What is Serif and Sans Serif?

You have probably heard these two terms sometime in your academic career (my guess would be collegiate, but it's just a guess.) So what does it actually mean? Urbanfonts has created this awesome infographic that really lays down the law between serif and sans serif! Take a gander!

tldr: Use Sans Serifs for presentations!

Font Tips for Presentations

This post was written by Tommy Gugino of Double the Trouble: My Life as a Fraternal Twin. For more shenanigans, visit his blog here.

My name is Tommy Gugino and I am a senior communication major with an emphasis in public relations from Las Vegas, Nevada.

So being a PR major, I look at a lot of advertisements and presentations every week with some of the ugliest fonts I have ever seen. If you know me you know that I am actually quite a font snob especially when it comes to presentations. Nothing bothers me more than a presentation with terrible font choices in them.

Here are six tips to consider when you build your next presentation.

1. Have a sharp contrast between the font and your background
2. Don’t use too many fonts in your presentation
3. Use readable fonts
4. Don’t capitalize all your letters
5. AVOID script fonts
6. Use italics sparingly

Sony's Embarassing PowerPoint according to @Gawker

Oh my goodness. This recently released PowerPoint from Sony is a tragedy, a trainwreck, and a perfect example of what NOT to do. Sony, please hire me and let me fix your mistakes.

Talk about too much text, inconsistency, and what the font choices?!

Check out this mess out for yourself.
 
Sony's Embarrassing PowerPoint

How to Create Presentations that Don't Suck according to @Lifehacker

Here's a super useful article on Lifehacker.com written by Melanie Pinola about creating presentations that don't suck. I strongly agree on with problem 1. Too many ideas can really clutter your slide and your audience. Read through the article here

Top 10 Do's for Presentations: Delivery

Welcome back! Here are the top 10 do's.

1. Dress appropriately
Depending on your topic and your audience, you will want to dress appropriately. For example, if you're presenting to your classmates, I highly recommend at least business casual. If you're unsure of the dress code, ask your professor.

2. Note cards
If you are allowed to use note cards, use note cards, not paper. Note cards are more subtle and not as distracting as a flimsy loose paper. The paper will make you look unprepared whereas note cards are used as nice little references.

3. Project
Last blog post, I talked about mumbling and speaking too fast. Here I want to touch upon projection. Use a clear, loud voice. Make sure the people in the back of the room can hear your voice.

4. Leave time for questions
Sometimes your audience may want to know more information about your topic. Leave some time for them to ask their questions. Get them involved!
                                                                  
5. Enunciate
Speak clearly. Don't slur your words or clip the endings of them.

6. Smile
Sounds cheesy, right? But really, show some humanity and spread the goodness of a smile! It may lighten up the mood.

7. Breathe
Don't starve yourself of oxygen because you're scared! Just remember to breathe!

8. Good posture
As mentioned before in the last post, stand up straight and proud. Slouching will give off a bad vibe.

9. Stick to your time limit
I can almost guarantee you that most people despise presenters who go over their time limit.

10. Have fun!
Honestly, have fun with your topic. If you show enthusiasm and are generally having fun, it will rub off on your audience. Good vibes are always welcome and contagious!

What are some other pieces of advice you would recommend to someone for tips on the 'do's' of presentations? Leave a comment below!

Top 10 Don'ts for Presentations: Delivery

It's that time of the year for presentations! Here are some tips in no particular order of things to avoid while speaking.

1. Sitting down
Sitting down undermines your credibility. Take the presentation seriously and show the audience you are being serious by standing up and moving around just a little bit. It also can make the audience feel like they can't trust you if they can't see you.

2. Mumble
It can be scary to speak in a group of people but the entire process will be even more painful if you audience doesn't hear a single word you said because now you've just wasted your time and theirs. Clear your throat and speak up.

3. Monotone
Nothing puts people more to sleep than a dreary, monotonous voice. Show some enthusiasm when you're speaking especially if you're passionate about your topic!

4. Reading off the slides
Your PowerPoint or Prezi or Keynote or whatever medium you choose to use is not the literary tool; it's a visual there to aid you. Speak to the audience, not the projected screen!

5. Lack of eye contact
You are speaking to real, live human beings who want to be connected with what you're saying (unless this is over webcam but that's another blog post.) Avoid staring at the ground or the screen and try to have eye contact with your audience.

6. Leaning on the wall
By leaning on the wall, you might give off the impression that you aren't interested in your own presentation or idea. How can you convince or inform your audience if you seem laid-back and aloof about the situation? Stand up straight and proud!

7. Chewing gum
This can be a huge distraction for your audience especially if you start smacking it while talking. There's also a possibility it will fall out of your mouth mid-sentence. Do yourself a favor and just spit it out before the presentation.

8. Talking too fast
Woah there, slow down. Take a breather and talk at a slower pace so that your audience can digest the information. How fast and how slow? Well it really depends if you're shooting out statistics or fun facts about history. You'll need to gauge the speed yourself or ask a friend when you practice.

9. Pacing
Please don't walk back and forth especially across the screen. It's a huge distraction.

10. Hands in your pockets
Take them out. Having them in your pockets gives off a 'I don't care' attitude. We also trust people more when we can see their hands!

Were you aware that you do some of these things? Don't know if you do? Give a mock presentation to a friend and ask them to watch for these things! Check in the next few days for some tips for the "do's" of presentations. Also, leave a comment if you have thoughts on other things that speakers should avoid to do!

Technical Difficulties in Presentations

 
Let's talk technical difficulties. It happens. Sometimes in the worst way possible and sometimes it's mild. I had the awkward experience of dealing with it this morning in class. It's frustrating when something you've worked hard on doesn't get conveyed properly. Nevertheless, the presentation must go on. When you run into technical difficulties, you may lose your visual aid or certain pictures or your video clips. If this happens, you need to improvise and adapt. Improvisation and adaption is key to a good presentation because:

1. Practice really does make perfect.

By knowing your content and material, you will still be able to convey your information through your mouth instead of visually. It will be easier for you to adapt and improvise if you know your speech inside and out.

2. Presentations are your visual aids, they are not your speech.

Most people have this misconception that presentations can convey by itself what needs to be said. That is wrong because you are the speaker. You are the one the audience will be focusing on. Presentations are the visual aids that help support what you are saying.

Try to avoid hardware malfunctions by making sure what you needed is present such as

• the updated software to present on the device that is being used (Prezi, Keynote, PowerPoint)
• e-mailing yourself your presentation or keeping it on Google Drive, the iCloud, Dropbox or any type of storage mediums
• bringing a copy on a USB  

Remember to practice, adapt, and improvise!