The Function of Presentation Aids

Although presentation aids can be a valuable asset to a speech, heightening an audience’s interest and helping you convey technical information, these aids should supplement your speech, not substitute for it. Sure, you may have a moving video or shocking image to share with the audience. But if you don’t connect it to a thoroughly researched topic, as part of a well-organized speaking outline and effective delivery, then it will fall flat. To be truly useful, presentation aids must enhance your speech, accomplishing three goals:

AND YOU?

Question

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Think back on a variety of different public presentations you’ve witnessed—speeches by fellow students, presentations by instructors, political debates, and so on. What is the most effective use of a visual aid that you have encountered? What is the least effective? Why?