Planning Visual Aids and Multimedia Presentations

“Tell me, I forget. Show me, I remember. Involve me, I understand.” 

Experts say that 85% of our knowledge are acquired visually. Therefore, an oral presentation that incorporates visual aids is far more likely to be understood and retained. Your goals as a speaker are to make listeners understand, remember, and act on your ideas. Including effective visual aids in your presentation will help your audience get interested and involved.

Good visual aids serve many purposes:

·         To emphasize and clarify main points

·         To increase audience interest

·         To make the presenter appear more professional, better prepared, and more persuasive

·         To illustrate and emphasize messages more effectively

·         To jog the memory of a speaker, thus improving self-confidence, poise, and delivery

There are many forms of visual media available to enhance presentations nowadays. The three most popular visuals are multimedia slides, overhead transparencies, and handouts.

Multimedia Slides

Excellent software programs such as Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Keynote, Lotus Freelance Graphics, Corel Presentations, and Adobe Presenter or Adobe Ovation can help you create dynamic and colourful presentations.

With a little expertise and advanced equipment, you can create a multimedia presentation that includes stereo sound, videos, and hyperlinks.

Overhead Transparencies

Some speakers still rely on the overhead projector for many reasons:

·         Most meeting areas are equipped with projectors and screens

·         Acetate transparencies for the overhead are cheap, easy to prepare, and simple to use

·         Rooms don't need to be darkened, so speakers using transparencies can maintain eye contact with the audience

Experienced speakers also create overhead slides in addition to their electronic slides to have a backup plan in the case of malfunctioning technology. Remember to stand to the side of the projector so that you don't obstruct the audience's view.

Handouts

You can enhance and complement your presentations by distributing pictures, outlines, brochures, articles, charts, summaries, or other supplements. Speakers who use presentation software often prepare a set of their slides along with notes to hand out to viewers. 

Beware that giving out handouts during a presentation tend to distract the audience, causing you to lose control. Therefore, you should discuss handouts during the presentation but delay distributing them until after you finish.

Speaker's Notes

You have a variety of options for printing hard-copy versions of your presentation.

·         To make speaker's notes for practising your talk

·         To preview your talk to a sponsoring organization

·         To supply the audience with a summary of your presentation

Resist the temptation to read from your notes during the slide presentation however. Reading from your notes makes you appear insecure and incompetent.