Flip charts and whiteboards, which are still common in professional settings, have a distinct advantage for displaying words and ideas over posters and transparencies: they can invite and organize audience participation. For example, when presenting a new health insurance plan to a group of managers, a human resources representative might open the speech by asking the managers, “What aspects of health insurance matter most to your employees?” The audience members may respond with comments like “flexibility” or “low copays,” which the speaker can jot down on the flip chart or board. He can then refer to each priority as he addresses them in his speech.

Whiteboards and flip charts are also valuable when you wish to “unfold” an idea, step by step, before an audience, such as a coach using a board to break down a certain defense or offense.

Collboards allow a speaker and audience members (whether in a professional or educational setting) to interact using digital pens and interactive whiteboards (Alvarez, Salavati, Nussbaum, & Milrad, 2013). This technology may therefore be a useful alternative to flip charts and whiteboards for getting a high level of audience interactivity or showing your audience how an idea or process unfolds.

Just remember that your use of flip charts and boards should never be distracting. In other words, your audience may become irritated if you’re constantly flipping back and forth between pages or running around to point to multiple different diagrams on the board.