Using Visual Aids in a Speech

Visual Aids can be powerful when giving a speech. However, make sure they will improve your speech. Ask yourself the following questions :

1. Will they contribute new information? Will using a visual aid add an element to your speech that words alone cannot? In other words, is the visual aid indispensable 1 ? 1 indispensable – absolutely necessary; can’t do without it

2. Will they help the audience understand my message? Sometimes a picture or chart can convey 1 information better than words. 1 convey – to make known; to communicate

3. Will they detract 1 from my role as a speaker? If the audience is looking at your visual aids, they aren’t looking at you! Why is this important? 1 detract – take away from; diminish; decrease; reduce

If the audience is not looking at you, they can’t see your non-verbal delivery techniques!

Non-verbal: 1.facial expressions 2.eyes (your eye-contact won’t be as strong) 3.gestures and body language

Facial expressions, eye-contact, gestures and body language are all important – especially in a persuasive speech! So keep in mind that you will be reducing the impact of these to some extent when you use visual aids.

But that’s not all!

If the audience is not looking at you, they will pay less attention to your verbal delivery techniques!

Really? They don’t need to see me to hear me, right? Well, the human brain is amazing, and is good at multi-tasking. However...

When you have visual aids, the audience’s attention is diverted 1 to some extent... away from your spoken words toward the written words. 1 divert – redirect, move away, turn aside

So you have to decide whether the reduced impact of your verbal and non-verbal techniques is worth using the visual aids. Is it a good trade-off ?

Sometimes the answer is “Yes”. Visual aids are extremely valuable. Other times, you may decide that your message will not be as effective with visual aids.

Finally, keep in mind that technology sometimes fails (at the most inopportune 1 time) ! Make sure that you are still prepared to deliver your speech, even if something goes wrong technically. 1 inopportune – happening at a bad time; ill-timed; inconvenient

Recommendations First, don’t fall into the trap of believing that visual aids always make a speech better. Just because other speakers use them doesn’t mean that you must use them as well.

Recommendations For an Informative Speech – especially a workplace presentation or proposal – in which you need to convey a lot of information, visual aids are probably a good idea.

Recommendations For a Persuasive Speech – in which you want the audience to really pay attention to your eyes, facial expressions, and spoken words – visual aids might be a bad idea.

Recommendations PowerPoint™ (PPT) is the most commonly used tool for presentations, and can be quite helpful. A good speech can be enhanced with PowerPoint. However, a bad speech will always be bad, even if you use a visual aid like PowerPoint. So don’t use PPT thinking it will automatically make your speech better!

Recommendations If only a small portion of your speech needs a visual aid, show the slide or movie clip for a short time. Then turn it off so people won’t be distracted. OR Consider using an old-fashioned display, for example, a poster board.

If you decide to use PowerPoint, here are some tips to make your presentation more appealing to your audience. 1. Don’t put too much information on one slide. Limit each slide to just a few sentences. 2. Make sure you use a font style and size that is easy for everyone to read.

3. Emphasize important points by using bold, italics, or underlining – or a combination of these. 4. Use both uppercase and lowercase letters. DON’T USE ALL UPPERCASE LETTERS, OR IT WILL BE MUCH MORE DIFFICULT FOR THE AUDIENCE TO READ YOUR TEXT!

5. Double-check everything to make sure you don’t have any spelling errors, or anything that will conflict with your spoken words. 6. Don’t turn your back to the audience when you are explaining a slide. 7. Finally, when you give your speech, make sure you leave each slide on the screen long enough to make your point, but not so long that the slide becomes boring.

Any questions?