint,

Go to the Clipboard section

Under the “Paste” dropdown menu, select Picture.

There you go! Adjust the graph as you would with any picture

As A Link

Best for using a graph with dynamic data (Data that will be changing in the future.)

Same steps as up to the Copy step.

Instead of Copy as Picture, click Copy.

Open PowerPoint.

Use Destination Theme & Link Data

Keep Source Formatting & Link Data

When you go the Paste dropdown menu this time, choose one of two options.

The former of the two options allows us to incorporate our graph into presentation's theme.

The latter allows us to keep the graph's current style as-is and place it into the presentation.

Upcoming TechShops

Advanced Excel - Monday, November 18th

More sophisticated Excel techniques which demonstrate Vlookups and Macros

Bloomberg Terminal Training – Monday, November 18th

How to use the Bloomberg Terminals for finance operations

Presenting Data with Excel – Monday, December 2nd

Learn how to create easy-to-understand graphs to visually display information quickly and accurately

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