Given that this is course is taught exclusively on line, you need to read and understand material that is presented. Please read Chapters 9 & 10 as indicated on the syllabus and then submit the five most important items found in each chapter. Large essa
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chapter_9_-_presentation_aids.pptPresentation Aids:
Design and Usage
Chapter 9
What Are Presentation Aids?
&
Functions of Presentation Aids
What Are
Presentation Aids?
- Presentation aids (sometimes also called sensory aids): The resources beyond the speech itself that a speaker uses to enhance the message conveyed to the audience.
General Aid Ideas
- The type of presentation aids that speakers most typically make use of are visual aids: pictures, diagrams, charts and graphs, maps.
- Audible aids include musical excerpts, audio speech excerpts, and sound effects.
- A speaker may also use fragrance samples or a food samples as olfactory or gustatory aids.
- Presentation aids can be three-dimensional objects, animals, and people; they can unfold over a period of time, as in the case of a how-to demonstration.
General Guidelines for Using Presentational Aids
- Each presentation aid used must be a direct, uncluttered example of a specific element of the speech.
- Presentation aids must be used at the time when you are presenting the specific ideas related to the aid.
- Presentation aids must also be easy to use.
- Presentation aids must also be easy for the listeners to see and understand.
Functions of Presentation Aids
Improving Audience Understanding
- Human communication is a complex process that often leads to misunderstandings.
- One reason for misunderstandings is the fact that perception and interpretation are highly complex individual processes.
Two Ways to Reduce Misunderstandings
- Clarifying: To make clear so that the audience understands your meanings the way you intend.
- Emphasizing: To impress the importance or to repeat the verbal message in visual form.
Aiding Retention and Recall
- A 1996 article by the US Department of Labor summarized research on how people learn and remember. The authors found that “83% of human learning occurs visually, and the remaining 17% through the other senses—11% through hearing, 3.5% through smell, 1% through taste, and 1.5% through touch.”
- Lockard & Sidowski’s (1961) Research Findings
- Audiences retain 10 percent of what they hear from an oral presentation.
- Audiences retain 35 percent from a visual presentation.
- Audiences retain 65 percent from a visual and oral presentation.
Adding Variety and Interest
- A speech can be made even more interesting by the use of well-chosen presentation aids.
- People can only listen to a talking head for so long, they need the added presentation aids to maintain their interest.
Enhancing a Speaker’s Credibility
- Your presentation aids must be clear, clean, uncluttered, organized, and large enough for the audience to see and interpret correctly.
- Misspellings and poorly designed presentation aids can damage your credibility as a speaker.
- A high-quality presentation will contribute to your professional image.
- Make sure that you give proper credit to the source of any presentation aids that you take from other sources.
Types of Presentation Aids
General Principles for Presentation Aids
- Only as many presentation aids as necessary to present your message.
- The technical sophistication of your presentation aids should never overshadow your speech.
- Keep your presentation aids within the limits of the working technology available to you.
- Always be prepared for technology to backfire.
- Presentation aids must deliver clear information, and it must not distract from the message.
Principles for
Presentation Aids cont.
- Avoid overly elaborate presentation aids because they can distract the audience’s attention from your message.
- When you display a visual aid, you should explain what it shows, pointing out and naming the most important features.
- Although there are many useful presentation tools, do not attempt to use every one of these tools in a single speech.
- Your presentation aids should be designed to look like a coherent set.
Types of Visual Aids
Charts
- A graphical representation of data (often numerical) or a sketch representing an ordered process.
Types of Charts
- Statistical Charts (convey statistical information to an audience)
- Sequence-of-Steps Charts (explain a process that involves several steps)
- Decision Trees (show the relationships between ideas and how decisions are made)
Graphs
- A pictorial representation of the relationships of quantitative data using dots, lines, bars, pie slices, and the like.
Types of Graphs
- Line (designed to show trends over time)
- Bar (useful for showing the differences between quantities)
- Pie (useful for showing the differences between quantities)
Representations
- A group of aids designed to represent real processes or objects.
