Maybe the numbers simply went up over time. Or down.

Other times, it’s more complicated.

Here’s how to explain multiple takeaway messages in presentations: with multiple slides, one per takeaway message.

Before: Everything Smushed on One Slide

Here’s what I typically see: lots of possible takeaway messages shoved into a single graph on a single slide.

The presenter says something like this:

“Next, let’s talk about gonorrhea diagnoses in our state. We’re looking at the number of diagnoses per 100,000 people. We’re also looking at age ranges. This is the person’s age when they were diagnosed with gonorrhea. We’ve got five years’ worth of data: from 2018 through 2022. Let’s look at a few key findings. Gonorrhea diagnoses were highest for people in their early twenties. In 2020, for example, there were 735 gonorrhea diagnoses per 100,000 people ages 20-24 in our state. Gonorrhea was lowest for ages 40-49. In 2022, for example, there were 88 diagnoses per 100,000 people ages 40-49 in our state. Here’s another pattern we found: Gonorrhea diagnoses generally went up from 2018 through 2020. For the three younger age groups, at least. And, gonorrhea diagnoses went down from 2021 to 2022 for all age groups.”

And while you’re talking through allllllll those numbers and age ranges and timeframes, the audience only sees this:

You see the problem, right??

The presenter is talking about one thing… but the audience is probably looking at something else.

That’s the very definition of Death by PowerPoint.

After: Describing One Takeaway Message at a Time with Multiple Slides

Instead, let’s use multiple slides!

We’re aiming for a single takeaway message per slide.

That way, what we say = what the audience sees.

There should be a perfect cohesion between sight and sound.

The presentation would look and sound like this:

“Next, let’s talk about gonorrhea diagnoses in our state. We’re looking at the number of diagnoses per 100,000 people.”

“We’re also looking at age ranges. This is the person’s age when they were diagnosed with gonorrhea.”

“We’ve got five years’ worth of data: from 2018 through 2022.”

“Here are the patterns at a glance. Next, let’s look at a few key findings.”

“Gonorrhea diagnoses were highest for people in their early twenties. In 2020, for example, there were 735 gonorrhea diagnoses per 100,000 people ages 20-24 in our state.”

“Gonorrhea was lowest for ages 40-49. In 2022, for example, there were 88 diagnoses per 100,000 people ages 40-49 in our state.”

“Here’s another pattern we found: Gonorrhea diagnoses generally went up from 2018 through 2020. For the three younger age groups, at least.”

“And, gonorrhea diagnoses went down from 2021 to 2022 for all age groups.”

Finally, you’d show the “full” graph again, pausing for questions and a discussion.

The Bottom Line: Use More Slides!!!

We’re not making the presentation longer. We’re speaking for the same amount of time as before.

We’re not rushing or slurring our words. We’re speaking at the same pace as before.

We’re not wasting paper or ink. These are the slides shown on screen during a presentation. If you want to print something, just print the “full” graph (which is slide 462 in the screenshot below).

We’re syncing our words and visuals.

We’re keeping our audience’s attention.

Because if they’re not even paying attention… How will they possibly understand, remember, and use the findings for decision making?!

Maybe you’re getting ready for a talk at a conference.

Or, maybe you’re sharing updates with coworkers in a staff meeting.

In this blog post, you’ll learn how to explain dense graphs one slide at a time, which makes it easier for our audience to follow along.

Before

Last summer, I was keynoting the National Birth Defects Prevention Network’s annual conference in Atlanta.

Here’s what one of the health department’s original graphs looked like.

We wanted to make a presentation-ready version.

If you work in public health, then you know that the tiny text and statistical terminology is pretty common in scientific graphs. (BUT IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE!!!)

After

We don’t need a complete overhaul.

I made some very light edits to the existing graph:

• Direct labels (instead of legends) ensure that the graph is “Big A” Accessible (a.k.a. 508/ADA compliant).
• Horizontal text (instead of vertical text) is faster to read.
• I removed the grid lines.
• I enlarged the font (the body font is size 18, which is my bare-minimum font size for presentation slides).

Storyboarding for a Live Presentation

Now that we’ve tackled the quick edits, we’re ready to adjust the graph for a presentation.

We’ve already done the hardest part: Getting the “final” slide ready.

Now, with a few more minutes of planning time, we’ll create the “build-up” slides, like this:

What the Presentation Will Look & Sound Like

For statistical graphs, I often begin by explaining the axes.

I’d show the y-axis, and say, “Next, let’s talk about coarctation of the aorta. We’re going to look at the prevalence per 100,000 births.”

