Using Visual Supports Effectively

Why use visual supports?

To gain and maintain the audience's attention by adding novelty and interest to your presentation.
To assist the audience in remembering key points or specific concepts.
To assist the audience in organizing key points or specific concepts.
To enhance understanding by clarifying complex information.
To amplify or enlarge data that is too small or highly detailed to be seen clearly.
To prove that your data is true, reliable or valid.

What are the main types of visual supports?

Actual objects.
Models which show the operation of objects that are either too large, too small or too complicated to be clearly seen and understood.
People or animals.
Films, preferably in color and silent in order to allow the speaker to narrate them and adjust to the needs and motives of the audience.
Maps, preferably in color and large enough to be seen clearly by the audience.
Graphs: Line, Bar, Pie, or Pictorial (using symbols to represent each variable shown)
Diagrams.
Sketches and cartoons.
Photographs, preferably in color and large enough to be seen by the audience.
Demonstrations, often using pre-selected, pre-trained members of the audience.
Flip charts, either prepared in advance or upon which to draw diagrams or to write information during the speech.
Overhead Transparencies, prepared in advance.
Posters, prepared in advance.
Videotapes shown on a minimum of a 25 inch TV screen.
Handouts, either printed or Xeroxed.
Chalkboard drawings or notations, prepared in advance of the presentation and then covered to prevent premature viewing by the audience. (These visual supports are the least interesting and the most difficult to obscure and to reveal to the audience. In addition, they often require a speaker to turn his/her back to the audience when writing or drawing on a chalkboard.)

What is the appropriate visual support for your presentation?

Consider your own personality, skills, and resources available.
Consider the topic and the purpose of the presentation.
Consider the possible impact of each type of visual support listed above.
Consider the size of the audience and the occasion upon which you are speaking.
Consider the room and the equipment available.

Suggestions for the effective use of visual supports

Select the appropriate visual support for the idea you wish to reinforce or enhance.
Prepare all visual supports several days in advance of the speaking event and rehearse your presentation using them.
Keep all visual supports clear and simple. Each one should present only one idea at a time.
Make sure that everyone in the audience can see the visual support at the same time. Be sure each visual support is large enough and be sure to display each visual support above the heads of all members of your audience.
Pre-arrange assistance from others to turn lights on and off for you or to assist in a demonstration, etc.
Color is more effective than black and white.
Be sure that you can show and explain the visual support in the amount of time allotted for your presentation.
Pre-arrange the delivery and return of all necessary audio-visual equipment. Practice with this equipment and obscure all planned visual supports so the audience does not view them before the speaker has a chance to introduce and explain each one. Be sure to avoid fumbling with equipment or appearing unprepared to use and explain the visual support.
Be sure that all print is large enough to be easily seen and read by the members of the audience. For example, letters which are 2 inches in height are excellent for use in an audience of 25-30 people.
Maintain eye contact with the audience while only glancing at the visual support. Avoid talking to the visual support and turning your back to your audience.
Avoid passing objects or handouts around the audience during the presentation. This prevents unnecessary distractions and the waste of time and the loss of the audience attention. Pass out all items before or after the presentation and be sure you have enough for all members of the audience.

How should visual supports be integrated into a speech?

Pre-set all slides or overhead transparencies in the slide projector or on the overhead projector before the presentation and turn off the machine.
State the idea which the visual support is to illustrate, then display and explain the visual support to the audience.
Be sure that each visual support can be clearly and easily seen by each member of the audience. Watch for audience feedback which indicates problems in viewing the visual support such as squinting, shifting in seats, frowning, etc.
When you have finished the explanation of the visual support, cover the visual support or remove it from the view of the audience. Avoid letting a visual support become a distraction by taking the attention of the audience away from the speaker.

Number 003 in the Speaking Center Handout Series