Volume 4, Issue 5
October 2009
In this issue:
- PowerPoint presentations: How much is too much?
- Did you know? Halloween colors
- Follow TSW on Twitter!
- Perfect your presentation!
- Spotlight on...H3 Network Media
Let us take care of your words.
 POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS:
HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?
The majority of presentations now are given using PowerPoint. While PowerPoint is a nifty visual aid for presentations, we've all had times where we suffered through a presentation with seemingly never-ending slides.
A common question is how many slides there should be in a PowerPoint presentation. Guy Kawaski of Alltop.com uses what he calls the 10/20/30 rule: A presentation should have 10 slides, last no longer than 20 minutes, and use fonts no smaller than 30-point sizes.
Others say that if your presentation has a lot of graphics, then you might get away with more slides. If your presentation has a lot of text, then less is more. Even so, the real answer is that the number of slides depends on several factors: audience, contents, points you want to make, and time. Lisa B. Marshall of The Public Speaker website says, in general, you should talk for at least 30 seconds per slide. If you spend less than 30 seconds, then combine the slide with another slide.
Lindsay at The Gold Mine says, "There is no rule about number. The rule is about message. If you can explain yourself using three slides, use three slides. If it takes 67 slides to get your point across, use them."
The next issue of the TSW e-newsletter will discuss things to consider when giving a PowerPoint presentation to a signing audience.
Sources:
DID YOU KNOW? HALLOWEEN COLORS
 People tend to immediately associate the colors orange and black with a very popular holiday in October: Halloween. These two colors have specific meanings for the holiday. Orange represents the fall harvest, including pumpkins, gourds, and squashes, while black represents the darkness of upcoming cold winters.
Back in the Celtic period, it was believed that orange represented strength, endurance and courage, and black represented death.
Source: www.allaboutpopularissues.org/origin-of-halloween.htm
FOLLOW TSW ON TWITTER! 
To read fun tidbits, learn new things and read interesting quotes, follow TSW on Twitter. Go to www.twitter.com/tswriting and click on "follow."
ASK TSW!
A reader asks: What's the difference between "outraged" and "enraged"?
Both, at least from a dictionary perspective, mean very similar things, and are often listed as synonyms. However, they are used for different purposes.
According to Merriam-Webster, outraged is to violate the standards or principles of, or to arouse anger or resentment, usually by some grave offense. Enraged is to become mad, or as dictionary.com states, to make extremely angry or put into a rage.
Generally, outraged is usually a mental reaction, where someone is shocked or surprised in a negative manner. Enraged tends to mean a physical, extreme reaction of anger.
I was outraged by my cousin's flippant attitude towards the election.
I was enraged by how Lee got only one year in prison for the murder.
Have a question about American Sign Language or English? Send your question to news@tswriting.com. We'll try to answer your question in an upcoming issue. All names will be kept anonymous.
PERFECT YOUR PRESENTATION!
Think maybe your PowerPoint presentation is too boring, has too much (or too little) information, or isn't the best design? Or maybe you need some help or guidance in your speech or presentation, or you have to submit a written version of your presentation for the voice interpreters.
Let TSW take care of that for you! We can create or perfect your presentation to make it one that nobody will forget. Contact info@tswriting.com today, and let us take care of your words.
SPOTLIGHT ON...HANNAH REISMAN
TSW profiles one of its clients in each issue. This month, we talk with Hannah Reisman of H3 Network Media.
 Hannah Reisman has worked as a substitute teacher, restaurant supervisor, and painter, among other things, but today she is a business owner – all because of plans that didn't quite go the way they were supposed to.
"I was originally supposed to help a different media company for the First World Deaf Ice Hockey and Curling Championships in Winnipeg, Canada, last March," Reisman says. "That company was from another country, and plans fell apart as a result of the geographical distance. The organizers asked if I could handle the filming on my own. I declined initially because it wasn't my field of expertise."
Reisman discussed the filming opportunity with her business partners, Slava Klimov and Jason Theriault. Klimov did some research and said they could probably do the job. Reisman, not entirely convinced yet, decided to take a risk and purchased the necessary equipment, and with three others, hastily formed H3 Network Media. "We were biting our nails like crazy, but everything worked out beautifully, and the rest is history," she laughs.
With over 11,000 people visiting H3's website to view live footage and videos on demand of the championships, Reisman's confidence in H3's future was buoyed. The company's next project was the Deaflympics in Taipei, Taiwan, last September. After raising the needed sponsorships and support, Reisman and her crew of eight (pictured above; Reisman is at far left in the front row) flew to Taipei. "The Deaflympics was phenomenal. I was thrilled we were one of the major sites that people visited to watch the opening and closing ceremonies, which we filmed in partnership with Focus-5," she says. H3's hard work paid off, with over 25,000 visitors to the website and a million hits during the Deaflympics.
Reisman, who is Deaf, was born and raised in Toronto, where she still lives today. Klimov, also Deaf, is a Russian native who worked at Gallaudet University's television department in Washington, D.C., for several years before relocating to Toronto.
H3 works with T.S. Writing Services for business communications, ranging from letters to proposals. Reisman says, "I have so many things to do and some days I get overwhelmed with what I have to do. So I just e-mail T.S. Writing and have its staff write the documents I need done. It's wonderful to have things I need written in the way I visualize things and in my style. I've gotten things accomplished with H3 because of the words that T.S. Writing has written for us."
H3 Network Media has exciting plans, including providing videos for everything from documentaries to athletic events, and the formation of a nonprofit agency that focuses on Internet-based visual media opportunities for deaf people. "My passion is ensuring that deaf and hearing people around the world are exposed to all the cultural, athletic, historical and educational aspects of the deaf community," Reisman says. "Knowledge is power, and visual media is the best way to share that knowledge nowadays. Providing videos online is how we can give deaf people, and hearing people as well, the knowledge that deaf people can be athletes, teachers, business owners, doctors, and anything else they want to be."
The H3 Network Media website is at www.h3networkmedia.com.
ABOUT TSW
T.S. Writing Services, LLC, is a Deaf-owned company that provides writing, editing, design and translation services in American Sign Language and English. For more information, visit www.tswriting.com.
If you have suggestions or questions about this e-newsletter, contact news@tswriting.com.
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