To create the stacked column chart,

we select all the data in our spreadsheet that we wanna chart.

And choose Insert, 2-D Stacked Column.

Looking at the stacked column chart, you can see indeed that the Southeast and

Burnside locations make up the bulk of the membership.

Here's our Burnside location,

yellow, and here's our Southeast location, the light green.

In addition, you can see the relative weakness of the second half of the year

compared to the first half for the entire network.

Here it's generally larger and close to 14,000 or above in many of the months.

And in the second half of the year a lot more below 14,000 and

generally worse than the first half.

Let's switch to a stacked area view.

Go here, Change Chart Type.

Area > Stacked Area > Return.

I think the area is a better way than columns, to show the membership overtime.

It's continuous from period to period and shows that more clearly.

Instead of seeing the nominal values of each data series on the chart.

That is, the values in the data set.

If we select, the 100% stacked area option,

Excel will automatically convert it into an area chart displaying, surprise,

surprise, each data series as a percent of total.

So let's do that again.

Change Chart Type > Area > 100% Stacked Area.

Lets make this a little bit bigger so you can see it more clearly.

You can see the North 2 location is gaining share as a percent of total.

That's right up here at the top.

And Burnside and the North are declining.

Let's rearrange the data series to make that more clear.

So Burnside, I'm gonna go up here and make this 1.

And North, I'm gonna click on that and make that 2.

This 100% Stacked Area chart has relatively subtle changes.

But, that's not always the case.

Let's take a look at the units sold by a coffee shop over the course of a year.

Split out by whether the drinks are hot or cold.

Create a 100% Stacked Area chart.

You can really see the seasonality with 100% of total view of the stacked area.

Of course, in this simple example, you could probably also see the variety and

seasonality with a line chart.

But be aware that in situations where the changes are not so drastic,

a stacked area chart could be a good visualization option.