Effective Use of Visual Aids
Although the choice of visual aids is important, how those aids are used is perhaps even more important. After all, a speaker can have phenomenal visual aids, but if they are not displayed properly, discussed clearly and effectively, and integrated smoothly into the presentation, they will be of little or no value.
In order to get the maximum impact with visual aids:
· Talk to the audience, not to the computer-based slideshow (such as a PowerPoint presentation), the flipchart, or the whiteboard.
· Avoid passing objects, photographs, handouts, etc. around among audience members (It takes their attention off what is being said).
· When displaying an object, place it where everyone can see it; and display it only when discussing it.
· Clearly and concisely explain the information contained on any visual aid.
· Illustrate factors that are hard to visualize.
· Do not impress your audience with overly detailed tables or graphs.
· Do not make more than one main point.
· Practice using visual aids in advance of the actual presentation. In fact, speakers should rehearse the entire presentation, from start to finish, so they will be able to integrate visual aids smoothly, effortlessly, and professionally.
Indeed, a picture is worth a thousand words, which is why it is advantageous for speakers to learn not only how to create effective visual aids but also how to use them expertly during the course of a presentation. The following phrases will help you to introduce and comment on visuals.
Ø Introduction and Explanation:
“Take a look at this...”
“Let’s have a look at this...”
“I’d like you to look at this...”
“The ... represents... And the ... represents…”
Ø Highlights and Comments:
“I’d like us to look at... in more detail. As you can see, ...”
“I’d also like to draw your attention to ...”
“If you look at it more closely, you’ll notice ....”
Ø Interpretation:
“I’m sure the implications of this/ the conclusions to be drawn from this are clear to all of us. ...”
Practice Assignments
1. Analyse your prepared visuals answering the following questions:
•Does the visual have a title?
•Can the audience see all the parts of the visual?
•Is it neat?
•Are all important parts labelled?
•Is it easy to understand?
•Does it have only the information that I plan to discuss?
•It has little written information, doesn’t it?
2. Below are 4 speech topics, a brief description of each, and a group of statistics or other content that could be communicated with the help of a visual aid.
Choose 2 topics and design 4 visual aids (two for each topic).
a) A demonstration speech showing the class how to make a simple recipe called ‘peanut butter balls’.
1/2 cup of peanut butter
3 1/2 table spoonful of powdered dry milk
1 tea spoonful of honey
Combine all ingredients. Roll into balls. Refrigerate the balls. Optional additions: raisins, nuts, coconut, brown sugar, sunflower seeds.
b) A speech about how third party candidates have fared in USA presidential elections. Note the following statistics.
Candidate Highest Rating in Polls Percentage of Popular Vote
1948 Henry Wallace 2% 2.4%
1968 George Wallace 20% 13.5%
1980 John Anderson 13% 6.6%
1992 Ross Perot 39% 19.0%
c) A speech on the importance of nonverbal communication. During a discussion of how we communicate emotion nonverbally, the speaker wants to present the figures that about 55 percent of emotion is communicated facially, about 38 percent is communicated vocally, and only about 7 percent is communicated verbally.
d) A speech on career counselling. During the speech, statistics are quoted from Parents magazine, in which a woman undergoing career counselling is asked to lay out her ideal plan of time allotment. She hopes to spend 35 percent of her time at a part-time job, 10 percent doing housework, 20 percent in activities with her children, 12 percent cooking, 7 percent socializing, 6 percent watching TV, and 10 percent reading and working on hobbies.
3. Define the type, make some changes (if necessary), and comment on the following visuals.
