Basic Charting in Excel
- Wednesday
- September
- 17
- 2025
Bob Umlas Overview:
Charts are visual representations of data used to illustrate trends, patterns, and relationships. They serve several purposes, including:
Data Visualization: Transforming raw data into graphical formats for easier understanding. Comparison: Allowing for the comparison of different data sets or categories. Trend Analysis: Visualizing trends over time to analyze historical data and forecast future developments.
Pattern Recognition: Highlighting patterns and relationships within the data. Insight Generation: Facilitating the discovery of insights and actionable information. Communication: Providing a concise and compelling way to communicate findings to others. Enhanced Presentation: Improving the visual appeal and engagement of reports and presentations.
Why you should Attend:
Learning basic charting in Excel is valuable for several reasons:
- Data Visualization: Charts help to visually represent data, making it easier to understand patterns, trends, and relationships
- Communication: Charts provide a concise and clear way to communicate complex information to others, such as colleagues or stakeholders
- Analysis: By creating charts, users can quickly analyze data and identify insights that may not be immediately apparent from raw numbers
- Presentation: Charts enhance the presentation of reports and presentations, making them more engaging and compelling
- Decision Making: Visualizing data through charts can aid in decision-making processes by providing a visual context for understanding information
- Professional Development: Proficiency in charting is a valuable skill in many professions, including finance, marketing, data analysis, and project management
Areas Covered in the Session:
- Introduction to Excel charts
- Different types of charts (e.g., column, bar, line, pie, more)
- Creating basic charts from data
- Selecting data for charting
- Formatting chart elements (e.g., axes, titles, legends)
- Adding and removing chart elements
- Changing chart styles and colors
- Customizing chart layouts and designs
- Adding data labels and annotations
- Using chart templates
- Exporting and sharing charts
- Basic troubleshooting and common issues in charting
Who Will Benefit:
- Anyone using Excel
Speaker Profile
Bob Umlas worked for a major tax and accounting firm, using Microsoft Excel® 8 hours a day, writing custom applications for staff and clients from 1998 to 2018.
He has been using Excel since 1986 - version 0.99 (on the Macintosh)! He was a contributing editor to Inside Microsoft Excel for many years, a magazine devoted exclusively to Microsoft Excel and published by The Cobb Group and later Ziff-Davis. At the time, most issues contain either an article by Mr. Umlas on using VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) or some tip or technique from him on using Excel. He has had more than 300 articles published on subjects ranging from beginner to advanced macros, and on tips, shortcuts, and general techniques using virtually all aspects of Excel.
Mr. Umlas was voted an “MVP” (Most Valuable Professional) by Microsoft each year from 1994-2018 (25 years!) for his contributions to the various online Forums about Excel and is known world-wide for his contributions in Excel. As an MVP, he met yearly with his fellow-MVPs at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, where he had access to the product developers. He has been a beta tester for new versions of Excel since version 1.5, and was asked by Microsoft for his input for newer versions of Excel. In 1995 he led a session called "Maximizing Excel Development Using Array Formulas" at Microsoft's Tech Ed Conference in New Orleans, and he led a session called Tips and Tricks at a Microsoft convention in New York City. He has hosted London’s Global Excel Summit each year since 2021, and in person in 2024, as well as led a session on tips and tricks. He also led a session on tips and tricks at the Las Vegas’ Financial Modeling World Championship in December, 2023. He has led online sessions all over the world including Africa, India, England, Canada and of course, the USA.
He is also the author of “This isn’t Excel, it’s Magic!” which is available from http://www.iil.com/publishing as well as from Amazon.com. Another book, “Excel Outside the Box” is available from http://www.mrexcel.com and is for the very advanced Excel user. Another book, “More Excel Outside the Box” is also available from mrexcel.com. One more, “Cool Excel Sh*t” is more tips & tricks. Lastly, published for Kindle, is “Excel Preschool: Understanding Microsoft Excel, finally!” – a book for the very beginner!
He is also the technical editor of many of Bill Jelen’s (Mr. Excel) books.
Mr. Umlas used to co-lead the New York PC User's group on Excel every month for about 20 years. He started leading this group again in 2018. He has been teaching Excel to individuals and corporations for several years.