I’d click, move to the next slide, and say, “…and we’re looking at data from 2007 through 2019. The numbers vary a lot each year, so we’re looking at 5-year moving averages in this graph. The moving averages are going to help us focus on the bigger picture.”

“Here’s what we predicted would happen. You can see some slight variations over time, but we generally estimated that there would be 3.6 to 3.7 cases of coarctation of the aorta per 100,000 births.”

“Here’s what actually happened. There were slightly fewer cases of coarctation of the aorta than what we predicted. And the numbers are actually going down slightly over time.”

Finally, I’d click, move to the next slide, and say, “Here’s the confidence interval with a 95% band.”

The graph is explained piecemeal, RATHER THAN SHOWING EVERYTHING ALL AT ONCE.

If we show everything all at once, then my audience would be looking at one thing while I’m talking about something completely different. That’s Death by PowerPoint.

The Bottom Line

We don’t have to delete or dumb-down our statistical graphs.

We just have to explain them piecemeal.

It’s counterintuitive, but sometimes we need more slides — one slide per sentence or two of speaking points.

We’re not talking for longer, or running over time.

We’re not talking faster, or slurring our speech.

We’re simply clicking through our slides one at a time to match our speaking points.

A few more minutes of planning time on our end… to make sure our audience can follow our dense graphs. A necessary trade-off.

Learn More

Browse more examples of storyboarding in these blog posts.

You’ll also practice this technique inside Powerful Presentations.

Are you lucky enough to have historical data at your fingertips?! Woohoo! What a treat.

Let’s weigh the pros and cons of a few different viz options.

The Table

Here’s what their tabulated data looked like, sort of.

Let’s pretend we’re looking at the number of doctor’s appointments that took place within their healthcare system.

That’s not the real variable, and these aren’t their real numbers, but you get the idea: They wanted to visualize patterns over the past four years.

Before: 1 Graph per Year

Here’s what their initial visualization looked like: a separate graph for each year.

Idea 1: Lonnng Column Chart with Bare-Minimum Edits

First, let’s tackle the Quick Wins, a.k.a. the Bare Minimum edits for branding and “Big A” Accessibility:

• Brand colors and fonts
• Darker font for better color contrast
• Sized for a slide (size 18-point font, 13 inches wide, 5 inches tall)
• Arranged left to right, rather than a grid
• “Grouped” all the graphs together for easier copying and pasting into a slide
• Horizontal text only
• Consistent scales to make comparisons across graphs easier
• Fewer demarcations on the y-axis (one label every 25,000 units)
• Changed the y-axis to a “number” format so that a zero appears at the bottom, not just a dash
• Then, only showing the left-most y-axis
• Wider columns, a.k.a. a smaller gap width

It felt inefficient to keep four separate graphs — too much extra work to align everything and then group everything — so I turned this into a single column chart.

Yep, I had to rearrange the four tables into one table in order to transform the four graphs into one graph. At the bottom of this blog post, you’ll see a link to download my Excel file so you can explore the behind-the-scenes tables and graphs for yourself.

Idea 2: Lonnng Column Chart with Data Storytelling

I’ve written about spoken about traditional vs. storytelling graphs a lot over the past decade. If these terms are new, then you can watch the most recent public-facing conference talk here.

In this version, I intentionally used data storytelling. This data was intended for a busy upper-management office, and leaders often prefer when we cut to the chase, instead of burying them in graphs that don’t say anything.

The presentation slide might look something like this:

• A takeaway slide title
• The topical graph title underneath
• Dark-light contrast
• Labels only on the columns of interest – for September and October

And no, I don’t love how the September labels are right-aligned while the October labels are centered, but this probably isn’t the winning approach, so who cares.

Idea 3: Lonnng Line Chart with Data Storytelling

Another option is a line chart with gray shading for the peaks.

Yes, this is a combo chart in Excel.

The presentation slide would look like this:

Idea 4: Single Line Chart with Data Storytelling

A final option is a single line chart that stretches from January to December, with each year’s data “stacked.”

Comparing All 4 Ideas

My favorite is Idea 4 because we can easily see the seasonal peaks.

Which one is your favorite, and why? Comment below.

This isn’t an exhaustive list.

Can you think of additional options? Comment below.

Giving a Powerful Presentation

Idea 4 is a sort-of dense graph — and it’s definitely a spaghetti line graph, so we’ve gotta continue adjusting it.

We’ll want to present it piecemeal to match our speaking points.

