Chapter 12: Presentation Aids

Improving Audience Understanding

As a speaker, one of your basic goals is to help your audience understand your message. To reduce misunderstanding, presentation aids can be used to clarify or to emphasize.

Aiding Retention and Recall

The second function that presentation aids can serve is to increase the audience’s chances of remembering your speech. An article by the U.S. Department of Labor (1996) found that “83% of human learning occurs visually, and the remaining 17% through the other senses—11% through hearing, 3.5% through smell, 1% through taste, and 1.5% through touch.”

For this reason, exposure to an image can serve as a memory aid to your listeners. When your graphic images deliver information effectively, and when your listeners understand them clearly, audience members are likely to remember your message long after your speech is over. Moreover, people often are able to remember information that is presented in sequential steps more easily than if the presentation is disorganized. Using a presentation aid to display the organization of your speech will help your listeners to observe, follow, and remember the sequence of information. This is why some instructors display a lecture outline for their students to follow during class and why a slide with a preview of your main points can be helpful as you move into the body of your speech.

An added benefit of using presentation aids is that they can boost your memory while you are speaking. Using your presentation aids while you rehearse your speech will familiarize you with the association between a given place in your speech and the presentation aid that accompanies that material.

Adding Variety and Interest

A third function of presentation aids is simply to make your speech more interesting. For example, wouldn’t a speech on varieties of roses have greater impact if you accompanied your remarks with a picture of each rose? You can imagine that your audience would be even more enthralled if you had the ability to display an actual flower of each variety in a bud vase. Similarly, if you were speaking to a group of gourmet cooks about Indian spices, you might want to provide tiny samples of spices that they could smell and taste during your speech.

Enhancing a Speaker’s Credibility

Presentation aids alone will not be enough to create a professional image. As mentioned earlier, impressive presentation aids will not rescue a poor speech. Even if you give a good speech, you run the risk of appearing unprofessional if your presentation aids are poorly executed. Conversely, a high quality presentation will contribute to your professional image. This means that, in addition to containing important information, your presentation aids must be clear, clean, uncluttered, organized, and large enough for the audience to see and interpret correctly. Misspellings and poorly designed presentation aids can damage your credibility as a speaker.

In addition, make sure that you give proper credit to the source of any presentation aids that you take from other sources. Using a statistical chart or a map without proper credit will detract from your credibility, just as using a quotation in your speech without credit would.

If you focus your efforts on producing presentation aids that contribute effectively to your meaning, that look professional, and that are handled well, your audience will most likely appreciate your efforts and pay close attention to your message. That attention will help them learn or understand your topic in a new way and will thus help the audience see you as a knowledgeable, competent, and credible speaker. With the prevalence of digital communication, the audience expectation of quality visual aids has increased.

Avoiding Problems with Presentation Aids

Using presentation aids can come with some risks.

One principle to keep in mind is to use only as many presentation aids as necessary to present your message. The number and the technical sophistication of your presentation aids should never overshadow your speech.

Another important consideration is technology. Keep your presentation aids within the limits of the working technology available to you (and know exactly what will be available beforehand).

What will you do if the computer file containing your slides is corrupted? What will you do if the easel is broken? What if you had counted on stacking your visuals on a table that disappears right when you need it? Or the Internet connection is down for a YouTube video you plan to show?

You must be prepared to adapt to an uncomfortable situation. This is why speakers should go to the venue well ahead of time to test the equipment and ascertain the condition of items they’re planning to use. As the speaker, you are responsible for arranging the equipment, props, or other supports you need to make your presentation aids work as intended. Carry a roll of masking tape so you can display your poster even if the easel is gone. Test the computer setup. Have your slides on a flash drive AND send it to yourself as an attachment or upload to a Cloud service. Have an alternative plan prepared in case there is some glitch that prevents your computer-based presentation aids from being usable. And of course, you must know how to use the technology.

More important than the method of delivery is the audience’s ability to see and understand the presentation aid. It must deliver clear information and it must not distract from the message. Avoid overly elaborate presentation aids. Instead, simplify as much as possible, emphasizing the information you want your audience to understand.

Another point to remember is that presentation aids do not “speak for themselves.” When you display a visual aid, you should explain what it shows, pointing out and naming the most important features. If you use an audio aid, such as a musical excerpt, you need to tell your audience what to listen for. Similarly, if you use a video clip, it is up to you as the speaker to point out the characteristics in the video that support the point you are making—but probably beforehand, so you are not speaking over the video. At the same time, a visual aid should be quickly accessible to the audience. This is where simplicity comes in. Limit the categories of information in a visual aid, just as in the organization of a speech.

Charts

A chart is commonly defined as a graphical representation of data (often numerical) or a sketch representing an ordered process. Whether you create your charts or do research to find charts that already exist, match the specific purpose in your speech.

Statistical Charts

For most audiences, statistical presentations must be kept as simple as possible and they must be explained.

