Visual Support
Visual Support (VS) helps audiences understand presented material by offering an alternative view of concepts or information. It can be essential for conveying a large amount of information quickly, expressing relationships and helping people understand a process. Visual stimulation also adds variety to a presentation and makes it more interesting for the audience. Below are some suggestions to help you effectively integrate visual support into your presentation.
General Advice:
Compose: Visual support assists the speaker in presenting evidence to the audience. The speaker should present the interpretation and impact of the evidence—in other words, the speaker should present the argument. This reflects the division between evidence, taken from other sources, and argument, created by the speaker. Visual support should never replace the speaker as presenter and should not control the delivery of the presentation. PowerPoint users should take special care in this regard. All VS should be viewed by the audience concurrently with the speaker’s explanation and interpretation of it in the body of the speech. Visual information presented while the speaker is addressing another topic will most likely be ignored.
Design: Your VS should be designed to convey your message as quickly and easily as possible. Avoid features that may detract from your presentation by distracting the audience (such as extraneous pictures or moving objects on electronic slides).
Practice: Practice using your visual support before you present so that you are aware of potential problems and are comfortable manipulating equipment. Unfortunately, technology fails at important times. Make sure you have a back up plan if you intend to use a computer.
Deliver: When you deliver your presentation, avoid turning your back or losing eye contact with your audience while manipulating your visual support. You might want to ask a friend to control your VS so that you can focus solely on presenting.
Quick Advice on Designing Charts and Graphs:
- Highlight the purpose of graphics by giving them precise titles that explain both the relationship they demonstrate and the conclusion the speaker draws from that relationship. Title axes and label all sections of charts, tables and diagrams
- Consider what kind of relationship you wish to demonstrate when choosing how to represent it. (Line graphs represent changes of a dependent variable as a function of changes in an independent variable, bar graphs represent relative quantities, pie charts show relative proportions of a whole etc.)
- It is difficult to get information out of a table quickly. Highlight significant numbers, convert data into graphic form or present minimal data to ease the audience’s interpretation of a table
- Minimize the amount of visual information the audience must process so that they can focus on the most important material
- Make all print large enough for audience members to read comfortably—even if they are sitting in the back row with less than 20/20 vision
- Some believe Sans serif fonts, such as Arial, are easiest for audiences to read
When projecting information onto a screen, it is important to remember that the speaker is still the originator of the presentation. When you are not referencing projected materials in your presentation, turn off the machine or the screen so that the audience concentrates their attention on you.
Make
sure the audience can see the presentation by dimming the lights in the
room, but allow them as much light as possible for note-taking (and staying
awake!). Many rooms allow you to dim the front of the room without
effecting the overhead lighting.
Computers
- Check the specific computer you intend to use before the day of your presentation to insure that all the settings and software you expect to use are in order, you are familiar with the processes you intend to execute, and the screen is projecting properly
- Pretend you’re using “Weak Point.” Avoid features in the PowerPoint program that create movement on the screen without enhancing the audience’s understanding of your argument
- Avoid using slides for text, and never read to the audience
- Consider presenting only the section of the slide you are speaking about to prevent the audience from reading ahead and ignoring you
- Consider how slide transitions will direct your audience’s attention. Flashy or elaborate transitions may be distracting
- Only use slides when you need them; avoid using PowerPoint during the entire presentation
- When not presenting a slide, turn off the screen or present a blank slide so that the audience’s attention is focused on you
- Put your slides on overhead transparencies to insure your presentation against technology failure
- Wharton Reprographics makes cardboard frames which block out excess light for overhead transparencies
- Unfortunately, turning these machines on and off can burn out their bulbs. There is often a feature that allows you to block the projection without turning off the machine
- Practice using slides before your presentation so that you know they are in the correct order and can be presented with the proper orientation
- Make sure the tape you would like to use is queued before your presentation begins
- Familiarized yourself with the remote control before your presentation
- Hide your visuals behind a blank poster-board or paper when you are not speaking about them so that audience attention is focused on you
- Stand beside your visuals and point to areas you wish to address without turning your back to the audience