Archive for June, 2010

Monday, June 21st, 2010

A complementary color scheme uses colors that are opposites on tt color wheel, such as red and green. Complementary color schemes suggest tension and opposition among elements in a speech. Because they heighten the sense of drama, they may enliven informative speaking and encourage change in persuasive speaking.
The colors you use for text should always stand out from the background of your presentation aid. With poster board, it is best to use a white or cream- colored board and strong primary colors such as red, blue, and green, for contrast. For slides or projections, a light background can create glare. Therefore. you might want to use a strong primary color for the background and have the text or other graphic elements printed in white. Color contrast is especially important for computer-generated slides and transparencies, because the colors may wash out and appear less distinct when projected than they & when seen on a monitor. Colors like pink, light blue, and pale yellow may nx be strong enough for good graphic emphasis in any type of presentation aid.

Friday, June 18th, 2010

It is certainly true that we don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. As the impression we make on the Internet is almost always with the written word, is it unfortunate that there is so much poor writing bouncing around in cyberspace. The following tips are intended to help you make a better first impression.

Speaking of first impressions, I don’t want to present myself as “the Final Authority”. Dave Barry readers know that would be “Mr. Language Person”. I’m just a guy who’s been writing marketing and training materials for a couple of decades and I’ve picked up a few things. If they are of value to you, I’m glad I could help.

Know your audience. Who are you trying to reach and what is the best approach to accomplish your goal? Should you be informal, strictly business or something else?

Plan what you want to say before you type the first word. Make a few notes. You will stay on message better and present a more readable piece.

No matter how extensive your vocabulary, resist the impulse to dazzle your readers. You may impress some but you’ll lose many more. Common, everyday words work just fine - that’s how they became common.

Avoid jargon whenever possible. Yes, almost every undertaking has its own language, just write at the level most appropriate for the vast majority of your readers. If in doubt, see 3. above.

Syntax (sentence structure) matters. When I hear something like, “Me ‘n’ John went to…” it’s like fingernails down the chalkboard! People who speak that way probably write the same way, I figure. If your word processor has a grammar checker, use it - the spell checker won’t help in this kind of situation.
The other person always comes first, so it is “John and I went to…”. The trick for determining whether to use I or me is to drop the other person and say it. I doubt you’d say “Me went to…”. Right?

Short sentences are more powerful than long ones. They are easier to read and hold the reader better. It might just be two words: Janet smiled. Depending on what preceded it, those two little words could be very powerful indeed. Think how important this sentence can be: I do.

If you’re writing ads and you’d like them to stand out, avoid using the same approach “everyone else” is using. Look at how many ads use some variation of “Make $16 Million Before Lunch!!!!!!!!!” and then do something else for yours. Nobody really buys that stuff anyway, do they? Use your imagination.

Some words simply cannot be modified, so don’t. Among these,for example, are unique and pregnant. Nothing can be “very unique” because unique means something of which there is only one. And a woman is either pregnant or she isn’t. She cannot be “somewhat pregnant”.

Punctuation is critically important. If you don’t think so, study the following sentence. It can be punctuated to create opposite meanings: Woman without her man is nothing.
I think the most grossly overused punctuation mark is the exclamation point! There is a school of semi-thought that seems to have concluded that a thing is more important, or exciting, or urgent if multiple exclamation points are used, as in: Buy NOW!!!!!! Actually, it just means the writer doesn’t know much about punctuation.

Use comparative suffixes (-er, -ier, -est) rather than “more”. The weather is getting cooler, not “more cool”. She is happier, not “more happy”.

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

To prepare hand-made charts, graphs, or other poster and flip-chart aids, begin with a rough draft that allows you to see how your aid will look when It is finished. If you will be using poster board, prepare your draft on cheaper paper of the same size. With a light pencil, mark off the margins to fraction your aid. Divide your planning sheet into four equal sections to help you balance the placement of material. Use a wide-tipped felt-tip marker to sketch in your design and words. Now step back to view your presentation aid from about the same distance as the back row of your audience. Will your most distant listeners be able to read the words without straining? Is everything spelled correctly? Is your eye drawn immediately to the most important elements in the poster? Have you positioned your material so that it will be most effective? Is the poster balanced, or does it look lopsided? Once you are satisfied with your rough draft of the aid, construct the final product using stick-on letters and numbers.