When visually displaying information from a quantitative study, you need to make sure that you understand the material and can successfully and simply explain how one should interpret the data. If you are unsure about the data yourself, then you should probably not use this type of information. This is definitely an example of a visual aid that, although it delivers a limited kind of information, does not speak for itself. As with all other principles of public speaking, remember rule number one of communication: know your audience and put them first.

Decision Trees and Sequence-of-Steps Charts

Sequence-of-steps charts are also useful when you are trying to explain a process that involves several steps. Decision trees are useful for showing the relationships between ideas. As with the other types of charts, you want to be sure that the information in the chart is relevant to the purpose of your speech and that each question and decision is clearly labeled. Here, the sequence for making red and white wine—which are very similar, but not identical—can be seen as a flow from the grapes to the bottle, with red wine and white wine taking slightly different routes (and white wine not necessarily going through malolactic fermentation).

Graphs

Strictly speaking, a graph may be considered a type of chart, but graphs are so widely used that we will discuss them separately. A graph is a pictorial representation of the relationships of quantitative data using dots, lines, bars, pie slices, and the like. Graphs show how one factor (such as size, weight, number of items) varies in comparison to other items. Whereas a statistical chart may report the mean ages of individuals entering college, a graph would show how the mean age changes over time. A statistical chart may report the number of computers sold in the United States, while a graph will use bars or lines to show their breakdown by operating systems such as Windows, Macintosh, and Linux.

Public speakers can show graphs using a range of different formats. Some of those formats are specialized for various professional fields. Very complex graphs often contain too much information that is not related to the purpose of a speaker’s speech. If the graph is cluttered, it becomes difficult to comprehend. In this section, we’re going to analyze the common graphs speakers utilize in their speeches: line graphs, bar graphs, pie graphs, and pictographs.

Line Graph

A line graph is designed to show trends over time. In Figure 10.3 (“Enron’s Stock Price”), we see a line graph depicting the fall of Enron’s stock price from August 2000 to January 2002. Notice that, although it has some steep rises, the line has an overall downward trend clearly depicting the plummeting of Enron’s stock price. This is far more effective in showing the relationship of numbers than a chart (as in Figure 10.1) or reading the numbers aloud.

Bar Graph

Bar graphs are useful for showing the differences between quantities. They can be used for population demographics, fuel costs, and many other kinds of data. The graph in Figure 10.4 (World’s Ten Largest Wine Producers) is well designed. It is relatively simple and is carefully labeled, guiding the audience through the changes in market share. The bar graph is designed to show how the three largest wine-producing nations are losing market share to the others. When you look at the chart, you can see Italy, France, and Spain decreasing in market share, while Chile, China, and the USA are gaining global market share.

Pie Graph

Pie graphs are usually depicted as circles and are designed to show proportional relationships within sets of data; in other words, they show parts of or percentages of a whole. They should be as simple as possible without eliminating important information.

As with other graphs, the sections of the pie need to be plotted proportionally. In the pie graph shown in Figure 10.5, we see a clear and proportional chart that has been colour-coded. In this graph, audience members can see very quickly that more than half of the world’s population lives in the seven largest countries.

Diagrams

Diagrams are drawings or sketches that outline and explain the parts of an object, process, or phenomenon that cannot be readily seen. Like graphs, diagrams can be considered a type of chart, as in the case of organizational charts and process-flow charts.

When you use a diagram, be sure to explain each part of the phenomenon, paying special attention to elements that are complicated or prone to misunderstanding. In the example shown in Figure 10.6, you might wish to highlight that the light stimulus is inverted when it is processed in the brain.

Maps

Maps are extremely useful if the information is clear and limited. There are all kinds of maps, including population, weather, ocean current, political, and economic maps, so you should find the right kind for the purpose of your speech. Choose a map that emphasizes the information you need to deliver.

The map shown in Figure 10.7 is simple, but may be surprising to many, as it is shows the intense population density of southern and eastern Asia by demonstrating how half of the world’s population lives in a circle that is only a fraction of the world’s total land area.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Presentation Slides

In some industries and businesses, there is an assumption that speakers will use presentation slides. They allow visualization of concepts, are easily portable, and can be embedded with videos and audio. You will probably also be expected to have slide presentations in future assignments in college. Knowing how to use them, beyond the basic technology, is vital to being a proficient presenter.

But why not use them? Franck Frommer, a French journalist and communication expert, published the book How PowerPoint Makes You Stupid (2012); the title says it all. He criticizes the “linearity” of PowerPoint and similar presentation software, meaning that audiences are not encouraged to see the relationship of ideas and that PowerPoint hurts critical thinking in the audience. Slide follows slide of bulleted information without one slide being more important or the logical connections being clear.

