I keep hearing I shouldn't use contraints in Project unless I have to. Why is that?

A constraint (or a constrained task) in Microsoft Project is a task that has its start or finish date "hard coded" into the project plan. This means that the start or finish dates of the task won't change no matter what – even if it should. This can be a problem if you are running behind on certain tasks in your project, and therefore are not able to start subsequent tasks that depend on the task running late.

For example, let's say you are painting the living room in your house, and you expect it to take 2 days to get done with the first coat – but it actually takes three days instead. This means that the new start date for the second coat needs to be delayed by a day – but using a constraint would prevent this from happening!

Predecessors in Project

The solution is to minimize (or eliminate) the use of constraints – and use predecessors and successors instead. If we link the First coat and the Second coat by the use of a predecessor, the second task is then free to reschedule if the first task happens to take longer.

Draw attention to small elements on a slide by growing them with a simple zoom animation.

In this example, a very small text box that says "The Little Things" is the most important element, but it's easy to miss when viewing the presentation with a projector. We'll add a simple Grow Shrink animation to draw attention to it.

Adding a Grow / Shrink animation in PowerPoint

Select the element you want to grow. Then under the Animations tab click on Add Animation in the Advanced Animation group and choose Grow Shrink. Your graphic demonstrate your new animation.

To change how large the image grows, click on Effect Options and choose your desired size. Change the speed of the growth in the with the Duration feature in the Timing group. The lower the number, the faster the element will grow.

Because of importing or dubious data entry, many users have to deal with worksheets that have improperly parsed data. Most commonly, this means that a single cell might contain data that should be divided over several columns. Excel has a few features for parsing this data into several cells.

Text to Columns – Delimited data

If the data in a single cell is divided by spaces, commas, or some other consistent character, then dividing that data into individual cells is fairly simple.

Select the cells you wish to parse. Then click on the Data tab and select Text to Columns under the Data Tools group. This will start the Text to Columns Wizard.

In this example, the address, city, state, and zip code are delimited by commas, which is common for an import, so with the radial button Delimited selected, click Next.

Identify you delimiter by checking the appropriate box or boxes on the left. When the data in the preview window is correct, click Next or Finish.

The Next button will allow you to choose the data format for each of the columns. This may not be necessary. Click Finish when you are ready.

Your data will be parsed across the columns to the right.

Text to Columns – Fixed Width

In some cases, parsing text from a cell may be easier with a fixed width setting.

Start by selecting the cells you wish to parse. Then under the Data tab in the Data Tools Group, choose Text to Columns. In the Wizard dialogue box choose the radial button Fixed Width and choose Next.

Use the preview window to select the width of your data by dragging the line to the proper position. Click Next to identify the data format or Finish.

Extracting data from the center of a text string

In Excel the MID function allows a user to extract data from the center of a cell. The syntax for this formula is:

=MID({cell reference}, {order number for the first character desired}, {number of characters to include})

=MID(...) calls up the formula.

{Cell reference} is the cell that has the data.

{order number for the first character desired} refers to the character number for the first letter desired. In the example above, this number is 7, referring to the 7 characters in the word AMOUNT_.

{number of characters to include} refers to the number of characters that should be extracted. In the case of the example, this number is 5, as in the 5 characters in $2304.

Recording a macro with a complex sort is actually very simple.

Start with your data unsorted and unselected. Then under the View tab, click on the down arrow just below the Macros Icon and choose Record Macro.

Type a Macro name that you can remember, and assign a shortcut key if you wish by typing a letter next to "Ctrl +". You can also add a description, which is helpful if you have a number of different sorts. Then click OK.

Once you click this button, Excel watches everything you do, and can repeat those actions automatically. Sort your document, but be careful not to make any edits or do anything you wouldn't want repeated.

When you're finished, click on the down arrow again and choose Stop Recording.

To test the macro, resort your data to change the way it looks. Then, either hit the shortcut key you programmed, or click on the down arrow under Macros again, and choose view macro. Select your desired macro from the list and choose run.

Excel has tools for complex, or multilayered sorts that involve several columns or headers. There are 2 ways to create a complex sort in Excel.

Method 1) The Sort button

Select the all of the data in the table you need to sort. Under the Home tab, click on Sort & Filter in the Editing Group. Then choose Custom Sort (this feature can also be accessed with the Sort button under the Data tab in the Sort and Filter group). A dialog box will pop up.

Check or uncheck the My Data has Headers box, depending on your data. Then change Sort by to the column that has the data that should be sorted first. Use the Add Level button to add other criteria to the sort. You can position the order of sorting with the up and down arrows.

In this example, the data will first be sorted by Favorite Color, then by Favorite Animal, then by Order.

Method 2) Using Filters to Sort

The other way to create a complex sort, meaning sorting by multiple columns, is to use the filter tool.

Select your data. Then, under the Data tab, toggle on Filter under the Sort and Filter group. Drop down arrows will appear in each of your columns.

These drop down arrows offer a few different tools. You can filter the rows by value or color, and you can also sort alphabetically or sequentially either direction.

Use the sorting tools in order to organize your data the way that you need it to be organized, sorting and resorting the data in the appropriate order.

Saving Custom Sorting in Excel

After programming a complex sort in Excel, it is often helpful to save that sort to use again on the same table. You should be able to do this automatically as the sort settings are saved with the document. Simple select the exact same cells and click on the sort button again. If your saved sort isn't offered, try selecting the entire worksheet with Control + A, and then clicking on the sort button.

You can also save a sort in Excel with a simple macro.

