Using Visual Aids in a Speech

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 indispensable1?

1 indispensable – absolutely necessary; can’t do without it

2. Will they help the audience

understand my message?

Sometimes a picture or chart

can convey1 information better than words.

1 convey – to make known; to communicate

3. Will they detract1 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 diverted1

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 inopportune1 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?