Using Visual Aids
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Read excerpts from article:
No one technique fits all. Use visuals to enhance, not replace,
your oral presentation. Before deciding which visual aid to use,
consider: the purpose of your presentation; how many will be in
the audience and their knowledge of the issue; size of the room;
and budget. Whatever medium you choose, make sure your visual is
well done. A simple chalkboard or flipchart can be effective if
you write boldly and do not crowd in too many ideas. Pie charts
are the best type of graph because they present proportions or
relationships lay people can understand easily. Slide photos of
particular sites can be either distracting or effective,
depending on the quality of the photography.
Make each visual simple and unambiguous. Now that computer
programs can create graphs and charts at the flick of a button,
too many people are tempted to use them without thinking through
the message they want to convey. It is easy to be overly
ambitious and try to present too much information. Your message
should be obvious to the reader after just a few seconds of
scrutiny. All lists should contain phrases rather than whole
sentences. Never use overheads that contain densely packed text.
Use familiar examples. When you were on vacation in Europe last
year, you may have taken beautiful slides that relate to
planning issues in your community. But if the audience is likely
to wonder how you could afford such an expensive trip, junk
those slides for examples closer to home.
Be sure the size and scale can be seen by everyone in the
audience. Test your visual in the room you will use and discard
anything that cannot be seen easily in the back row. If you find
you have the wrong size visual for that meeting space, make your
presentation without it. This is much preferred than having the
audience become angry or alienated when your visuals appear to
be visible only to the "chosen few" in the first few rows.
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