Charts, SmartArt, tables, video and audio in slides

Numbers and processes are hard to follow as bullet points. PowerPoint's visual tools turn them into something an audience understands in seconds.

Choosing the right chart

Inserting a chart

1. Insert → Chart → pick a type → a small Excel sheet opens.
2. Type or paste your numbers → close the sheet.
3. Or copy a chart from Excel and paste (choose "Use destination theme" to match your slides).

Make charts readable

• Title the chart with the conclusion: "Nakuru sold the most in Q3".
• Delete clutter: gridlines, 3D effects, unnecessary legends.
• Highlight the important bar in your accent colour; keep others grey.
• Label values directly on bars when there are few.
• Large fonts: the back row must read it.

Tables

Insert → Table for small comparisons (3–6 rows). For big tables, show only the key rows on the slide and share the full table as a handout or PDF.

SmartArt: processes, cycles and hierarchies

Insert → SmartArt turns bullet text into diagrams:

Tip: type bullets first, then right-click the text box → Convert to SmartArt.

Icons and shapes

• Insert → Icons: consistent, simple icons (e.g. phone, money, people) next to short points.
• Shapes + text for simple custom diagrams; align them with Arrange → Align and Distribute.

Video and audio

• Insert → Video → This Device (or Online Video for YouTube, which needs internet during the talk).
• Playback tab: Trim, start automatically or on click, play full screen.
• Insert → Audio for background music or a recorded clip; you can also Record Audio narration per slide.
• Slide Show → Record turns your presentation into a narrated video (File → Export → Create a Video) for online classes or when you can't present live.

Embedded videos make the file large. Compress with File → Info → Compress Media, and always test on the presentation computer beforehand.

Accessibility

• Alt text on images and charts (right-click → View Alt Text).
• High contrast between text and background.
• Use the Accessibility checker (Review → Check Accessibility).

Exercise

Create a 5-slide pitch for a small business idea (e.g. a mobile phone repair shop):

1. Title slide
2. The problem (with one striking number)
3. The solution (SmartArt process: customer drops phone → diagnosis → repair → M-Pesa payment)
4. A column chart of expected monthly income for 6 months
5. What you need (the ask) and contacts

Why visuals matter in presentations

People understand and remember a picture or chart much faster than a paragraph of numbers. A sales trend, a budget split, a survey result or a project timeline is clearer as a chart or diagram. Donors, investors, managers and examiners often decide based on a few key visuals. But a cluttered or misleading chart damages trust, so knowing how to choose and design visuals is an important professional skill.

Choosing the right chart: more detail

If a chart needs a long explanation, it's probably the wrong chart or has too much in it.

Making a chart tell one story

1. Start with the message: "Nakuru branch doubled sales in 6 months."
2. Remove clutter: delete gridlines, borders, unnecessary legends and decimals.
3. Highlight: colour the important bar or line in your brand colour; make the rest grey.
4. Label directly: put labels on bars or at line ends instead of a separate legend.
5. Use the title as the message.
6. Start bar charts at zero: a cut axis exaggerates small differences and can mislead.

Linking charts from Excel

• Copy a chart in Excel → in PowerPoint, Paste Special → Paste Link (or use Keep Source Formatting & Link Data).
• When the Excel data changes, update the chart in PowerPoint (right-click → Edit Data / Refresh Data).
• Useful for monthly reports where the same slides are updated with new numbers.
• When sending the file to others, linked data may break; paste as a picture or embed for the final version.

Tables that are easy to read

• Keep to essential rows and columns (5 to 7 rows is plenty on a slide).
• Right-align numbers, and use the same number of decimals.
• Light row banding or thin lines; no heavy borders.
• Highlight the key row or column.
• If the audience needs every number, give a printed handout instead.

Diagrams beyond SmartArt

SmartArt can be converted to shapes (SmartArt Design → Convert → Convert to Shapes) for full design control.

Icons and 3D models

• Insert → Icons (Microsoft 365) offers thousands of simple, editable icons; recolour them to match your theme.
• Use icons consistently (same style: all outline or all filled).
• 3D models can be rotated live in a presentation, useful for product demos or technical subjects.

Video and audio done right

Only use videos and music you have the right to use; for YouTube content, linking or embedding through the official player is the safe approach.

Recording a presentation with narration

Slide Show → Record (or Record tab) lets you record narration, webcam video and ink annotations, then File → Export → Create a Video produces an MP4. Useful for online classes, training videos and sending pitches to people who can't attend live.

Accessibility for visuals

• Add alt text describing what a chart shows ("Line chart: sales rose from 120 in January to 310 in June").
• Don't rely on colour alone; add labels or patterns.
• Use high contrast and large fonts in charts.
• Run Review → Check Accessibility to find missing alt text, low contrast and reading-order problems.
• Add captions or subtitles to videos where possible.

Common mistakes

Practice

1. Create a line chart of monthly sales with one highlighted month and a message title.
2. Turn a 5-step bulleted process into a SmartArt process diagram.
3. Build a 2 × 2 priority matrix with shapes.
4. Insert a short video clip, trim it and set it to play on click.
5. Run Check Accessibility and fix every issue.

Think about it: A presenter shows a bar chart where Branch A's bar looks three times taller than Branch B's, but the numbers are 9,800 and 9,400. What's wrong?Show answer

The vertical axis doesn't start at zero (it probably starts around 9,200), which exaggerates a small 4% difference into what looks like a huge gap. Bar charts should start at zero; if the small difference matters, state it in the title or show the percentage change.

Check yourself

1. Which chart type best shows change over time?

   Show answer

   line

2. Which feature turns bullet points into process or cycle diagrams?

   Show answer

   SmartArt

3. What should a chart's title usually state? (one word)

   Show answer

   conclusion

4. Where do you add a description of an image for blind users? (two words)

   Show answer

   alt text

5. Which feature shrinks presentations with large embedded videos? (two words)

   Show answer

   Compress Media

6. Which chart type shows the relationship between two numeric variables?

   Show answer

   scatter

7. Which PowerPoint feature checks for missing alt text and low contrast? (two words)

   Show answer

   Check Accessibility

8. Where should a bar chart's value axis start to avoid misleading?

   Show answer

   zero