Types of Representations
- Diagrams: Drawings or sketches that outline and explain the parts of an object, process, or phenomenon that cannot be readily seen.
- Maps (e.g., including population, weather, ocean current, political, and economic maps)
- Photographs and Drawings: best way to show an unfamiliar but important detail.
- Video or Audio recordings: allow audience members to hear or see something they could not see or hear just by listening to you as a speaker.
Objects/Models
- Objects: Anything you could hold up and talk about during your speech.
- Models: Recreations of physical objects that you cannot have readily available with you during a speech.
People and Animals
Animals as
Presentation Aids
- When giving a speech on a topic relating to animals, it is often tempting to bring an animal to serve as your presentation aid.
- Risks Associated with using Animals
- Animal behavior tends to be unpredictable.
- Some audience members may respond negatively to a live animal.
- Some locations may have regulations about bringing animals onto the premises.
Speaker as
Presentation Aid
- Speakers can often use their own bodies to demonstrate facets of a speech.
- While demonstrating a process or movement with your own body may be effective, it is not always considered a presentation aid in a public speaking class, so double check with your teacher.
Other People as Presentation Aid
- You should arrange ahead of time for a person (or persons) to be an effective aid—do not assume that an audience member will volunteer on the spot.
- You must also make certain that they will arrive dressed presentably and that they will not draw attention away from your message through their appearance or behavior.
- Use your absolute best judgment about behavior, and make sure that your human presentation aid understands this dimension of the task.
Media to Use for
Presentation Aids
Ethically Using
Mediated Aids
- The venue of your speech should suggest the appropriate selection of presentation aids.
- Many students feel they lack the artistic skills to render their own graphics, so they opt to use copyright-free graphics on their presentation aids.
- Presentation aids should never look hastily made, dirty, battered, or disorganized. They do not have to be fancy, but they need to look professional.
Types of Mediated
Presentation Aids
Computer-Based Media
- Speakers are expected to be comfortable with using PowerPoint or other similar software to create and display presentation aids.
- Presentation software: Software packages that enable a speaker to visually show material through the use of a computer and projector.
- Proprietary Software
- Free or Open Source Software
- Speakers should use the technology to support the speech and not get carried away with software’s capabilities with special effects.
Universal Principles of Good Design
- Unity - use a single font for the text on your visuals so that they look like a unified set.
- Emphasis or focal point – the focus should be on the slide’s content and not on the slide animation or transitions.
- Scale and proportion - it is essential to make sure the information is large enough for the audience to see.
- Balance – the amount of content on slides should be relatively balanced for similar slide types.
- Rhythm – do not display a dozen different slides in the first minute of a five-minute presentation and then display only one slide per minute for the rest of the speech.
Audiovisual Media
- Audio presentation aids are useful for illustrating musical themes.
- Video that clarifies, explains, amplifies, emphasizes, or illustrates a key concept in your speech is appropriate.
- When using either Audio and Video aids, do not rely on the aid to do your presentation for you.
Using Audiovisual Media
- Identify a specific section of video that delivers meaning.
- “Cue up” the video so that you can just pop it into the player, and it will begin at the right place.
- Tell your audience where the footage comes from.
- Tell your audience why you’re showing it.
Low-Tech Media
Why People Still Use
Low-Tech Media
- Computer technology is not available.
- Computer-based presentation aids are unnecessary or even counterproductive.
- Low-tech media are very predictable.
- Low-tech media are inexpensive to produce.
Problems with
Low-Tech Media
- They can be prone to physical damage in the form of smudges, scratches, dents, and rips.
- Harder to make them look consistent and professional.
Types of Low-Tech Media
Chalk or Dry-Erase Board
- Great when you want to generate information using your audience.
- However, it is not a prepared presentation aid (a presentation aid designed and created ahead of time to be used as a coherent part of a speech).
Tips for Using Chalk or Dry-Erase Board
- Write large enough so that everyone in the room can see.
- Print legibly; don’t write in cursive script.
- Write short phrases; don’t take time to write complete sentences.
Flipchart
- Flipcharts can be either prepared or unprepared presentation aids.
- If using as a prepared visual aid, follow these helpful hints:
- Each page should be neatly titled.
