Moved to the Excel Twitters archive:
PowerPoint Twitters 20080719
 
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I've added an Excel Events page to my web site, to list upcoming public conferences, boot camps and special events that feature Excel topics. I'm not affiliated with these events (unless noted in the description), and am listing them for information only. http://www.contextures.com/ExcelEvents.html And this graphic represents the excitement at every Excel event that I've attended! If you prepare presentations and use slides, there are interesting ideas in Cliff Atkinson's book, Beyond Bullet Points. As the title suggests, he warns against using slides with bullet points. Instead, he uses slides to tell a story, planning them with a storyboard technique. The author starts by describing a presentation that used the BBP technique to win a major legal case. The rest of the book takes you through the steps of planning, creating and delivering the presentation. He even suggests handouts with financial data in an Excel spreadsheet, to supplement the presentation, and "quickly establish credibility." Incorporating Excel is obviously a smart move in almost any presentation! I found the book easy to read, with detailed instructions, checklists, tips and examples. The book comes with a CD which contains templates and checklists to help you get started. There are also templates and other free resources on the BBP web site, Continue reading Beyond Bullet Points You probably know a few ways to use the Shift key in Excel, to extend the cells that you have selected. For example: Click on a cell, then hold the Shift key, and click on another cell. All the cells in between are selected. Hold the Shift key while you use the arrow keys, and cells will be selected as you move. Here are a couple more Shift tricks: Select a cell, then click in the Name box, at the left side of the Formula Bar. Type the address of another cell, then hold the Shift key, and press Enter. The entire range will be selected. Select a starting cell, then hold the Shift key, and select a named range from the Name box drop down list. Continue reading Shifty Tricks in Excel I've read articles that claim listening to Baroque music will help productivity, and some research concludes that music can make you more productive in repetitive tasks. When I wrote my books, I usually had flamenco nuevo or contemporary music in my headset, and sometimes listened to the same album several times in a row. (I'm sure that's not a symptom of anything!) When programming, I like it quiet. What do you listen to, or do you prefer silence? If you find that classical music helps you focus, you might enjoy the free concert downloads available at ISGM Music: http://www.gardnermuseum.org/music/podcast/theconcert.asp The Swivel web site lets users upload Excel data, create charts, and share the results. They've recently opened up their Business Swivel, where you can upload data and keep it private, for a monthly subscription fee. It's interesting to see what people are charting, such as the occurrences of gunshots, firecrackers and other noises in York, PA. This is a feature that I wish Excel had too. If you want to keep two or more paragraphs together on the same page, you can change the formatting options in Word. To keep two paragraphs together: Select any paragraph that you want to keep with the paragraph that follows it. For example, click in a heading paragraph, to keep it with the descriptive paragraph below it. On the Format menu, click on Paragraph Go to the Line and Page Breaks tab Add a check mark to Keep With Next Click OK To keep a paragraph from splitting over two pages: Click in the paragraph, or select several paragraphs On the Format menu, click on Paragraph Go to the Line and Page Breaks tab Add a check mark to Keep Lines Together Click OK Moved to the Excel Twitters archive: Excel Twitters 20080712 As I work at my computer, there are lots of things that I want to jot down, to act on later. Most of these are brilliant thoughts, or million dollar ideas, so I don't want to lose them! The quickest way that I've found to collect these notes is in a log file in Notepad. When I open it, the file adds the current time and date, and the cursor automatically goes to the end of the file. To create a log file: Open Notepad, and at the top of the new blank file, type: .LOG This MUST be in upper case letters. Save the file as a Text file, e.g. MyNotes.txt Note: I save my file to the Desktop, so it's easy to find and open. Close the file. To use the log file: Open the log file, and the date and time are automatically added. Enter your notes, Continue reading Keep a Quick Log File To accurately measure items on your screen you can use the free utility, Pixel Ruler. I've found this helpful when I have to upload a picture that's a specific measurement, such as a blog banner, or profile photo. You can drag the ruler to any position on the screen, to line up the zero mark with the left edge of the object that you want to measure. Then, point to the ruler where it lines up with the right edge of the object, to see the width in pixels. In the screen shot above, the rectangle is 223 pixels wide. The ruler has three control buttons at its top left -- an arrow, a triangle and a line: To measure the height, rotate the ruler to vertical, by clicking the arrow button. Click the triangle button to change the ruler colour, or to access the Pixel Ruler web site Continue reading Take Measurements With Pixel Ruler  |
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