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There are hundreds of thousands of font styles out there in the world, and yet the mainstays in English and Latin-based languages typically boil down to just three: Times New Roman, Arial, and Helvetica. They are everywhere, whether we like it or not: from the papers we wrote in high school to the books we read to instruction manuals to advertisements to journals and newspapers.

It’s the fine print page we always skip past as we flip to the first page of our novel. Unassuming. Utterly forgettable. And yet, there’s a lot you can learn from all that tiny text. For instance, do you love that book cover? You can find out who designed it. Want to know what font the book is using? You know where to look. Let’s explore the anatomy of a typical copyright page so you know what all of that fine print is telling you about your book.

Last month, Merriam-Webster announced that 530 new words have been added to the dictionary. Among them are new meanings of existing words, such as “they” as a nonbinary pronoun, “free solo” (as a climber, this is particularly exciting to me), “Bechdel Test,” and “dad joke.” How, exactly, are these new words added?

Data can drive your presentation, or derail it. Merging a lot of data and analytics with your message can be a challenge, because telling the story of data isn’t just about slapping a graph into a slide deck. Data doesn’t speak for itself. That’s where storytelling and presentation design come in.

We have never seen a workforce this diverse in age, and that presents a challenge for trainers. How do you craft training that speaks to the different mindsets and learning preferences of such a diverse workforce? Because the answer isn’t a one-size-fits-all.

So you know you want to incorporate virtual reality into your training. Everybody wants to bring in the new kid and have virtual reality (VR) on their team, because the tech is innovative, and memorable.

If no one reads anymore, then why are presenters still overloading their PowerPoint presentations with bullets? We are visual creatures. Our brains process images 60,000 times faster than text alone. As meeting planners and organizers, you’ve put on enough events and presentations to recognize the importance and impact of a minimalistic approach to text and thoughtful visuals.

How did your last presentation go? Was it fine? Just fine? You’re fairly sure you got your message across, but maybe you’re not totally sure. It could have been better. Let’s not settle for “fine.” Presentations are powerful messaging opportunities, and you only get one shot at this at whatever event or training opportunity you’re presenting at.