Regardless of the setting in which your presentation will be delivered, you’ll need to consider how you’ll convey your main point to your audience. Much as you would do with other genres, you’ll need to develop a series of key or supporting points and choose evidence to support them. Unlike in written genres, such as articles and multimodal essays, you’ll need to make your points quickly. You’ll also need to repeat them often enough to get your ideas across clearly, yet not so frequently that you begin to bore your audience. Striking this balance is the key to connecting with your audience. Fortunately, multimedia presentations can make use of some powerful tools for creating that connection.

The distinguishing feature of a multimedia presentation is the wide array of sources you can use to engage with your audience. A presentation on recent changes in education policy, for example, might include video clips in which students, teachers, parents, and community members discuss the effects of those policies or the reasons leading to their development. A presentation on social networking might include links to social-networking sites, a chart illustrating the growth in use of such sites over the past decade, or screenshots showing a range of purposes for which such sites are used.

The sources you choose should support your points or allow you to distinguish your ideas from those advanced by others. If your presentation slides are intended to accompany an oral presentation, your sources should complement rather than compete with what you have to say. You’ve probably seen more than your fair share of presentations in which speakers have read their slides aloud and offered little or nothing beyond the words on the slide. It is far more effective to use your slides to expand on or illustrate — not simply repeat — what you are saying out loud. If, however, you expect your audience to view your presentation online without a recording of what you are saying, you might create some slides that convey your key points clearly and concisely in writing.

As you choose sources to support your talking points, make sure they will be consistent with any time limits you might face. A video clip might be compelling and highly persuasive, but if it is too long, it will crowd out other points you want to make.

As you might do with a multimodal essay, consider how the differences among various types of sources — such as images, audio clips, video clips, tables, and charts — can help you achieve your purpose. An image projected on a screen while you talk is more likely to complement your words than will a video clip, particularly one that has a sound track. On the other hand, a video clip can convey far more information than can most images. If you are developing a presentation that will be viewed on a computer, tablet, or smartphone, the video clip might be more effective in getting your points across to your audience.

As you decide which sources to include in your presentation, keep in mind the needs, interests, knowledge, experiences, and backgrounds of your audience. Choose sources carefully. Images and video clips that one audience might view without a great deal of concern could be offensive to another. If your subject matter requires exposing your audience to disturbing images or explicit language, as might happen if you are addressing issues such as gun violence or censorship, warn your audience. If you are uncertain about the potential impact of a source, consult your instructor, a librarian, or a friend or classmate who might be similar to the audience you are trying to reach.