VISUAL AIDS

Various Types of Visual Aids

There are various types of visual aids you can choose from in your presentation. But factors like availability and usefulness should be taken into consideration. To help you in your choice of visual material, let us understand the advantages and limitations of the different visual aids.

A presentation for a small group will do well with the aid of flip charts. This type of visual aid is quick and ready to use, and the materials are readily available as well. It helps the presenter go through with the content smoothly and demonstrate the speaker’s thoughts. However, this may require good graphic talent from the speakers. Visibility may be an issue with flip charts, especially to presenters who have small and unclear handwriting.

Two other types of visual for a small audience size are posters and handouts. Posters may be in different forms of media materials such as diagrams, photographs, and word messages. They are permanent and handy. Moreover, they are simple or they can also be elaborate. With elaborate posters though, the tendency is it can be too wordy and may contain too much detail. Handouts help in outlining the key points for your presentation. But good quality paper should be used. Also, it should have headings, subheadings, and short paragraphs to explain the content. Make sure though that there are sufficient handouts to be distributed to the audience.

For a larger group of audience, the use of slides, overhead transparencies or projectors, and PowerPoint presentations is more efficient. Since these visuals cater to a big audience size, they should be clear, informative, visually stimulating, and simple. The overhead projector used to be a common visual aid in business presentations but is gradually replaced by computer or laptop presentations. The latter has a more modern and professional approach especially that the presenter can incorporate sound and video recording. The use of slides allows a smooth and creative transition. However, these visual aids should be carefully checked for any malfunctions or technical issues.

Visuals Are Aids, Not Distractions

Making the most out of your presentation with the help of visuals should be balanced between your verbal and audio-visual delivery. If majority of the presentation is spent on watching a video footage or passing show-tell articles and objects, you do not just waste time but make an ineffective presentation as well. Let visuals work to reinforce or highlight key points, not manipulate the entire content. Do your share of explaining and elaborating, too.

Techniques for Using Visual Aids

How do you effectively use visual aids? For one, they should be simple and clear. In the first place, they serve to make a complex subject easy to understand. Visuals should not be cluttered with words and too many details. Outline the main points and do the rest of the elaboration. Since visuals require the audience’s sense of sight to work, they should be conspicuous even to the last person at the back.

When explaining with a visual, speak to the audience and not to the material. Say, you use a PowerPoint presentation, do not stand in front of the slide because it will obstruct the content. Or, if you are writing on a flipchart or a whiteboard, refrain from turning your back from the audience. Tilt the body toward them. For overhead transparencies and laptop presentations, use a font size that is large enough to be read and use easy-to-read font types such as Times New Roman or Arial.

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In the visual aid preparation, designing is very essential to come up with a successful and effective presentation. Allocate ample time to prepare your visuals and do not forget to rehearse your presentation using your chosen visual aid. That way, you will have a smooth and efficient delivery of your content.

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1.     Step 1

Determine what type of visual aid is most suitable for your audience. For example, for a presentation in front of a classroom, a standard PowerPoint presentation without any especially enhanced graphics may be appropriate. In a classroom setting, a number of posters may not convey the same amount of content to your audience that 20 easily made PowerPoint slides could. Your reasoning in determining the preferred type of visual aid should include whether the aid is capable of reaching an entire audience, is appropriate for the setting and conveys all of the information that you need to get across.

2.    Step 2

Determine the attention, time and money you plan to provide to create your visual aid. This is important because you do not want to begin working on a visual aid only to find out that you do not have the money, patience or time to complete it properly. For example, if you would like to draw a pie-chart by hand for your business presentation, but find that you do not have the time to provide the gloss and sheen to make it look professional, then it may be your advantage to create the presentation on PowerPoint exclusively. The latter method is simply faster.

3.    Step 3

Ensure that your message is conveyed in the most efficient and most interesting way possible. This principle is tough to balance on occasion because something that is efficient and something that is interesting may, in fact, be opposed to each other. For example, for a presentation in a government setting, a video or documentary may help convey to other officials the nature of a particular problem; however, a video would take too long to show, and the audience might prefer a few bullet-points that convey the crux of what you seek to explain. Alternatively, when making a presentation about and involving art, a complex and fascinating visual aid, with little accompanying narration, may be just what you are looking for.

4.    Step 4

Ensure that the aid only adds to and never detracts from the amount of focus people will have on your ideas. This is perhaps the most important issue because visual aids can occasionally be distracting, thus counterproductive.For example, many of the visuals used in a high school health class may be too distracting, limiting the amount of important ideas about safe sex practices and/or abstinence that the high school student is likely to remember.

5.    Step 5

Plan the visual aid out before you create it. Drawing out on a piece of paper what you hope to create can be useful because it will give you an end state of the presentation to visualize while you are in the process of creating it. It is always easier to work with a goal in mind.

6.    Step 6

Practice your presentation. When finished creating the visual aid, give your presentation to someone with a similar background to your audience and ask for constructive feedback on your presentation. Edit your visual aid as is appropriate.

7.    Step 7

Seek feedback from your audience. Most importantly--in relation to use of visual aids--ask your audience whether your aid helped make your ideas more clear and understandable to them.

Read more: How to Create Visual Aids for Presentations to Communicate Ideas | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_6197286_create-aids-presentations-communicate-ideas.html#ixzz0uWGBCp9e