Last week, I applied the optimist vs. pessimist style to a map during Office Hours.

(The real version of the map was about a different topic in a different state, but you get the idea.)

The Traditional Map

I’ve written about traditional and storytelling approaches before. You’re probably familiar with this terminology already?

The traditional version would have a topical title and regular ol’ brand colors.

The Storytelling Map: Optimist Version

In this optimist version, we’ve got a:

• “good” takeaway title;
• “good” brand color;
• “good” icon; and a
• call-out box highlighting a superstar.

The Storytelling Map: Pessimist Version

In this pessimist version, we’ve got a:

• “bad” takeaway title;
• “bad” brand color;
• “bad” icon; and a
• call-out box highlighting a laggard.

Which Version Should You Use?

That obviously depends on your audience and context.

You’re welcome to comment here with your own insights. I read every response.

Download These Maps

Want the Excel file that I used to create these maps? You can download it here.

…and you’ve seen heat tables…

…but have you tried tables with bubbles?!

There are obviously pros and cons of each approach – like everything with data visualization.

Comment below with your own insights into the pros and cons.

How to Make Tables with Bubbles in Excel

You’ll set up a Helper Table with x, y, and z values.

Then, you’ll insert a bubble chart.

Finally, you’ll adjust the axes, grid lines, colors, and labels, just like you normally would.

Let me know if you’d like a more detailed tutorial.

Download the Excel File

Or, you can download my Excel file and explore it yourself.

This is just the file I used for this blog post (not step-by-step instructions).

…why not try bubble charts?

Bar charts depict data with length.

Bubble charts depict data with area.

If you want to try bubble charts, you can make them in good ol’ Excel with this tutorial.

(Not Jacob-Elordi-in-Frankenstein cute. But a monstrous mess.)

A mix of font sizes, colors, alignment, spacing, and graph styles.

Text heavy.

Boring graphs.

Barely alive.

You deserve Jacob-Elordi-as-Heathcliff gorgeous slides!

Professional. Streamlined. Intentional. Visuals on every slide. Skimmable. Accessible.

Slide Templates help you avoid Frankensteined Slides

Templates also eliminate the “stare at a blank slide” tax. You start with a ready-made structure that does the heavy lifting for you.

Templates save hours of formatting time. A good template bakes in hierarchy, spacing, and structure—so you can focus on your message, not nudging text boxes pixel by pixel.

Templates scale your best design practices across the whole org. Even non‑designers can produce clean, on‑brand slides because the template does the heavy lifting.

Do you really have slide templates…?

Most companies I work with think they have templates – but they don’t.

Here’s how to check: When you insert a new slide, do you see Microsoft’s defaults? Or your custom-designed slides?

Setting Up the Slide Master

Templates live behind the scenes, in the Slide Master.

Go to View –> Slide Master and make sure you’ve got ’em there.

Heads up: The Slide Master is a massive pain. Counterintuitive. All sorts of quirks.

Your Turn

What sorts of questions do you have about the Slide Master?

Comment here and let me know.

I might even make a new blog post or YouTube video for you.

All programs crash, especially Excel.

All files get corrupted sometimes, especially Excel.

Saving the same file over and over = more likely to lose your work.

✔️ Instead, “SAVE AS” a new file each work session.

I put the dates in the file name, not “v1” or “v2” or “final-final.”

I use YYYY-MM-DD format so they line up chronologically, not “Jan, Feb, Mar” or “3-2026” accidentally preceding “4-2025.”

I also write brief notes to myself about the focus of that work session (in case I mess something up and need to go back to a previous version).

A coworker taught me the “SAVE AS” technique almost 20 years ago, and when my files get corrupted and garbled and lost entirely, I’m so grateful – because I’ve only lost a single work session of time, not the entire project.

Here are two common layouts that I’ve used over and over:

1. The filters along the top
2. The filters on the left side

Honestly, those are the only two layouts you should be using.

In other words, we’d never want to hide the filters along the bottom. And I don’t recommend placing the filters on the right side (because we read from left to right).

Here’s an example of each style.

(1) Dashboard Filters at Top

Here’s an example of a dynamic dashboard with a filter along the top of the screen.

These are pretend numbers, but inspired by a real dashboard I created during a workshop with a nonprofit organization. They wanted to be able to drill-down and look at a single cohort of participants at a time (just the Monday morning group, just the Saturday afternoon group, or just the Sunday evening group).

There are a dozen different graphs and maps, so it was impossible to fit everything on a single screen. (We didn’t want to sacrifice the font size – it’s nice and legible now, and if we shrunk everything down, it would be unusable.) So, the filter stays stuck at the top of the screen, and then the viewers can scroll downwards to see all the graphs.

(In Excel, we froze the panes so that the top few rows wouldn’t move.)

(2) Dashboard Filters Along the Left

Here’s a dashboard about fictional car sales.

There were several charts and maps, and I couldn’t fit everything on a single screen without sacrificing font size and readability.

So, the two filters are frozen on the left side, and viewers can scroll to the right to see all the graphs.

How to Make Dynamic Dashboards

Want to make something similar for your own workplace?

Here are all my dashboard blog posts and YouTube tutorials.

In particular, you might like these examples of dynamic dashboards made in Excel that you can use for inspiration.

Here’s a how-to video about making dynamic dashboards in Excel and another how-to video about making dynamic dashboards in PowerBI.

I also teach private workshops and online courses about dashboard design.

Do you have specific questions? Reach out anytime.