Excel Skills for Insurance Professionals

Welcome! In this lecture we'll discuss the main topics students will learn about during this course and I'll share a bit of my background from the insurance industry.

In this lecture we're going to start at the very beginning and discuss what you'll see when you first open up an Excel workbook.

Throughout this course, we'll be using the same sample data for most of the examples. In this lecture we'll quickly discuss an overview of this sample data.

When working in Excel, you'll find you can complete tasks twice as fast if you don't have to reach for your mouse. In this lecture we're going to go over important keystrokes that keep you from needing your mouse and will save you plenty of time.

Formulas will be the back bone of your Excel skill set. In this lecture we're going to start by learning a couple basic formulas: sum and average.

Test your knowledge of keystrokes and simple formulas.

In this lecture we're going to discuss how to create an if statement. This formula is very powerful, especially when combined with other formulas.

In this lecture we're going to discuss how to create a vlookup or hlookup. Lookups are an absolutely necessary skill to have and will be used frequently to modify data in Excel.

In this lecture we're going to discuss how to combine if statements and lookups into one formula. The method for combining formulas learned in this lecture can be used to combine many other formulas, as well.

Once you start using formulas frequently in Excel, you're bound to get an error every now and then. In this lecture we'll go over some tips for understanding the errors you may see.

Test your knowledge of If Statements and Vlookups

Pivot Tables are the most powerful tool in Excel. In this lecture we'll go over an introduction to Pivot Tables and how to create them.

Now that we've discussed how to create a Pivot Table, we're going to review the different sections of the Pivot Table and how to navigate them.

Once you start using Pivot Tables frequently, it's likely you'll need to share your findings with your colleagues. In this lecture we'll discuss how to best format your Pivot Tables for exactly that.

Calculated fields are a more advanced skill that will strengthen your analytical capabilities in Pivot Tables. In this lecture we're going to discuss how to create calculated fields.

Test your knowledge of creating, navigating, and formatting Pivot Tables.

Graphs will be your main tool for communicating and presenting the findings from your analyses. In this lecture we're going to discuss how to create graphs.

In this lecture we're going to review the different types of graphs available in Excel and which ones will be most helpful and frequently used.

Once you have created a graph, it's important to know how to select and modify the data in your graph. In this lecture we'll discuss how to add new data into your graph and make changes to the data that is already present.

In this lecture we're going to review some of the many different options you'll have when formatting your graph.

Test your knowledge of creating and formatting graphs

Once you've mastered the technical skills from earlier in the course, the next step is to understand how to format exhibits that will be well-received by your audience. In this lecture we're going to discuss how to use the different formatting options to your advantage when creating exhibits.

In this lecture we're going to discuss how you can use conditional formatting to keep your audience from being overwhelmed by too many numbers.

In this lecture we're going to discuss the importance of understanding where you want your audience to focus and not distracting from your point.

Test your knowledge of creating and formatting exhibits for presentations