Eclectic Communications Blog

Visuals are important to a presentation because they allow you to emphasis the main points to your audience both orally and visually. And using PowerPoint as a presentation tool can do that for you; however, misusing the tool can also kill your presentation. Consider these five comments your audience might say if you use PowerPoint as an ineffective presentation tool.

1. I could have just requested a copy of the slides.

You are the presentation – not your PowerPoint slides. Use the slides to support your main points and avoid using them to repeat verbatim what you are saying. Support what you say by including key words or phrases, charts and graphs, tables, illustrations, and pictures in your slides.

2. I came here to listen to a presentation not read one.

Make cue cards for yourself; don’t put them up on the slides. When there is too much text, your audience will stop listening and just read. The focus will not be on you, but rather on the text on your slides. People remember visuals over words.

3. I don’t understand how this relates to the presentation.

Make sure you have a clear objective for your presentation and ensure that each slide says something related to that objective. Take the time to plan your presentation by identifying your main points, planning and researching your information, organizing the content, and preparing an outline. As you are creating your presentation, use your outline to stay focused on your objective. You will then be less likely to have irrelevant information in your PowerPoint presentation.

4. I can’t focus on the slide, it’s just too busy.

Design a standard look for your slides. Create a simple template that contains the colours and design elements you will use. The billboard test is a great way to ensure you’ve created an effective slide. Ask yourself – if this slide were a billboard, could people understand it while they drove by?

5. There is just too much to remember. I can’t retain anything.

Remember that when it comes to creating PowerPoint slides, less is more. Don’t overwhelm your audience with too much information. Focus on 3-5 main points throughout your presentation and your audience will most likely remember what you said. When designing a PowerPoint presentation, follow the 10-20-30 rule – no more than 10 slides, no more than 20 minutes, and no less than 30 size font.

Hello MIT Participants,

Here is the information on the book that I had mentioned in class – Hypnotic Writing: How to Seduce and Persuade Customers with Only Your Words – by Joe Vitale.

I also suggest – The Language of Success – by Tom Sant. This book focuses more on general business writing rather than sales writing.

Good luck with your proposals!
Marie

Continual and continuous can’t be used interchangeably. While some people consistently use continuous, other people consistently use continual. For the most part, it’s because they don’t realize that there is another similar word to use, or they have forgotten that it exists.

Let’s examine the difference:

Continual means to repeat frequently, often in succession.
Continuous means to occur without interruption.

Remember that this difference applies to continually and continuously as well. Here are some examples:

The continual showers during the week delayed the office picnic. (The rain would begin, then end, then begin again…)
The continuous flow of information has been a great help. (The information came all at once without any interruption.)

Here are a few more samples:

His colleague’s continuous finger tapping drove him nuts.
The continual repairs at street level were distracting to the office staff.
The phone rang continually throughout the day.
She cried continuously after hearing she would be laid off.

Keep in mind that if you use the wrong word, you may be giving the wrong message to your reader.

Hello MHCA Participants,

Here are the plain language bylaws the City of Calgary has put together.

And remember, email me any questions you have in the coming weeks as you start writing documents that create impact and show results!

If there’s one saying that will always be true, it’s “quality over quantity”. This saying is very helpful in reminding us that a long sentence leads to a frustrated reader. If the reader even reads the whole thing!

The general guideline for maximum sentence length is two lines typed. This two-line standard applies to a sentence using a size 12 font. So no cheating!

Consider two things if you find a sentence that exceeds two lines:

1. Is it too long  because you have a long title in it – for example, The University of Winnipeg Division of Continuing Education?
2. Is it too long because you are rambling or using too many bulky phrases – for example, I am writing this letter to acknowledge a response to your letter…?

If you have a long title in your sentence, you have a bit of grace. Go ahead and move a bit into line three.

If you are rambling, edit your sentence for bulky phrases. You’ll be surprised how you can shorten the sentence just by removing unnecessary words.

You may also find the overuse of these words in long sentences:

 and, but, so, or, yet, that, which, because

At each one, ask yourself if you can stop the sentence there, or if you can continue to the next one. These words are like road signs, will you stop or roll through to the next one?

Controlling your sentence length can make a huge impact in your documents. Controlled length allows for a clear, concise message. Your reader will be thankful.

Here is a great quote from the Elements of Style (1918) by William Strunk Jr.

“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.”

The semi-colon has a reputation as being a difficult punctuation mark. In fact, it’s one of the easiest punctuation marks to use!

Read these two short sentences: We discussed the business proposal. We decided not to give the group its funding.

It’s quite choppy, eh? To make it less choppy, replace the period with a semi-colon, like this: We discussed the business proposal; we decided not to give the group its funding.

Imagine the period like a stop sign and the semi-colon like a yield sign. Do you want to stop one sentence before beginning the next, or do you want to link the two together? It’s up to you to decide.

Now, you’re probably thinking – this example is still too choppy. Okay, fine. Let’s add the word “however”: We discussed the business proposal; however, we didn’t give the group its funding.

See how there is a semi-colon before “however” and a comma after “however”? Many people will put a comma both before and after the word “however”. Semi-colons can replace a period, commas cannot. Remember, if you can use a period, then you can use a semi-colon.

Here are a few more samples for you:

I didn’t agree with my manager’s position; however, there was nothing I could change.

The recession hit us hard; therefore, we had to lay off some staff.

I’m not concerned; in my opinion, everyone is on track.

A Word of Caution: Although you can now use the semi-colon with confidence, be careful with its overuse. Use the semi-colon only when linking two short sentences that are closely related. If you link two longer sentences, it will decrease the overall readability.

Hello U of M participants!

Here is the quote regarding the use of specific langauge:

“Like it or not: the degree to which you speak in abstractions (fuzzies) is the degree to which you hand over to someone else the power to say what you mean.”  Dr. Robert F. Mager, What Every Manager Should Know About Training

And here are two links for you:

Politics and the English Language (George Orwell, 1946)

Seven Words Not To Use In Plain Language (Literacy Partners of Manitoba)

Have you ever been told that an and replaces the comma? This rule is yet another example of a half-learned rule. It’s not 100% true.

If you’re listing three or more items and the items are easy to separate, you can leave out the comma before the and. However, if the reader may misinterpret your list, in some way, you should insert the comma before the and to ensure all readers will understand the sentence completely.

Here’s an example where using a comma before the and is important for the readers’ understanding.

The CEO willed his fortune to his children, Alice and Henry.

Notice in this sentence, when you leave out the comma before the and, the reader can interpret it in two ways.

1. The CEO could be willing his fortune to his children, who are Alice and Henry. OR

2. The CEO could be willing his fortune to four or more people – to his children, to Alice, and to Henry.

This sentence is a great example of where the comma is necessary before the and to ensure there is no misinterpretation. Here are two ways to solve this clarity issue.

If you want the first interpretation, you can rewrite it as

The CEO willed his fortune to Alice and Henry, his children.

If you want the second interpretation, you can rewrite it as

The CEO willed his fortune to his children, Alice, and Henry.

Hello CWB participants!

I had a great day with you yesterday. As promised, here are the links to various articles related to companies that have decided to ban email use. 

Firm Bans Email at Work – CNN, 2003

Email and Productivity - 4imprint Inc. (2007)

Companies Fight Back Against Avalanche of Email – Maclean’s  (January 30, 2006)

Enjoy!