Are you fed up spending far too much time – that you really do not have – creating and tweaking charts and slides for your latest PowerPoint presentation?

Think-cell is your answer.

In this blog, we’ll explain why. We’ll also tell you about our new think-cell learning track, which you can use to start employing think-cell at work today! Skip to learn more about the track here (or sign up for it here).

But first…

What is think-cell?

Think-cell is a powerful add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint created by a Berlin-based software company.

It’s designed to revolutionise the way you both create and edit charts and visuals in PowerPoint. It streamlines and automates much of the often tedious design process, letting you focus on your message and the story you want to tell.

How does think-cell work?

Once you’ve installed the add-in, you can use think-cell directly in PowerPoint.

Its time-saving features include:

  • professional, customisable styles and templates (that are b-e-a-utiful!)
  • automatic layout and positioning (even when you make changes)
  • simplified chart creation and editing (with dozens of visual annotations)
  • data-linking (e.g., to excel spreadsheets) and automatic data updates

The animation below demonstrates how easy it is to add and edit a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Ratearrow).

Why should you use think-cell?

If our description isn’t enough to convince you, maybe these three reasons will:

1. think-cell will save you lots of time (and there’s research to prove it)

Think-cell partnered with a top-tier strategy consulting firm to research the extent to which think-cell makes Powerpoint slide creation and alteration more efficient.

They found that the total working time it took a team to create a set of slides with two rounds of alterations was reduced by over seven hours when the professionals used PowerPoint with think-cell, compared to PowerPoint with templates and macros.

This was true for all chart types used, including column, waterfall and pie charts.

That’s a lot of time back to focus on other tasks!

2. you'll be in good company

Think-cell has over one million users. These include professionals at many of the top management consulting firms, blue chip companies and business schools across the world.

Convincing and engaging presentations are their bread and butter, so think-cell really must be good! Why not join them?

And if that doesn’t seal the deal for you - we use think-cell here at 5miles too! ?

3. the software is getting better and better

Think-cell continually release new software updates, focusing on things like:

  • new charts, graphs and customisation options
  • new product features (including tools, connectivity options and more)
  • efficiency savings and usability
  • speed and stability improvements

This means your slides will look even better, and you’ll save even more time.

Interested?

Why learn about think-cell with 5miles?

The way that you will learn with us is what sets us apart from other learning providers. This is done to our bite-size, learning by doing approach.  

'Learning by doing'

All of our courses follow this approach.

It means that once you sign up to a learning track, you’ll receive regular practical challenges to solve.

The challenges are to solve problems that you will come across in real-life business cases.

Once you’ve completed the challenges – with the help of detailed explanations available when you need them – you can then take what you’ve learned and use it in your professional life immediately.

Bite-size learning

Our challenges don’t take long to complete - often just FIVE minutes!

You can also customise your learning schedule – choosing when you receive your challenge reminders, how often and more – meaning it really couldn’t be easier to learn!

You can find out more about our approach here.

So, if you want to start using think-cell immediately, our new think-cell learning track is the one for you!

What's included in our new think-cell learning track?

The challenges on our think-cell track include:

  • creating and customising both simple and advanced charts
  • linking think-cell charts to excel worksheets
  • exploring how to save time with think-cell advanced features and shortcuts
  • learning data transposing and flipping techniques
  • applying best practice chart principles and visual techniques (including Zalazny’s ‘Say It With Charts’ principles)

No prior think-cell knowledge is required to start the track. You’ll just need a basic understanding and knowledge of the PowerPoint environment, and think-cell itself.

Interested in starting the think-cell teaser track?

  • If you already have a 5miles account, you can begin learning right away by clicking here.
  • If you're new to 5miles, sign up here to get started on your learning journey!

Looking for other ways to improve your PowerPoint skills? Check out our beginner, intermediate and advanced PowerPoint courses here.