节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-06-14
难易度:High
关键字:enhance, diminish, snappy, disorganize, font, clip art, QR code [Quick
Response code]
OK. I hope you all had a great break.
Welcome back.
A business card is much more than a piece of paper with your contact
information.
It's an extension of who you are.
That's why it pays to take a moment and think through your card's design before
you send it to the printer.
Let's look at a third way to make your business card memorable - in the right
way - make it snappy, on line 17.
(Music).
The Do's and Don'ts of Business Cards.
3. Make it snappy.
Resist cluttering your card.
Your phone number and email address have remained the most important information
on your business card for 20 years.
Overcommunicating on your card makes you look needy.
A QR code on your card could make the connection to your website or marketing
page.
Cheap or free options can be downloaded easily.
However, be sure you test it with many different smartphones before printing it.
4. Don't be sloppy.
Check for misspellings, and then check again.
Are all necessary details there?
Is your card disorganized, or can information be easily found?
Remember - it's all in the design!
(Music).
All right.
So if you are able to design your own business cards or if you own a company
that designs their own business cards,
then these are some tips for you to make your cards more memorable.
The first, of course, dress it up.
Make your card look pretty.
The second tip: Do not use clip art.
Clip art is not original.
And it's usually a little bit ugly.
That's right.
Now tip number three is to make it snappy.
All right. Now the word "snappy" here means that it's something that is
memorable,
something that is visually pleasing, something that people will want to look at.
That's right.
Snappy is defined as having an immediate effect and catching someone's
attention.
So if you are dressed snappy, usually we refer to a man being dressed snappy.
You would look at him as he walked by because he captures your attention the
minute you see him.
And that's what you want your card to do.
You want your card to stand out and capture people's attention so they'd read
your information on your card.
OK. I actually think this is one of the better tips because this makes a good
first impression, so.
Let's learn how to make your card snappy.
OK. The first clue is to resist cluttering your card.
Now we have learned that "clutter" is all the things that lay around, the
useless, unneeded small things.
So don't clutter it.
Yeah. Clutter can be distracting.
And if you want people to look at your card and remember it, if there is
distracting pictures or words on your card that are unnecessary, resist it.
Get rid of it.
That's right. You don't need to put your favorite quote on your card.
Save that for personal interaction.
Your phone number and email address have remained the most important information
on your business card for 20 years.
So keep that simple.
Use your phone number and your email address.
That should be enough.
Right. Don't worry about putting too much information on your card.
Just put what is necessary.
Don't... don't put too much.
That's right.
Overcommunicating on your card makes you look needy.
If you gave way too much information makes it look like you are desperate for
them to use your business.
So give them enough to contact you.
And make sure they can find him, but not enough to make it look desperate.
That's right. OK.
Now this next section is to use a QR code.
Now a "QR code" is something that we have started using for our Studio Classroom
business cards.
And it looks like a small picture with black and white squares on it.
And what does the Q and R stand for, Kaylah?
Well, a "QR" stands for a quick response.
And a quick response code, as you said, has those small squares.
And if you use your phone or your iPad to look at it, it shows you more
information.
Right. And we see it can make the connection to your website or marketing page
easier.
And so you just hold your phone up to a QR code, it takes a picture, and then
takes you straight to the website.
Very easy.
That's right.
This could make it very easy to have people go to your website or to go to your
marking pages.
Cheap or free options can be downloaded easily.
So using a QR code can be very nice.
However...
That's right.
Be sure to test it with many different smartphones before printing it.
Sometimes there can be problems, and the phone will not be able to read your QR
code.
And that can be very embarrassing if you're meeting with a fellow businessman.
That's right.
You want to make sure that it works on all the different kinds of phones, not
just the one that you are using yourself.
Well, our fourth and final tip is don't be sloppy.
All right. Now if you're sloppy, that means you are messy, maybe you're a little
bit lazy.
So don't be sloppy.
That's right.
Now in life we should not be sloppy.
If you are running a sloppy business, that means you're not doing it very well.
But you want people to think your business is strong; it's... it's independent.
It's well-done.
It's together.
And making a sloppy business card gives a terrible impression.
It shows you are not organized.
And so in order to avoid being sloppy on your business card, you should check
for misspellings.
The word "misspellings" means that words are not spelled correctly.
And you should then check again.
That's right. Always check at least twice.
Check four or five times to make sure everything is spelled correctly.
Are all necessary details there?
You don't want to miss anything important.
OK. Is your card disorganized, or can information be easily found?
The word "disorganized" means to not be in order, not organized.
Remember - it's all in the design!
That's right. It is all in the design.
Be snappy, be together, be clean in the design and make it look nice.
Well, "remember - it's all in the design" is our Grammar of the Go sentence.
So let's visit Liz, and then watch today's skit.
Hi, friends.
Welcome to Grammar on the Go.
My name is Liz.
We're talking about the do's and don'ts of business cards.
And the writer concludes with this sentence:
Remember - it's all in the design!
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
And today we're looking at the phrase, it's all in the [something].
It's an expression that means everything depends on something.
In the case of today's sentence, the writer is saying that making a good or bad
impression depends completely on the design of the business card.
We use this phrase, it's all in the [something], when we want to tell people
about how something is so important that it deserves great attention.
For example, many people would say that to play badminton well, one would need
to rely on their wrist. So we can say:
When playing badminton, it's all in the wrist.
Or, when it comes to making bread,
most people would find whole wheat bread more difficult to make than white bread
simply because whole wheat dough requires more pushing or kneading.
So we can say: When it comes to making whole wheat bread, it's all in the
kneading.
So give this phrase a try.
Think of an activity or something that requires attention to a certain detail.
It's all in that certain detail.
And that's all the time we have for today.
This is Liz with Grammar on the Go signing off.
Bye-bye.
Hey.
What does your business card say about you?
My business card?
Yes. Your business card makes a first and last impression on someone.
Yeah. That's right.
Yes. So it should make you memorable - in the right way.
My business cards are very memorable.
Let me give you some of the do's and don'ts of business cards.
Good idea.
Then I'll know if I follow the tricks of the trade.
Right. First, did you dress up your card?
Your image is important.
And your business card should enhance your reputation.
So far so good.
The paper, the fonts and the colors are perfect for my identity.
Great. Second, never use clip art.
It looks cheap and diminishes the image of your company.
I didn't make that mistake.
Clip art ruins business cards.
Excellent! Third, make your cards snappy.
Don't overcommunicate on your card.
Never. I only put the most important information on my cards.
Good for you.
And the last trick, number four is don't be sloppy.
Check for misspelled words and don't have a disorganized card.
Everything on my business card is correct and organized.
Good. Remember - it's all about the design.
And I followed all your tips.
Here! Have one of my cards.
Wow! These cards are huge.
Yes. I want to make a big impression.
(Background Noise).
(Music).
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.
(Chinese).
And we're running out of time.
I'll see you next time. Bye-bye.
OK. To recap our lesson, our two do's for creating a business card, things that
are memorable are dress it up and make it snappy.
In other words, aim for something stylish, but you still want to keep it simple.
The two don'ts include don't use clip art and don't be sloppy.
Friends, use our Rapid Review GEP Test on page 56 as a way to prepare for the
real GEPT,
or as a great way to review the month's magazine content and chart your
listening and reading comprehension.
As always, I and everyone else here at Studio Classroom wish you a fantasticday.