As recently as the mid-2000s, critics such as well-known graphics expert and NASA consultant Edward Tufte (2005) charged that PowerPoint’s tendency to force the user to put a certain number of bullet points on each slide in a certain format was a serious threat to the accurate presentation of data. As Tufte put it, “the rigid slide-by-slide hierarchies, indifferent to content, slice and dice the evidence into arbitrary compartments, producing an anti-narrative with choppy continuity.”

Prezi helps address one of the major criticisms of PowerPoint. Because Prezi, in its design stage, looks something like a mind map on a very large canvas with grid lines, it allows you to show the relationship and hierarchy of ideas better. For example, you can see and design the slides so that the “Big Ideas” are in big circles and the subordinate ideas are in smaller ones.

In addition to recognizing the truth behind Frommer’s and Tufte’s critiques, we have all sat through a presenter who committed the errors of putting far too much text on the slide. When a speaker does this, the audience is confused—do they read the text or listen to the speaker? An audience member cannot do both.

Creating Quality Slide Shows

Unity and Consistency

Rhythm in Presenting

The rhythm of your slide display should be reasonably consistent—you would not want to display a dozen different slides in the first minute of a five-minute presentation and then display only one slide per minute for the rest of the speech. Timing them so that the audience can actually take them in is important. Presenters often overdo the number of slides, thinking they will get a better response, but too many slides just causes overkill.

If you can obtain a remote mouse to change slides, that can help you feel independent of the mouse attached to the computer. However, you have to practice with the remote “clicker.” But if you have to use the mouse to change slide, keep your hands off of it between clicks. We have seen speakers wiggle the little arrow all over the screen. It is extremely annoying.

Fonts

Graphic designers love to loathe certain fonts and justifiably so. Some fonts are simply not professionally acceptable, Comic Sans, Papyrus, Bradley Hand, and Brush Script being among the worst offenders. Other fonts were once acceptable, but now look like a relic of another age or have been used to death, such as Times New Roman, Courier New, Lucida Console, and Trajan Pro.

Some of the best fonts must be purchased and beware of free font websites; those can be a quick way to install viruses or other malware into your computer.

However, a variety of free fonts that are generally acceptable are available, such as Avenir, Garamond, Helvetica, Cambria, Tahoma, and Calibri.

A good font is easy to read both digitally and in print, provides no distraction to the reader, and is aesthetically consistent with the content.

For a more in-depth discussion of fonts and typefaces, this is a useful primer.

In your design, use a single font for your visuals so that they look like a unified set. Alternately, you can use two different fonts in consistent ways, such as having all headings and titles in the one font and all body text and bullet points in a second font. Additionally, the background should probably remain consistent, whether you choose one of the many design templates or if you just opt for a background colour.

Dry-Erase Board

If you use a chalkboard or dry-erase board (a.k.a. “whiteboard”), you are not using a prepared presentation aid. Your failure to prepare visuals ahead of time can be interpreted in several ways, mostly negative. If other speakers carefully design, produce, and use attractive visual aids, yours will stand out by contrast.

However, numerous speakers do use whiteboards effectively. Typically, these speakers use the whiteboard for interactive components of a speech. For example, maybe you’re giving a speech in front of a group of executives. You may have a PowerPoint all prepared, but at various points in your speech you want to get your audience’s responses. (More recent technologies, such as on iPads, allow you to do the interaction on the screen, but this would have to be supported by the environment.) Whiteboards are very useful when you want to visually show information that you are receiving from your audience. If you ever use a whiteboard, follow these four simple rules:

1. Write large enough so that everyone in the room can see (which is harder than it sounds; it is also hard to write and talk at the same time).
2. Print legibly; don’t write in cursive script.
3. Write short phrases; don’t take time to write complete sentences.
4. Be sure you have markers that will not go dry and clean the board afterward.
5. If possible, have a scribe do the writing for you. (This also applies to flipcharts below.)

Flipchart

A flipchart is useful for situations when you want to save what you have written for future reference or to distribute to the audience after the presentation. As with whiteboards, you will need good markers and readable handwriting, as well as a strong easel to keep the flipchart upright.

Posters

You may have the opportunity in your college years to attend or participate in a “poster session.” These are times during an academic conference where visitors can view a well-designed poster depicting a research project and discuss it one-on-one with the researcher. These kinds of posters are quite large and involve a great deal of work. Posters are probably not the best way to approach presentation aids in a speech. There are problems with visibility and portability.

Handouts

Handouts are appropriate for delivering information that audience members can take away with them.

First, make sure the handout is worth the trouble of making, copying, and distributing it. Second, make sure to bring enough copies of the handout for each audience member to get one.

If you need your listeners to refer to the handout during your speech, place a copy of the handout at each seat before the speech or ask a volunteer to quickly distribute them right before you begin speaking. If the handout is a “takeaway,” leave it on a table near the exit and remind the audience to take one as they leave. Avoid distributing handouts during your speech; doing so is distracting and time consuming.