Public Speaking at its heart is simply communication with a group, and it requires many of the same skills needed to communicate effectively with individuals.

Capture your audience's attention and help them retain your presentation information by effectively communicating with each of them using these tips and tools.

Read and respond to your audience.

Just as in a one-on-one conversation, your public speaking presentation must respond and adjust to the needs of the audience. Do they understand your content? Are they interested in the content?

Non-verbal body language cues from your audience often reveal inattention and confusion. Has your audience glazed over? Are they making eye contact with you, or looking around the room? Are they talking with each other, or checking their smart phones?

If appropriate, ask questions of the audience to get feedback and encourage interaction. Pull the audience into the presentation by encouraging involvement. Change your presentation style until you find a format that works for your unique group.

Communication between two people is usually bi-directional. Respond to your audience to make your presentation bi-directional, too.

Change focus.

Listening to a presentation on a single topic for more than 20 minutes is like getting caught at a dinner party with "that guy." Don't be "that guy."

The attention span of an adult is limited to 20 minutes, and for some people, it is much shorter. If you have been presenting for longer than 20 minutes, then part of your audience has already drifted off.

Change the focus of your presentation at least every 20 minutes to keep your audience engaged. Change the format by including videos, activities, or games. Pass around objects, tell stories. Inject humor. Ask your audience to read or write. Get creative.

Capture their attention with your presentation style.

Talking at the same speed and pitch for the entire presentation will lose an audience even with the most exciting content.

Keep them interested by walking around the room or gesticulating. Change pitch or inflection, or add pauses to emphasize certain points. Animate your expressions and movements. Again, remember to incorporate humor or stories to keep it entertaining, just as you would hold the interest of a friend in a personal conversation.

The proper role of PowerPoint

Many presenters compete with their PowerPoint presentations for the attention of their audience. This is a losing battle as it inevitably ends in splitting the audience's attention and creating distractions that dilute core messaging and ideas.

PowerPoint should complement and reinforce your presentation, not take center stage.

Most commonly, presenters include far too much text on their slides. If your audience is busy reading a slide, they aren't listening to you.

Make your PowerPoint slides scannable. Use no more than 5 words per bullet point and no more than 6 bullets per slide. Better yet, put no text on your slide. Research has found that audiences retain pictures far better than words. If you want them to have the text, give it to them in a handout instead.

We cover both public speaking and PowerPoint topics in our upcoming class, "Developing the Presentation Advantage" on February 22. Seats can be reserved online.

Use this trick to quickly move through open applications on your computer.

Small formula errors can have big consequences. A misplaced comma or the wrong reference can severely warp your results. Excel has several tools to check your formulas for errors.

F2 – See formulas in Excel.

To check the formula of a specific cell, select the cell, then hit F2 on your keyboard. The cells referenced in the formula will be highlighted, and you will be able to edit the formula without a mouse click.

Control + ~ To show all Formulas

Select any cell in your spreadsheet and on your keyboard hit Control and the Tilde ( ~ ) sign at the same time. This will show all of the formulas in the worksheet. Toggle back to the normal view by hitting Control + ~ again.

You can also access this tool in the Formula Auditing group under the Formula tab. Toggle Show Formulas on and off to see the formulas in the workbook.

Trace Precedents and Trace Dependents

In Excel, a precedent is a cell being reference in a formula. If a formula is =C6+7 then C6 is a precedent. A dependent is a cell that depends on the data from another cell for its content, so if the formula above were typed into cell C9, then C9 would be a dependent of C6.

To display precedents, select the cell with the formula and click on the Formula tab. Then choose Trace Precedents in the Formula Auditing group. Arrow will appear showing which cells are referenced in the formula. Toggle this off by clicking on Remove Arrows in the same group.

Select a cell that is referenced in the formulas of other cells. Under the Formulas tab, in the Formula Auditing Group, click on Trace Dependents. Arrows will appear showing the cells that depend on that cell.

Text that cannot fit within the width of a single cell can behave in one of three different ways.

The text can run into the next cell, if the cell to the right is empty.

The text can be cut off if the next cell is occupied.

The text can also wrap, making the cell taller.

Making text wrap in Excel

Select the cell or cells that contain the text that needs to wrap. Then under the Home tab, click Wrap Text in the Alignment group. Your cells with automatically expand to fit the wrapping text.

You can adjust the width and height of the cells to make the text to best fit the cell.

Tips for making data readable.

With one cell wrapping text, the other cells in the chart may become more difficult to read. Changing the cell alignment can help. In the Alignment group under the Home tab, there are 6 alignment options. The top row of options controls the location of the text vertically, and the bottom row controls the text horizontally.

Merge and Center

Another option for making text more readable is using the Merge and Center feature. This combines cells and centers the data in the cell.

Select two or more cells in your worksheet, only one of which contains data. Then right click on the group and choose the Merge and Center button.

What would a PowerPoint presentation be without bullet points? SmartArt lets you dress up your bullet points into more interesting graphics.

How to add SmartArt in PowerPoint

First, type out your bullet points in a separate text box. Then, right click on the text and select Convert to SmartArt. Several options will immediately be offered, but choose More SmartArt Graphics for a full selection.

Some SmartArt graphics are designed for lists of items. Some connote relationship or process. Click on the type of graphic on the right and choose from the variety to the right.

Editing SmartArt in PowerPoint

Once you've chosen the SmartArt form, the SmartArt Tools Contextual Tab will appear. Under the Design tab, you'll be able to change colors or add dimension to the SmartArt. You can also change the type of smart art you are using.

The Format tab controls the color of the text, background, and shape of the SmartArt.