5. Use of Visual Aids. Visual aids help to make a presentation more effective, mainly because they crystallize ideas, and they assist in the retention of information. Visual aids also keep the speaker on track and generate interest.
Rules to observe when preparing visual aids:
- Keep it simple: There is an old adage that said – “No one ever complained of a presentation being too short.” Nothing kills a presentation more than going on too long. Remember to keep visual aids simple, so that the audience can easily understand the concepts. A complicated or vague visual aid is counter-productive.
- Minimize words: Keep the amount of text minimal, to avoid the audience spending time with reading the visual aid and not listening to you.
- Use large fonts: Make text and numbers large, so that the audience can read it easily.
- List key points: Make sure that the key points are shown clearly. This will help the audience to retain the information.
- Use exact phrasing: Since the ideas are summarized into key points, there is no margin for vague or imprecise
wording.
- Use color: The use of color can highlight key points.
- Prepare Handout: If you prepare handouts, along with visual aids, your audience can make notes on the handout.
Preparing the presentation one is supposed to take into account the important elements: context, clarification of meaning, controlled practice, and picture presentation, whichever technique or method is followed. For preparing visual aids there are a great number of modern computer programs of Microsoft Office Program, as Power Point, Office Publisher, and Movie Maker with ready-made patterns.
We represent some steps which are more, or less important, to tail the presentation.