Otherwise, our audience will die of boredom.

Our bosses will wonder why they hired us.

And nobody will be able to make data-driven decisions based on the data… because while we’re explaining one piece, they’re looking at something else (the very definition of Death by PowerPoint).

The meeting might sound something like this:

I hope you enjoy my kindergarten photoshopping skills. 🙂

PowerPoint’s animation works fine for bullet points.

But, to “animate” graphs to match our voice, it’s usually easiest to create a bunch of different slides.

Download My Excel File

Want to explore how I made each graph?

You can download my spreadsheet here.

I was working full-time and finishing graduate school at night.

My stress came out as insomnia.

I’d get tired of laying in bed… and go make YouTube videos. 😊

For me, being up in the middle of the night + making YouTube videos = intertwined.

I was up in the middle of the night again to speak at the Present to Succeed Conference (it’s mostly a European conference – different time zones).

I woke up at 3, presented at 4, and decided to make a YouTube video for you at 5.

I was up anyway, and I wanted to share some highlights from the conference session with you. Enjoy!

Watch a 16-Minute Segment

In the conference session, we learned about avoiding Death by PowerPoint by storyboarding.

Instead of presenting a single graph all at once, we’d explain the graph one piece at a time.

How to Edit the Existing Graph

In the video, you’ll learn about:

• adding target lines (if/when that applies to your project);
• grouping data with space (top vs. bottom categories);
• grouping data with color (blue vs. gray categories);
• adding words to explain our categories; and
• adding icons to increase memorability.

How to Storyboard the Graph

In the video, you’ll see me turn on my presentation voice and give a mini presentation.

I talk through the graph one piece at a time.

Behind the Scenes in My PowerPoint

In the video, you’ll see how I:

• make the finished graph;
• copy and paste that slide; and
• delete or hide one thing.

I’ve got all sorts of not-so-magical magic tricks: deleting icons and text boxes; adding white rectangles to cover words; changing the color of some bars to make them transparent; and deleting some of the numeric labels.

When It’s Worth Storyboarding Your Dense Graph

You don’t have to break up every graph across multiple slides.

I use storyboarding:

1. at the beginning of a presentation (to start with a bang), and
2. to explain dense, complex visualizations one piece at a time.

Bonus

Download my PowerPoint slides and explore them on your own.

Your Turn

If or when you apply this technique, get in touch! I’m cheering for you.

Before

Here’s the “before” graph from a recent project. The categories and numbers are different, but you get the idea. Most stacked bars look like this—there’s too much going on for the graph to be useful.

After

At a bare minimum, we need to declutter the default graph. You need to:

• remove the border;
• remove the vertical grid lines;
• declutter the horizontal axis (0 to 100 percent is plenty of detail—no need to label each of the 10 percent increments);
• move the legend to the top (since the legend is critical for understanding the graph);
• re-color the words in the legend to match the colors in the graph;
• declutter the title (short and sweet for slideshows, please);
• add numeric labels;
• outline the rectangular shapes in white (so the colors don’t bleed together); and
• reduce the gap width.

Check out the click-by-click breakdown:

Storyboard for a Live Presentation

The decluttered version is easier to read… but it’s still too dense for a slideshow. Here’s how we can “declutter” the graph so that our audience can follow along without wanting to bang their heads against a wall.

First, show the “completed” slide and provide a brief overview. I would say, “Let’s talk about our market share compared to our 4 competitors. We’re looking at five different products, A, B, C, D, and E.” You’d only spend a few seconds on this slide.

Second, dive deeper in the details. Focus attention on the ABC Org with dark colors. I simply changed the other segments of the stacked bar chart to an 80% transparency. I also selected lighter colors for the legend. You would say, “Here’s how we’re doing. Check out Product C–that’s where we hold 80% of the market share.”

Third, focus attention on Competitor 1 with dark colors. You would say, “Here’s how Competitor 1 is going. They hold 30% of the market share in Product A, but they don’t offer Product C at all.”

Fourth, focus attention on Competitor 2. You know the drill! You would say, “Competitor 2 holds a smaller piece of the market—between 7 and 13 percent for these five products.”

Finally, conclude your storyboarding with the “finished” slide again. Invite your audience to ask questions and open the floor to discussion. You would say, “Here’s that same overview again. I won’t go through Competitor 3 and Competitor 4 in detail, but you can see how they’re doing, too. Next, let’s talk about what these numbers mean for our future work…”

Storyboarding–guiding your viewers through one piece at a time with dark colors–guarantees that your audience will be looking at the data, and not scrolling through their phones. How are people supposed to make decisions based on your data if they’re not even paying attention to you? Break up dense visualizations into multiple slides. Your audience will thank you.

