Turn ordinary data into compelling graphics

When I was parenting children, one difficult challenge was getting those finicky rugrats to eat their meals. I learned rather quickly that simply piling vegetables onto their plates didn't work. I had to find a more attractive way of presenting the food to them.

In the same way, business shouldn't hand customers a plate full of information and expect them to eat it. Not even spoon feeding raw data will help clients appreciate the business more.

The key is to make inside technical information both understandable and interesting to laymen on the outside.

I'm a visual learner. Actually, most of us are. Studies have shown that as many as two-thirds of the human population processes information through what they see.

Ordinary data just looks like a bunch of numbers and words to me. But put that information into an attractive graphic and all of sudden, the lights come on, the stars align and everything is right with the world.

Microsoft Office can help you turn plain, old boring data into thoughtful and insightful graphic presentations that not only help clients understand your business, but also appreciate it a lot more, too.

Two very effective tools are Charts and Smart Art.

Charts take table data and convert that information into visual displays of columns, bars, pie and more.

The chart tool is located on the insert ribbon of your Office document. In Word, all you have to do is click on charts and select the type of chart you want.

The chart then appears in your Word document and an Excel spreadsheet will open simultaneously, allowing you to input your data.

The cool thing about this tool is that as you input data into the spreadsheet, the information is instantly reflected in your chart graphic, too.

This way, you never have to update the chart separately, because Office creates an automatic link between that and the spreadsheet.

Creating a chart graphic is just as easy in Excel as it is in Word. Simply click anywhere in your table, or select the data cells that you want in your chart.

Then select the type of chart you want and... voila!

But the fun doesn't stop there. Once the chart is created in your document, there are three new chart tools ribbon tabs that also appear at the top of the document: Design, Layout and Format.

These special tools allow you to make structural changes to a chart without compromising the data in it. In Excel, you can even move the chart onto another sheet in the workbook.

Now that's pretty cool, and hard to beat.

But wait until you check out Smart Art, once the avante garde of turning plain text into a stunning visual masterpiece.

Sometimes there just aren't any easy words to explain how something works. That's where Smart Art can help by taking complex ideas and making them more understandable for layman readers like me.

Suppose you've made a list of bullet points about your idea. Text alone doesn't show how the process works or the relationship between concepts.

First, select the text that you want to convert into Smart Art. Then go to the insert ribbon and click on Smart Art. The next window gives you a plethora of information graphics to choose from: Processes, Hierarchies, Cycles, Relationships, Matrixes and more.

You can copy and paste text into the Smart Art graphic or just input it manually. Either way, you'll turn bland information into attractive eye candy for your audience in a snap.

Once the Smart Art graphic appears in your document, two new Smart Art Tools ribbon tabs will also show up: Design and Format.

Like the Chart options, these extra tools allow you to make structural changes to your Smart Art graphic without affecting the data.

Before you know it, you'll be communicating more effectively with clientele by giving them information that not only looks good, but can be digested much easier, too.

If only preparing vegetables for picky little eaters was as easy.