wia1elp_ch06

Using visuals.

Using visuals. Visuals are often an integral part of an oral presentation, carrying a lot of the message that the speaker wants to convey. So think of your visuals not as add-ons but as a major means of getting your points across. Many speakers use presentation software (such as PowerPoint or Prezi) to help keep themselves on track and to guide the audience. In addition, posters, flip charts, chalkboards, or interactive whiteboards can also help you make strong visual statements.

slides from a student powerpoint presentation. For her class presentation, “Words, Images, and the Mystical Way They Work Together in Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home,” Shuqiao Song developed a series of very simple slides aimed at underscoring her points and keeping her audience focused on them. After introducing Bechdel and her book, Shuqiao provided an overview of the presentation as she clicked through the following slides:

So let me tell you, quickly, what I’ll be doing in the rest of this presentation:
First, I’ll show how text is insufficient, but also why it is necessary in Bechdel’s story.
Second, I’ll show how images can’t be trusted yet why they are still necessary for Bechdel’s purpose.

Each of these slides—with simple text and punctuation—serves to emphasize Shuqiao’s point and keep the audience’s attention on the relationship between word and image.

When you work with visuals for your own presentation, remember that they must be large enough to be easily seen and read. Be sure the information is simple, clear, and easy to understand. And remember not to read from your visuals or turn your back on your audience as you refer to them. Most important, make sure your visuals engage and help your listeners rather than distract them from your message. Try out each visual on your classmates, friends, or roommates: if they do not clearly grasp the meaning and purpose of the visual, scrap it and try again.

You may also want to prepare handouts for your audience: pertinent bibliographies, for example, or text too extensive to be presented otherwise. Unless the handouts include material you want your audience to use while you speak, distribute them at the end of the presentation.

tips for using presentation media. Before you begin designing your presentation, make sure that the equipment you need will be available. As you design presentation slides, keep some simple principles in mind (for more on design, see Chapter 8):

Audiences can’t read and listen to you at the same time, so make the slides support what you are saying as clearly and visually as possible. Just one or two words—or a visual without words—may back up what you are saying more effectively than a list of bullets.
Never simply read the text of your slides.
Use your media wisely, and respect your audience’s time. If you feel that you need to include more than three or four images or bullet points (or more than fifty words of text) on a slide, you may be trying to convey information in a slide show that would make more sense in a report. Rethink your presentation so that what you say and what you show work together to win over your audience.
Use text on your slides to guide and interest your audience—not as a teleprompter.
Make sure any text or visual you show is big and clear enough to be visible, and create a clear contrast between text or illustration and background. In general, light backgrounds work better in a darkened room, and dark backgrounds in a lighted one.
Make sure that sound or video clips are audible and that they relate directly to your topic. If you use sound as background, make sure it does not distract from what you are trying to say.
Take time to get peer reviews of your slides; others will see more clearly than you do whether the slides are clear and memorable.
Give credit for any visuals or audio that you have not created yourself.