Tableau & PowerPoint – A Match Made in Heaven


Tableau & PowerPoint – A Match Made in Heaven


I personally believe that adding images and icons to your visualizations will make them pop and may lead someone to look at it that may not otherwise have done so.  I use them in nearly every one of my Tableau Public visualizations and also commonly use them in a professional setting.  However, I don’t know Photoshop or any of the complicated photo editing software packages and I’m not sure I ever wanted to invest the time (I want to spend my time using and learning within Tableau, not another software package!).  

Okay, let’s go back to the beginning.  When my brother, Ken Flerlage, first introduced me to Tableau, I vividly recall discussing one particular aspect of his Killing Fields viz,  which is what I refer to as a “callout”.  


I asked him how he created it and he delightfully responded, “PowerPoint!”  I of course replied, “PowerPoint?????”.  He then went on to tell me that yes, PowerPoint is much more powerful than just creating slide show presentations.  Ken referred me to Josh Tapley’s fantastic blog post on using PowerPoint in conjunction with Tableau and a few weeks later, Ken himself released a blog post with videos on the same subject.

In the normal Tableau Community fashion, I want to share my experiences and build upon the great work of Josh, Ken, and hundreds of others.  As one side note, this tutorial also mentions a free (and very easy to use) photo editing tool called Paint.net.  You can download this program on CNET. (Note that www.paint.net is a painting company's website and unless you live in the Nashville area and want a fresh coat on the walls of your master bath, this website probably won't do you much good).  

I hope you enjoy the attached video presentation and if you have any questions, feel free to contact me at any time.  





Kevin Flerlage, November 19, 2018 


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