criteria for effective presentation

The Visual Communication Guy

Learn Visually. Communicate Powerfully.

• About The VCG
• Contact Curtis
• Five Paragraph Essay
• IMRaD (Science)
• Indirect Method (Bad News)
• Inverted Pyramid (News)
• Martini Glass
• Narrative Format
• Rogerian Method
• Toulmin Method
• Apostrophes
• Exclamation Marks (Points)
• Parentheses
• Periods (Full Stops)
• Question Marks
• Quotation Marks
• Plain Language
• APPEALS: ETHOS, PATHOS, LOGOS
• CLUSTER ANALYSIS
• FANTASY-THEME
• GENERIC CRITICISM
• IDEOLOGICAL CRITICISM
• NEO-ARISTOTELIAN
• O.P.T.I.C. (VISUAL ANALSYIS)
• S.O.A.P.S.T.O.N.E. (WRITTEN ANALYSIS)
• S.P.A.C.E.C.A.T. (RHETORICAL ANALYSIS)
• BRANCHES OF ORATORY
• FIGURES OF SPEECH
• FIVE CANONS
• LOGICAL FALLACIES
• Information Design Rules
• Arrangement
• Organization
• Negative Space
• Iconography
• Photography
• Which Chart Should I Use?
• “P” is for PREPARE
• "O" is for OPEN
• "W" is for WEAVE
• “E” is for ENGAGE
• PRESENTATION EVALUTION RUBRIC
• POWERPOINT DESIGN
• ADVENTURE APPEAL
• BRAND APPEAL
• ENDORSEMENT APPEAL
• HUMOR APPEAL
• LESS-THAN-PERFECT APPEAL
• MASCULINE & FEMININE APPEAL
• MUSIC APPEAL
• PERSONAL/EMOTIONAL APPEAL
• PLAIN APPEAL
• PLAY-ON-WORDS APPEAL
• RATIONAL APPEAL
• ROMANCE APPEAL
• SCARCITY APPEAL
• SNOB APPEAL
• SOCIAL APPEAL
• STATISTICS APPEAL
• YOUTH APPEAL
• The Six Types of Résumés You Should Know About
• Why Designing Your Résumé Matters
• The Anatomy of a Really Good Résumé: A Good Résumé Example
• What a Bad Résumé Says When It Speaks
• How to Write an Amazing Cover Letter: Five Easy Steps to Get You an Interview
• Make Your Boring Documents Look Professional in 5 Easy Steps
• Business Letters
• CONSUMER PROFILES
• ETHNOGRAPHY RESEARCH
• FOCUS GROUPS
• OBSERVATIONS
• SURVEYS & QUESTIONNAIRES
• S.W.O.T. ANALYSES
• USABILITY TESTS
• CITING SOURCES: MLA FORMAT
• MLA FORMAT: WORKS CITED PAGE
• MLA FORMAT: IN-TEXT CITATIONS
• MLA FORMAT: BOOKS & PAMPHLETS
• MLA FORMAT: WEBSITES AND ONLINE SOURCES
• MLA FORMAT: PERIODICALS
• MLA FORMAT: OTHER MEDIA SOURCES
• Course Syllabi
• Checklists and Peer Reviews (Downloads)
• Communication
• Poster Prints
• Poster Downloads
• Handout & Worksheet Downloads
• QuickGuide Downloads
• Downloads License Agreements

Choose Your Topic. Become a Communication Ninja.

Hi, I'm Curtis!

Just interrupting your scroll to say hi—and to thank you for visiting my website! In case you’re curious: I'm a strategic communication professor, freelance designer, corporate consultant, public speaker, author, moonlighting blogger, father of four, a really bad golfer, and lifelong optimist. As for this site? Always a work in progress, but I’m constantly adding communication and design resources for students, teachers, and business professionals. (I also occasionally throw in my thoughts about work, life, and the world.) Hopefully you'll be able to find something useful here.

If you want to know more about me or this website—or if you’re looking to hire me for your next webinar, conference, training, or event—please check out my About page here ↓

Curtis’ Thoughts and Insights from the VCG Blog

How to Avoid the Twelve Types of Plagiarism

On its surface, plagiarism seems pretty straight forward—if you copy someone else’s work and claim it as your own, you’ve plagiarized. At it’s most basic definition, that definitely true. But plagiarism is actually a little more complicated than that. Truth is, if you break it down, there are at least

OPTIC STRATEGY FOR VISUAL ANALYSIS

The OPTIC Strategy for Visual Analysis is a simple method of rhetorical criticism designed to help with the process of analyzing visuals. OPTIC is an acronym, standing for By following the five steps of the OPTIC strategy, you can take nearly any visual artifact (like a poster, painting, advertisement, video

Mother’s, Mothers’, or Mothers: Where Does the Apostrophe Go on “Mother’s Day”!?

With Mom’s big day right around the corner, I know what you’re thinking: you want to impress that amazing woman in your life with impeccable, flawless, and beautiful punctuation. Problem is, that pesky apostrophe is…confusing. So, what should you do? Where should you put the apostrophe? You basically have three

How the Date of Easter Is Determined Each Year

As we enter spring and approach one of the most important holidays in Christianity—Easter—it’s time to dig through your calendar to ensure you have the right date circled. After all, Easter has probably one of the most unique ways of determining its date of any religious holiday and it’s not

What Is Rhetoric?

Rhetoric is, as Aristotle once put it, the “faculty of observing, in any given case, the available means of persuasion.” What does that mean exactly? Every time we communicate, we have options for how to assemble a message. We can use words, sounds, facial expressions, colors, icons, symbols or any

How to Use Semicolons

Semicolons are often seen as a strange and mysterious punctuation mark; they’re part period and part comma. So why use them? They’re useful to break up the stylistic approach to sentence structure, allowing writers to combine two related thoughts, often removing a word or two in the process. They’re also

How to Use Quotation Marks

Quotation marks are most commonly used to signify direct quotes. However, they also have a unique quality in that they can communicate sarcasm or snarkiness. They can also draw attention to words being described as words and they distinguish a short media piece from its larger container. Good writers need

How to Use Question Marks

Question marks are easily recognized has the icon that turns a statement into a question. You may be interested to know, however, that while question marks typically fall at the end of a sentence, they can sometimes be used mid-setence. Terms You Need to Know to Use Question Marks QUESTIONA

How to Use Periods (Punctuation)

Periods (also known as “full stops” or “full points”) are probably the most recognizable and widely used punctuation mark. Their primary and most common purpose is to end a sentence. But periods can (and should!) be used for a variety of other purposes as well, including creating acronyms and abbreviations.

How to Use Parentheses

Parentheses are valuable writing tools; they allow writers to insert added detail within a sentence, clarify a writer’s thinking, or include citations to avoid plagiarism. It’s important to know how to use parentheses—especially for citation purposes!—but you won’t want to overuse parentheses for the purposes of inserting added detail. Be

Tips, News, and Ideas from our VCG Contributors

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Can Victims Claim Punitive Damages in All Personal Injury Cases?

Louisiana-Specific Laws New Orleans Accident Victims Should Know About

Truck Accident Claims: Ways Victims Can Be Short-Changed

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