How to build a plan that your stakeholders can understand and trust. So that they trust you.
Gantt is a language – are you speaking it clearly? How to make plans clear and effective.
If you want to put a company logo in your deck, make sure it’s a good quality one. Easier said than done – here's four ways to hunt them down.
The Logo Detective: four ways to find a brand logo
Why it’s your fault when other people don’t get it. And how to easily fix that.
The Curse of Knowledge
How to showcase client logos without it looking really messy
How to create a great logo cloud
Don't be tempted to bury the ‘so what’ of your slide at the bottom of the page. There is a better way.
Headlines, not straplines
Need to align content in two different places in your deck? Don't keep paging up and down - open a second window.
Double act: save time with two windows
Why people are moving from Word to PowerPoint - and how to do it well
Decks over docs
Funnel diagrams are useful - and much easier to create than you might think
How to create a funnel diagram quickly
What to do with those naughty slide numbers when they won't behave
How to fix PowerPoint slide numbers
Tables are great - but don't over-do the formatting. Here's our go-to style.
How to format better tables
Sometimes your frustrations in PowerPoint are down to your template. And that can be fixed.
10 signs that your PowerPoint template isn't working
When you want a Venn diagram to make a bigger impact – or you need to make a particular overlap stand out – don’t settle for the default format
How to colour Venn diagram sections separately
If you want to make it crystal clear that stakeholders need to make a decision, try a playing card motif
How to use playing cards as a metaphor for choice
When you want your charts to look sleek and professional. Not like you've done a screengrab from Excel.
How to make PowerPoint charts look professional (and not like PowerPoint)
If you need your audience to take specific actions, then make this really clear with a very simple clipboard visual on your slides
How to use a clipboard motif for actions
If the built-in PowerPoint callout shapes aren't doing it for you, try this simple alternative.
How to use a single-cell table as a label
There's a command tucked away that could save you a lot of time and effort
How to quickly change a shape in PowerPoint
If you need to convey percentages visually, try a simple 10x10 waffle chart grid. And download our free templates to save yourself time.
How to create 10x10 waffle charts for visualising percentages
Using icons to build bar charts creates a simple infographic. And you can do it right inside PowerPoint charts.
How to use icons in bar charts
If you are looking for a more visual way to share numbers, try using part-filled icons for percentages and fractions. Surprisingly simple to create and they make a great impression.
How to part-fill icons for quick infographics
You know CTRL+Z is the shortcut for Undo. But do you use CTRL+Y for Redo & Repeat? It’s the timesaver you never knew existed.
CTRL+Y – the unknown hero of shortcuts
PowerPoint numbered lists take their format from the first word. Want something different? Take back control over the numbers with this quick workaround.
How to format numbered lists
Do you want a circle with text that follows the shape? Use this really simple hack.
How to make text fit into a shape in PowerPoint
Sometimes you need a visual element that represents people, but icons are not ‘human’ enough. Try silhouettes.
How to create silhouettes you can recolour
If you are using old bitmap icons, you can’t change their colour properly and they don't scale well. Fix that by converting to SVGs.
How to turn PNG icons into editable SVGs
If you’ve been blithely putting bullet points on every paragraph, it’s time to stop. Learn why – and how.
How to step away from the bullet points – and what to replace them with
Ever spent hours lining up icons with table text? Use icon fonts to put them right inside the table instead. And download our list of useful icons to copy-and-paste.
How to put icons inside tables the easy way
When there is a diagram in a PDF that you want to copy into your slides, this trick is what you need.
How to extract diagrams and logos from PDFs into PowerPoint
There are some fantastic resources out there. Here's our starter list.
Websites we like: free (or great value) resources and tools
Presenting a short list of points as bullets can be difficult to read. There is another way.
How to use horizontal lists instead of bullets
There’s a lot more than just icons available right inside PowerPoint: photos, cutouts and illustrations. All free, no copyright and easy to use.
How to use the full range of free images in PowerPoint
Are you using the icon set that’s built into PowerPoint? It’s a great resource: it’s free and it’s right there on the ribbon. Read on to learn how to tweak the icons to fit better with your slide decks.
How to make the most of PowerPoint's inbuilt icon library
We've summarised all the key dates for England lockdown easing onto a single page
UPDATED: England roadmap out of lockdown – a visual guide
Do you wish your PowerPoint documents could look more polished, more professional? So that they reflect the quality of the thinking behind them? Try these 10 simple habits.
Ten habits for high-quality PowerPoint documents
So you have more bandwidth to focus on high-quality, impactful content, we’ve pulled together some top time-saving tips and tools.
Six ways to save time in PowerPoint
PowerPoint's highlighter pen doesn't appear all that useful at first glance. Partly because it offers you a choice of neon colours but not your own template's colour scheme. But it is possible to choose the highlighter colour, which opens it up to a lot more practical uses.
How to set the PowerPoint highlighter colour – and three practical uses
A clear roadmap has never been more essential. Here are five different ways to present your roadmap, as a free PowerPoint download. And some tips on what makes an effective roadmap.
How to create a roadmap that everyone can follow
Create consistent, classy headshots from any type of photo
Quickly create a 'sticky' note with a standard PowerPoint shape.
If you’re not using the Quick Access Toolbar, you’ll soon wonder how you managed without it
An easy timesaver you’ll use time and time again
How to use the gradient fill to create a simple, binary colour change