- Make an effort to give the pages a consistent look.
- Organize your flip chart in such a way that you flip pages in one direction only, front to back.
- Make sure you have an easel to place your flip chart on.
Poster Board or Foam Board
Foam Board
- Foam board consists of a thin sheet of Styrofoam with heavy paper bonded to both surfaces.
- It is a lightweight, inexpensive foundation for information, and it will stand on its own when placed in an easel without curling under at the bottom edge.
Poster Board
- Cheaper than foam board and consists of a thin piece of cardstock.
- Poster board is flimsier, more vulnerable to damage, and can’t stand on its own.
Handouts
- Appropriate for a delivering information that audience members can take away with them.
Tips for Using Handouts Effectively
- Make sure to bring enough copies of the handout for each audience member to get one.
- Determine When to Give Your Audience the Handout
- If you need your listeners to follow along in a handout, you will need to distribute it before your speech begins.
- If the handout is a “takeaway,” leave it on a table near the door so that those audience members who are interested can take one on their way out; in this case, don’t forget to tell them to do so as you conclude your speech.
- It is almost never appropriate to distribute handouts during your speech, as it is distracting and interrupts the pace of your presentation.
- Handouts should include only the necessary information to support your points, and that information should be organized in such a way that listeners will be able to understand it.
Tips for Preparing
Presentation Aids
Tips for Preparing
Presentation Aids
Easily Seen or Heard by Your Audience
- The first rule of presentation aids is that they must be accessible for every audience member.
- Graphic elements in your presentation aids must be large enough to read.
- Audio must be loud enough to hear.
- Text-based visuals, charts, and graphs need to be executed with strong, clean lines and blocks of color.
- Carefully limit the amount of text on a presentation aid.
Ease of Handling
- You should be able to carry your presentation aids into the room by yourself.
- You should be skilled in using the equipment you will use to present them.
Aesthetically Pleasing
- Aesthetics: The beauty or good taste of a presentation aid.
Tips for Text Aids
- Use text only when you must.
- The type must be big, simple, and bold.
- When you display text, you must read it out loud before you go on to talk about it.
- Under no circumstances should you merely read what’s on your text aids and consider that a speech.
Tips for Graphic Aids
- Make sure the graphic is visible for all possible audience members.
- For Pictures or Illustrations
- Find one that is appropriate for your speech.
- Enlarge the image so everyone can see.
- To show integrity, cite your source.
Rules for Computer Presentations
Watch Your Font
- Just because you can read it on your screen, doesn’t mean your audience can read it in their seats.
- Make sure each slide is legible from the back of the room where you will be speaking.
- In most circumstances, try to keep your font above a 32 pt. font.
Don’t Write
Everything Out
- Do not try to put too much information on a slide.
- Make sure that your slide has the appropriate information to support the point you are making and no more.
- Avoid complete sentences on a slide unless you need to display a very important direct quotation.
Don’t Bow Down to the Software
- Presentation software is an aid, so it should aid and not hinder your presentation.
- Do not stand and read your speech off of the PowerPoint slides – this kills your eye contact and is bad delivery.
- You also shouldn’t need to hide behind a computer monitor to see what’s being projected.
Slide Color
- Don’t go overboard or decide to use unappealing combinations of color.
- You should never use a light font color (like yellow) on a solid white background because it’s hard for the eye to read.
- You should also realize that while colors may be rich and vibrant on your computer screen at home, they may be distorted by a different monitor or overhead projector.
Slide Movement
- While all presentation software packages offer you very cool slide movements and other bells and whistles, they are not always very helpful for your presentation.
- If you’re going to utilize slide transitions or word animation, stick to only three or four different types of transitions in your whole presentation.
- Do not have more than one type of movement on a given slide.
Practice, Practice, Practice
- It is vital to practice using the technology.
- If you do not know how to use the technology, your audience will notice and your credibility will go down.
Always Have a
Backup Plan
- One of the parts of being a professional is keeping the speech moving in spite of unexpected problems.
- Decide in advance what you will do if things break down or disappear right when you need them.
