Seth Godin wrote a very useful article, “The three laws of great graphs” on his blog today. Read it. And put a copy of this in the folder of materials for your next presentation. Keep it handy. Heeding Seth’s advice will payoff.
And that’s exactly what you want when you insert a chart or a graphic in your PowerPoint slide – a big payoff! Nothing less.
And… certainly nothing else. As Seth correctly points out – a PowerPoint slide, shown in a dark ballroom to 1,000 people, is not the time to point out nuances.
You want your audience to say (to themselves) “Aha! Now I see it. Now I get it. This really is a big problem!”
A picture is worth a thousand words – if used effectively. Let your graphic speak for itself. Let your audience see the big picture – for themselves!
A poor choice of graphs is like a bad joke. If you have to explain it … Better not to use it.
