
We also look at some of the pitfalls of using visual resources, and why sometimes less = more when it comes to illustrating your talk.
The courses focuses on PowerPoint as one of the most easily available and widely used visual platforms at the current time. However, alternative platforms such as Prezi, Google Slide, ClearSlide, KeyNote and Haiku Deck are all powerful sources of visual support for your presentations. See the 2016 review by Speakerhub listed right under 'Visual Presenting' for a vigorous comparison of different platforms.
General Tips on Using Slide Resources like PowerPoint
1. Don't let the resource do all the talking
It is easy to get carried away with visual resources and over-prepare them. Too much text, too many bullet points, cluttered graphs and an excess of visual images - these are all potential problems in using resources when presenting.
Moreover, visual aids such as slides can become a 'comfort zone' for the presenter. They can easily replace human engagement with an audience.
When you are in possession of a lot of material and you wish to transmit as much of it as possible, it can be tempting to read directly from slides or flipcharts instead of actually presenting. Similarly, asking audiences to read lots of text on a screen while the presenter is talking can make a presentation lose pace and interest.
This has been called 'Death by PowerPoint'. You may have experienced it yourself.
When presenting, make sure that you do the talking and the resource is exactly that - a resource, to support and illustrate what you say.
2. Exploit the two channels of seeing and hearing
When presenting, we are asking an audience to listen to us. They are also watching us and taking cues from our body and eyes; but it is predominantly our voice that gives the message.
When we add a visual resource such as PowerPoint we are asking people to look at something too. However, it is still our voice that tells them how to look or invites them to interpret material in a certain way.
When preparing any visual aid, think: how do I want people to engage with the information?
Instead of thinking about getting the maximum amount of information into the resource, consider how you are going to use it in combination with your voice. A sophisticated visual (e.g. a detailed PowerPoint slide) can have no effect because the presenter - the one responsible for the resource - fails to highlight the important features or tell people why the visual is significant.
Remember that audiences will usually take in limited amounts of information from a screen, especially when they are also following a person's voice.
Sight and hearing are different communication channels, but they function together. So as people listen to your voice they can simultaneously look at an image - or even read a small piece of text - and relate the two channels, provided that what you say is relevant to the visual resource being shown.
So it is possible to 'talk over' a visual without explicitly describing everything. There is no need to say everything that an audience can see.
However, there is a limit to this two-channel communication. At key points in a presentation the voice of the presenter and the visual resource need to overlap so that the attention of the audience is focused. Examples might be:
* Summaries
* Key phrases and technical words
* Highlighted information in graphs, charts and tables
At these points the channels of seeing and hearing should come together so that the spoken message and the visual resource combine. These are the points where you hear a word and see the word at the same time.
The key to good use of visual resources is making sure that these key points of illustration and highlighting are effective. When preparing how to use a visual resource you need to anticipate the audiences' constant shifting between:
*listening
*seeing
*listening + seeing
3. Resource + Resource: combine and vary
It is sometimes tempting to let powerful applications like PowerPoint do everything to make a presentation work. However, it is worth considering other options in combination with PowerPoint. A steady stream of PowerPoint slides can become monotonous and tiring for an audience. It is also common for presenters to change slides too quickly.
Consider shifting the attention of the audience to another resource at certain points in your presentation. Here are some ideas:
Flipcharts
The trusty flipchart (or flipover) is low-tech but can be very effective as a visual resource, especially good for keywords and technical phrases. If you use PowerPoint, consider having a flipchart nearby. It can also be useful for writing down words as audiences suggest them (called 'eliciting') if you choose to involve an audience in this way.
Handouts
As well as having PowerPoint slides, it can be useful to have a short handout for audiences to consult during your presentation and to take away after it. Some people have trouble reading from screens and prefer to have information on paper in front of them. Also, it often works to direct an audience's attention away from the screen towards a handout if you have data to comment on or a short piece of text to show.
The shift of attention (screen - handout - screen) can be effective in giving your presentation momentum.
At the same time, there is always the danger that people will read your handout instead of listening to you. To prevent this, you could alert your audience to the handout at the start of your talk and prepare them:
You have in front of you a handout which summarises what I am going to say today. I will also refer to this at one point during my presentation and ask you to read a short extract.
Of course, you may also decide to give out a handout at the end of your presentation.
Objects
All the listening and looking that goes on in a screen-based presentation can be tiring after a while. There is nothing like a real object to refresh attention. Look for opportunities to use objects to illustrate a presentation.
Slide Design: Three Types
When designing slides, it might be helpful to think in terms of three ways of presenting information:
1. Text-intensive
All or most of the information on the slide is in the form of written text
2. Image-intensive
All or most of the information on the slide is in the form of image
3. Balanced
The information on the slide is a combination of written text and image
When preparing a presentation, look for variation between slides. A series of three or four text-intensive slides may not be as effective for an audience as a combination of text- and image-intensive ones. Always look for opportunities to cut the amount of text and present information and ideas visually. Think: what information do I need to show? What will be new, interesting and relevant for my audience?
Also, the visual 'rhythm' created by the design of your slides is important. If you are presenting a series of three examples to illustrate one point or main idea in your presentation, consider designing the three slides in a similar way in terms of colour, image placement, text size and spacing, creating a visual link between them.
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For the final word on PowerPoint, see the video 'Death by PowerPoint' by comedian Don Macmillan (in menu, right).