Using a Visual Aid in a Speech or Presentation
Using a visual aid in a speech or presentation will help keep your audience alert and interested in what you have to say
Visual aids are poweful tools in getting your message across. Before giving any public speaking presentation, you should consider how a visual aid could improve your speech.
There are so many to choose from including:
- Flip charts
- Video recordings
- Slides
- Props
- Powerpoints
- Interactive whiteboard
Visual Aid Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
There are many benefits including:
- Assisting your audience’s understanding.
- As a memory aid - more people remember visual information than audio.
- Focusing your audience’s attention.
- Increasing the humor of the situation- great for funny speaches and roastings.
- They can reduce presentation nerves by keeping the speaker focused.
Disadvantages
Before including visual aids in your speech consider possible drawbacks.
- Do you have access to the equipment? Or will you need to purchase or hire it?
- Can you transport it to the venue?
- Do you know how to operate the equipment?
- What will you do if there is a technical failure?
Contingency Plans
Always have a back up plan in case you have a problem with your prop. Of course the best solution is to ensure everything is working perfectly well before you begin, even down to checking that your marker pen works.
Visual Aid Speech and Presentation Tips
- Clip art is very dated, use clear photographs instead.
- Limit the numbers of words displayed – fewer words will draw attention to the message you are trying to convey
- Forget animations – they are distracting
- Marker pens- use bold stand out colours
Next Step
- Read through your speech and identify areas that would be improved by including visual aids.
- Ask yourself what would work best. If you are presenting to a large audience, you will need something that can be seen by everyone in the room, for example on a big projector screen.
- Smaller and more intimate presentations may work well with show and tell.
- Cost up the different options, don't forget hiring is often the most economical choice for using interactive whiteboards
- What ever you choose, ensure you know how to work it. Or if someone else will be operating it, make sure they are trained on its operation.
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