When presenting numerical data to your audience, sometimes a chart is just what you need to
help them see the meaning behind the numbers.
For example, I have our book store's sales figures organized by genre and year in this
table, but it's hard to see any trends without looking at the numbers one-by-one. I think
a chart would make things much easier.
We'll first go to the Insert tab, and then click the Chart command to open a list of
our choices. Let's take a look at some of the more common ones.
Column charts are good all-around charts - they work with many different types of data - whereas
line charts are best for showing trends over time. Pie charts are unique because they let
you see your data in proportion instead of on a graph. We also have the bar chart, which
is basically just a column chart turned on its side. And area charts are like line charts,
except the areas under the lines are filled in.
I think I'll start with something in the column category. There are lots of styles to choose
from. This one looks nice and simple. Click OK, and then something interesting happens
- an Excel window opens. Why? Well, PowerPoint uses an Excel worksheet as the placeholder
for your chart data. You enter your information here, right on top of the placeholder text,
and it shows up on the chart. See?
Let's just add the rest of the genres to this column.
Now all we need to do is fill in our sales figures. We're going to be covering the last
five years, from 2006 to 2010. Anything you want to include on your chart has to be inside
this little blue box, so I'm going to drag the bottom right corner to make some more
room and Excel automatically finishes the series with 2009 and 2010.
To save us some more time, I'm going to copy and paste the rest of the data from a spreadsheet
I already have. Just open the existing worksheet, copy the data you want to use, then paste
it in the placeholder.
Notice how the chart in PowerPoint was updated right away? There's no need to save - not
even when you close the Excel window - because PowerPoint automatically keeps up with you
while you work. To go back and make changes, all you have to do is click the Edit Data
command, and the Excel window will open again.
You can even import a chart from Excel, which is what I was planning to do on the next slide.
I like this feature because it lets you repurpose an existing chart, and you can keep it up-to-date
by linking it to the original.
Just go to Insert Object and choose Create from file. Browse to find the right file on
your computer. Then check the Link box if you want to create that link, meaning that
any changes you make to the original will be reflected here too.
Just be careful not to delete or move the original file. If the location of either the
PowerPoint or the Excel file changes, you may have to insert the chart again in order
for it to display properly.
And here's our second chart - a pie chart this time. Charts can be as simple or as complex
as you like in PowerPoint. I think the audience will appreciate how easy it is to understand
the data, when it's visualized in such a clear way.