Well-chosen visuals can enhance your presentation. For example, a photograph can highlight an environmental problem, a flowchart can help the audience understand a process, or a line graph can quickly show a financial trend. A video clip can add human interest.

Visuals and multimedia convey information powerfully, but you should consider how they support your purpose and how your audience will respond. A complex table will overwhelm a slide and make it a distraction rather than a support, as the audience will be unable to form a clear impression of the data. Clip art often appears simply thrown in for visual relief, and it is often more of a distraction than an improvement to a slide.

Be sure to choose visuals that the audience can understand quickly. Make sure each visual conveys a clear message. Make the visual large enough so the audience can actually read the data and the labels on the data.

Make sure that any media you use (such as a video clip) does not overwhelm the presentation and leave you with insufficient time to achieve your goals. When you use slides, comment on important elements or help the audience read the data. But don’t read the slide point-for-point.