by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
One-pagers are super useful Consultant put their thoughts on PowerPoint. Sometimes, it’s for the final presentation, but much more often, it’s for simple one-pagers. These one-pagers serve a diversity of purposes: Checklist of data collection progress and...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
Data visualization sounds fancy, but it basically means charts and graphs. Consultants are good at quickly breaking down problems and telling stories with data. Graphs can be succinct: yes, “a picture tells a thousand words.” Lots of research has been done...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
Consultants use PowerPoint almost to the point of parody. Yes, some of us turn it on first thing in the morning (hat tip: FL). Kinda makes sense. We are in the business of turning the complex into the simple. We put things into buckets – and the individual...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
On Thursday night, had a talk to MBAs on logical structuring, storytelling, storyboarding, presentations. Yes, lots to cover in 3 hours. One area that we went very light on was data visualization. So here’s my contribution. These are from the Economist’s...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
The NounProject is a website where you can search, download, and customize millions of icons. Consultants are continuously “bucketing” ideas and concepts, and icons are a classy way to draw the viewers attention to a bucket. This is different from clip art...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
In the corporate world, most presentations are to small groups. In fact, the most common format is actually with 1 person in his/her office. The slides typically have more details (think: 18-22 font arial) and should be completely self-explanatory. They are skimmable...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
Stories matter If you type “storytelling” into Amazon, it spins up no-less-than 20,000 book titles. Yikes. It’s a popular business topic and for good reason, we humans are wired (think lizard brain) to tell and remember stories Business storytelling...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
A student recently asked me for clarity on prioritization slides. Yes, we’ve all seen these before. They usually come at the end of a performance improvement presentation with the intent of narrowing down the choices. Super useful, almost simplistic....
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
What’s a Venn diagram? Yes, you’ve seen these overlapping circles before. It’s a simple and visual way to show different data sets. What is separate and what overlaps? Consultants and executives love diagrams, right? I Used to not like them For the...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
Consultants are in the business of taking ambiguous problems, structuring them, and telling cogent, actionable stories. This often involves charts – yes – charts and graphs. The older crew – like me – is used to Excel, but you will also see...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
I made 1,000+ presentations in my life That’s completely possible. 20 years + PPT application is open on my computer every day. Executive summaries, teaching lessons, or sometimes even 1 pagers. Some were financial and operational reviews. Some were full-scale...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
This is the final section review of Duarte’s Slideology (affiliate link). I am going to pick and choose what to share with readers. Consulting presentations (for good or bad) are fairly conservative and a bit regimented. As a result, the parts of the books about...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
This is the second section review of Duarte’s Slideology (affiliate link). This agency has become a sensation after they did Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth presentation and also a famous TED talk here. Chapter 2 – Create ideas, not slides I will...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
Slideology This is a book from 2008 about PowerPoint. It is well-structured, thoughtful, and a massively influential book in the “presentation business”. It makes a whole lot of sense to me and is quite easy-to-read. Nancy Duarte has been doing this for...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
Consultants see patterns It’s a core part of our job to analyze data, separate the signal from the noise, and interpret the patterns. Some are better than others and it’s a talent that takes time to turn into a skill. Find good presentations and study...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
I have been reading the Economist since 1991. So many reasons I like the magazine: Clear thinking, clear writing International in scope; not America-centric Libertarian thinking, but not “gold standard” fundamentalist Opinionated; strong point of view...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
Tableau Yes, this is french for Table. It is also the most user-friendly, powerful, and amazing desktop visualization tool for consultants. Tableau is a company based out of Seattle Washington, founded in 2003 to commercialize work out of Stanford. Fast-forward 10...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
Never My colleagues and I disagree about this. Some use clipart or photos to demonstrate the emotion or “mood” of a PowerPoint. Not me. Call me a puritan. I tell my team to not include clip art or superfluous photos. It shows a lack of substance. If you...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
Are you a management consultant? Related Posts: Great consultants vs. good consultants Consulting is a team sport Consulting jargon: Airport Test “On the beach” means you are consulting...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
I have subscribed to the Economist for 20+ years. Solid reporting. Libertarian angle, but with a strong heart. Another benefit are the excellent graphs. Consultants love graphs Executives are visual people, and graphs can make an enormous impact without using too...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
Veteran’s Day This date was chosen to commemorate the ending of WWI, and is a national holiday that honors all veterans. Anyone willing to risk their life and health for their country deserves honor. No question about it. Canada, the UK, and Australia also...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
Last week I used the term “S-curve” 3 times in different conversations, so either it is worth blogging about, or I need to develop a better vocabulary. For those unfamiliar with the concept, I am sure you would recognize it if you see it. Like the name...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
Bain & Company is known for big thinking This 44 page report is no exception. Bain reviews eight global trends that will each generate a $ trillion+ of growth. Trillion with a T. Look at the concepts below, and you can see this big-think, Alvin Toffler-type...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
Graphics tell a lot story in a little space It’s descriptive without being prescriptive. For some fun examples look at http://thisisindexed.com/. It’s a blog that Jessica Hagy has diligently been posting since 2006. She hand-draws simple graphics that...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
Visual.ly is a website that showcases thousands of infographics where data is displayed in unique and fun ways. For consultants who are in the business of telling stories with data, it is worth a few minutes of your time. Consulting presentations are simpler 90%+ of...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
Charts can mislead In most cases, bad charts are accidental. Perhaps someone was over-eager to show good results, or maybe, just did a sloppy job of formatting. Whatever the cause, it’s bad mojo to put together analyses or charts that mislead. Here are some bad...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics, Learning
What is the fiscal cliff? This term has become a popular way to describe the abrupt changes expected in the beginning of 2013 due to the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts, and the mandatory cut of several areas of government spending. The NY Times does a great job...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
America has been the predominant military power for the last fifty years. With the break up of the USSR in the late1980s, the US stands alone in its military spending. Americans of my Gen-X generation, are now asking the question, “Should America Serve as the...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
Better Olympic metrics please As a consultant, it always seemed odd that news reporters routinely compare the medal count between the USA and China – after all, the USA has 530 athletes compared to China’s 380. Seems like the total number of medals is only...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
The Olympics are a wonder At a macro-level, it is a family get-together of 200+ nations where all the international relations and the geopolitical clatter is replaced with sports. It’s a rare opportunity where xenophobia, racial stereotypes, and hatred are not...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
These graphs from the Economist describe China’s economy, growth and influence. China certainly has issues (e.g., demographic imbalance, rich-poor disparity, censorship) but you have to admit, China has been putting up some incredible economic numbers. Chinese...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics, Learning
Consultants always appreciate visuals. Here are some great bar charts from the Economist showing the differences between countries.Note: not all countries are shown. All great bar charts. Meat Consumption by Country by Product Luxembourg, United States, and Australia...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
What’s the so what? You will hear this phrase used on projects a fair amount. It is not the best usage or even politely worded, but it’s critical: Your presentations need to have a point Since consultants are paid for insights, recommendations and...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
Death by PowerPoint Presentations can be boring. We have all sat in large conference rooms held captive by a speaker wielding a poorly thought-out PowerPoint. To misquote a bumper sticker, “PowerPoints don’t kill, people do.” Don’t put lipstick on a pig Some people...