Bonus! Download the Materials

Want to explore how I edited the graph? Download the spreadsheet.

Bonus! Watch a Sample Class

I’m teaming up with 13 guest experts to bring you Great Graphs, an online course about getting your data out of spreadsheets and into real-world conversations through better data visualization, reports, slideshows, and dashboards.

Want to see what the storyboarded slides would look like and sound like? Watch a sample class:

Great Graphs begins October 1. The course only opens once a year and we’re only able to take 100 students. Reserve your spot today before they’re gone!

The previous post focused on divider slides. This post focuses on body slides. In particular, I’ll provide a few examples of how you can transform a list of bullet points into visuals.

Bad

While I was creating content for the Facilitate an Interpretation Meeting section of a recent presentation, I wanted to include a few frequently asked questions.

Here’s what my first draft looked like. While drafting, I was just trying to get the main ideas down. Bullet points are fine for drafts but not for final products.

Better

At the very least, we can apply bold text to make key phrases stand out.

And even better, we can storyboard the slides so that one bullet points appears at a time as you click through your slides. Your goal is for your slides to match your speaking points.

You can achieve the storyboarding appearance with your slideshow’s built-in animation features. Just use the least distracting option, like Appear, rather than having bullet points fly in and do cartwheels across the screen.

Or, you can achieve the storyboarding appearance by creating separate slides for each bullet point. This is my personal preference. I give a lot of webinars, and some webinar platforms (like ReadyTalk, among others) will wipe out animations entirely when you upload your slides into the system.

The bare minimum is to apply bold text and make one bullet point appear at a time. But I’m not suggesting you keep the bullet points at all. There’s nothing worse than watching a presentation full of bullet points! Bullet points say I cared so little about you that I made these slides on the airplane last night.

Best

Your best bet is to break up the five bullet points altogether and give each bullet point its own slide(s).

The first bullet point was “Facilitate a conversation (don’t deliver a speech).” I devoted two slides to this concept, one of a microphone (representing a formal speech) and one of a casual meeting (representing the desired tone of the meetings that I was teaching my attendees about).

My speaking points would go something like this: “When you’re running these interpretation meetings, don’t deliver a speech. You’re not standing at a podium behind a fancy microphone. You’re not going to say, ‘Hey, welcome to the presentation. I already analyzed the data and want to share the key findings with you. I’ll take questions at the end.’ That’s too formal.”

Then, I would click to the next slide, and say, “Instead, you’re going to facilitate a conversation. You’re going to welcome everyone to the meeting and say, ‘I started analyzing the data, but I need your input. I need you to help me make sense of the numbers. Let’s talk about the data together.’ You’re going to ask open-ended questions and keep the meeting casual and conversational.”

I would spend approximately 20 seconds on each of these slides. The slideshow is informative yet fast-paced.

The second bullet point was “How many people? 5-10 attendees.” I devoted two more slides to this concept, one of a small two-person conversation and one of a larger room with lots of chairs.

My speaking points would go something like this: “How many people should attend the interpretation meeting? Two people is too few. You need more voices in the room.”

Then, I would click to the next slide, and say, “But on the other hand, this would be too many people. I suggest having 5 to 10 people at your meeting.”

I would spend approximately 10 seconds on each of these slides.

The third bullet point was “Who should attend? Staff at every level.” I selected a screenshot of an organizational chart, and added super-fancy text boxes and arrows to drive home the point that multiple voices and perspectives should be included.

The fourth bullet point was “How long? 1.5 – 3 hours.” Again, I got super fancy here, and selected a picture of a clock.

The final bullet point was “How often? After each data collection event.” Yet another super fancy approach: a picture of a calendar. Don’t think too hard. Even the simplest, most straightforward photographs will be more engaging and memorable than a bullet point.

I transformed a single slide into seven slides. My speaking points would be identical in both cases. My pace would be identical in both cases. I’m not talking any faster just because I have more slides. I don’t have to rush. Only the visuals would change. Adding more slides doesn’t make my presentation any longer. But adding more slides makes my presentation infinitely more engaging.

There are a million places to find good photos, but my favorite is Pexels.

Bonus: Download the Materials

Want to explore how I made the slides? Download my slides for free. I’m using custom colors and fonts, so when you open the file on your own computer, the colors and fonts will look a little different than mine.

Download the Slides ($0)