Trainings

Present Your Story Present Your Data

All training is delivered by Nolan Haims, one of the world's leading experts in presentation and one of only 15 U.S. PowerPoint MVPs as designated by Microsoft. He has taught tens of thousands of people to present their slides and data more effectively and trains the world’s largest brands in how to communicate more visually and with fewer words.

Demonstrating presentation best practices on an attendee's laptop

Transform your presentation and data storytelling skills in just a few hours.

The core training content is divided into Present Your Story (qualitative content including words and images) and Present Your Data (quantitative content such as charting and tables). Trainings for each start at 90-minutes and can be combined to up to a full two-day onsite immersive master class. Half- and full-day trainings include hands-on exercises, customization options for using client content, and deeper dives into topics. 

Trainings can be customized to a client’s specific challenges and needs and include workbooks, exercises, and resources. Client content can also be incorporated into trainings along with makeovers. Learn why Microsoft, NBC, Accenture, Gartner, Omnicom, Publicis, Stryker, Mediabrands, and countless others have turned to Nolan to improve their employees’ presentation and data storytelling capabilities. 

Check out the FAQ for more answers to your training questions.

Online & On-site

All trainings can be given on-site or remotely. When presented remotely, you will be provided a full Zoom webinar package including registration, reminder emails, tracking, reports, and post-training survey.

Nolan Haims at a presentation screen training a roomful of people

Present Your Story


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Qualitative Presenting or Presentation Design focuses on techniques and strategies for creating more effective and dynamic presentations that are 1) clear and 2) memorable. Trainings cover a wide range of storytelling best practices, graphic design, and software techniques that will rescue any presenter from inflicting “Death by PowerPoint.” Longer sessions include hands-on exercises and makeovers.

Topics include:

Format & Structure

Learn the primary types of presentations, how to determine if your content is “glanceable” or “referenceable,” and construct a cohesive outlined presentation story.

Text

Managing content overload and minimize bullets using techniques such as the 3-word challenge, splitting, “chunking,” and executive summaries.

Imagery

Learn how to harness imagery and graphics for powerful visual communication in presentations including sourcing, placing, and editing. 

Design

Implement core graphic design principles to instantly improve any slide and presentation. 

Use Powerpoint Like a Pro

Make use of software tricks, shortcuts, add-ins, and little-known features to dramatically speed up your presentation creation process. 

Content creation

Organize and write a cohesive outlined presentation story using proven techniques such as singular messaging, WIIFMA, story
structure, effective headers, and more.

A group of Present Your Story trainees in front of tables and laptops

Probably the best and most practical training I have ever had.

I went right back to my desk and immediately started creating more effective charts and data visualizations in a fraction of the time.”

 Present Your Story Attendee

Nolan Haims in front of a screen demonstrating charting best practices

Present Your Data


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Quantitative Presenting or Data Storytelling focuses on the creation of clear and effective charts and data visualizations. You'll learn to identify and communicate the story and meaning of your data rather than just putting numbers and tables up on a screen. Best practices for data storytelling and visualization will be covered in the context of Microsoft Office, although the general principles apply to any charting software.

Topics include:

Data Design 101

Understand and harness fundamental design principles needed for data visualization such as color, emphasis, negative space, and hierarchy. 

1-Second Chart®

Learn the principles, strategies, and techniques used by data professionals to create charts that can be understood by an audience in one second or less including the McKinsey Rule, direct labeling, layering, annotation, and more. 

Unique Data Solutions

Move beyond pie charts and learn to create unique and more effective visualizations using Microsoft Office including Proportional Shapes, Unit Charts, Bullet Graphs, and Slope Graphs. 

Cautions

Maintain credibility by knowing how to identify and avoid common mistakes and pitfalls such as Y-axis manipulation and incorrect Excel-PowerPoint workflows. 

PowerPoint & Excel Efficiency

Use little-known features such as placeholders and chart templates to speed up your design process and maintain consistency. 

Makeovers

Put your new knowledge into practice through chart makeovers and practical laptop exercises.

Present Your Data trainee staring at a screen with different versions of a slop graph

Nolan’s webinars are consistently the best use of time spent because of his relevant, concise, and useful content.”

 Present Your Data Attendee

The PowerPoint Toolbox


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PowerPoint can be a frustrating program to use, but it is also an incredibly powerful one for those who know its tools and secrets. In this unique completely hands-on training, Microsoft PowerPoint MVP Nolan Haims reveals the inner workings of the industry-standard software for users of all levels, and reveals the tricks and techniques used by professional designers to work faster, smarter, and more efficiently. Available for both Mac and PC users.

Topics include:

interface

Set up your workspace for maximum efficiency including customizing your QAT, rulers, guides, page size, and get introduced to the one add-in that will change your life.

LAYOUTs & masters

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Learn exactly how a PowerPoint template works including layouts, themes, footers, page numbers, and how to correctly combine slides from multiple decks.

SHAPES & OBJECTS

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Create and edit standard and custom shapes with the Convert and Merge tools. Master resizing, alignment, layering, and format painting.

IMAGERY

Source, insert, and edit imagery like a pro including custom cropping, artistic effects, and placeholders. Understand image formats and how to access millions of free images without ever leaving PowerPoint.

TEXT

Paragraph, line, and character spacing are just the start. Learn about Microsoft Cloud fonts, embedding, text in shapes, and much more.

MOTION

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Understand when and how to animate and when not to, including transitions and the incredible Morph feature.

Additional topics are covered in longer sessions such as video, SmartArt, accessibility, and more.

Nolan Haims in front of a multi-screen setup delivering a remote webinar

Webinars


In addition to our above signature training programs, we also offer special shorter webinars and trainings with more targeted topics.

Presenting in a Remote World

A 60-Minute webinar on how to connect & present online. It’s a virtual world now for so many meetings and presentations, but showing up just as professionally as you would in-person requires additional skills that not everyone has mastered. In this 60-minute webinar, we’ll cover everything from webcams, microphones, and lighting to how to design remote-specific slides to techniques for maintaining audience focus and improving engagement.

Inclusive Presenting

A 60-Minute webinar on how to present inclusively to diverse audiences. As our audiences become more varied, it’s incumbent upon presenters to create presentations with more sensitivity to inclusion of those audiences. This 60-minute webinar discusses how we can create and deliver presentations more effectively for audiences of all ages, ethnicities, and abilities including considerations for accessibility, mindful imagery, foreign languages, and more.

Custom Template Training

Make the most out of your existing template. Whether you have an existing PowerPoint template or one created by Nolan Haims Creative, this customized training will walk employees through its ins and outs and how to use it most efficiently. We’ll cover masters, layouts, themes, assets, and how to avoid the dreaded “Franken-deck” when importing slides from outside the template. 

Office Hours

Work with Nolan to transform your own project. For those who have attended a previous training, special 1-hour Office Hours sessions can be booked to work with Nolan on specific client slides, presentations, and charts. These mini consulting sessions can include up to 5 attendees.