Making visual aids
When you are asked to stand up and speak to an audience do you look for a trap door to appear and open so you can us fall through and disappear? Suppose you had the power to make your audience disappear instead. Not possible? Of course it is.
Twenty-five years ago, frustrated with a public speaking student's lack of eye contact because she could not speak without her script, which she read, rather she mumbled, I suggested she make her notes large enough for everyone in the audience to see. She converted her entire script to overhead transparencies, which allowed her to turn off the lights. Presto, her audience disappeared.
There is something magical about making audiences disappear that brings out the best in many otherwise nervous speakers. You too can make your audience disappear. Make your notes, not your script, into projected images that require the lights turned off or dimmed.
There are two main types of visuals. One is includes props, pictures and slide picture presentations, which work well for storytelling, documentaries and travelogues. The other includes all types of word visuals, flip charts, poster presentations, overhead transparencies, power point pages and handouts used most often by practiced speakers, those who teach, storytellers or for oral reports.
When making visual aids keep in mind they are distractions. Used improperly they can hinder by taking attention away from you. The longer attention is off you the more of what you are saying is lost. The longer the attention is off you the longer it takes to reestablish the connection. Used properly they can help you keep the connection, keep everyone awake, active, attentive and on the same page. They can encourage discussion and encourage active listening.
Regardless of which type of presentation you choose, guidelines on how to make word visuals professional looking, better received, more effective and less distractive are generally the same.
The audience needs to be able to read the visual in five seconds so when you move from one transparency to the next remain silent for those five seconds. This one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three, one thousand four, one thousand five count allows the audience time to read the new projection, which emphasizes the new information. This five-second dramatic pause when broken by the sound of your voice immediately refocuses audience attention back to you.
How do you make a five-second-word visual? There are a few guidelines guarantees every visual from flip charts to transparencies and power point presentations are well received, read quickly and have maximum impact.
The following could easily become an overhead transparency or a flip chart page for a presentation on making visuals. Each tip is written as an example. Note the use of sentence fragments. The format would be a bulleted-outline.
One: Can back row people read it?
Two: Keep language simple, content limited. One thought, one page.
Three: Keep sub-points one level down. Remember outline lessons. Minimum two points per heading.
Four: Keep number of words minimal, simple. Four lines per slide. Five to seven words per line. Lose unnecessary text.
Five: Keep wording clear, consistent. Use simple logic, A plus B equals C.
Six: Segue succinctly to successive stages.
Seven: Keep distractions minimal. Attention-getting backgrounds, borders distract. Backgrounds obscure. Colors variations blend, obscure, obliterate.
Eight: Keep font style consistent. Aesthetically appealing, appropriate. One font style per presentation. Nothing fancy.
Nine: Keep font size consistent. No slanted fonts size fourteen or greater. Flip charts print big. Nothing small.
Ten: Keep writing consistent. All capital or all small not both. Block or cursive not both. Use italics, bolding sparingly.
Eleven: Keep font color consistent. One color per presentation. One color per word. Red or black reads easiest. Green and pink underscore. Yellow highlights.
Twelve: Number your visuals.
Thirteen: Practice using your visuals. Minimum two dress rehearsals with live audience.
Training a helper to manipulate the visuals increases the effectiveness of any presentation that has visual aids. The helper turns the projector on and off; changes and adjusts transparency; flips pages, writes notes, underscores and highlights items. However, with or without a helper practice using your visuals.
Next are some tips on how to optimize the actual presentation.
#1: Keep transparencies and flip chart pages to a minimum, justified by content as prescribed by your presentation. They are supplements that enhance your presentation. They are not supposed to upstage you.
#2: When using flip charts use bleed resistant markers, bleed resistant paper or tape together two blank pages. Top page for the visual, the bottom absorbs the bleeding. Taping them together is a professional speaker's trick that expedites page turning. If using a sequence of poster boards, when moving from one to the next, let the previous one-drop to the floor rather than let your neatness be a distraction.
#3: When using overhead projector film, use transparency frames, they add an extra touch of style, class and elegance.
#4: Provide tape to tape all power cords to the floor. Duct tape is easiest to remove. For a more professional approach invest in power cord covers.
#5: Provide your own equipment. In the absence of your own equipment, familiarize yourself with what is provided. Be ready for the unexpected with several well-practiced contingency plans.
#6: Place projector or flip chart on your right if you are right handed and on your left if you are left handed. This makes it easier to write on your visual or highlight something without turning your back to your audience. Keep your face toward the audience. Same with flip charts, they are placed on an angel to one side of your speaking area.
#7: Stop talking when you write something on the visual. If you have to write more than one or two words and have no helper, recruit help from the audience or a stagehand. Let their back be to the audience.
#8: Project on an angle or on a drop down screen to prevent your blocking the view.
#9: Turn off the projection when moving from transparency to transparency. This will wear out bulbs faster so pack a few extra bulbs. Pack a thick towel to protect your hands from the hot, burned out bulbs.
#10: Let the audience know you have handouts that will be handed out after the meeting. The best handouts are photocopies of your transparencies or duplicates of what was on the flip chart.
#11: Always talk about the transparency before showing it. Keep quiet five seconds when presented. Then resume your speech.
#12: Walk around the room. Mingle with the audience. Get up close and personal. Get to know your audience.
#13: As you walk, glance at your oversized notes, but do not read from them. Reading instantly destroys your connection to the audience and at the very least broadcasts poor preparation.
#14: Relax knowing you do not need your notes. They are now large enough for everyone to see.
#15: Stop speaking as you flip the chart page
#16: Clean then store slides, transparencies, poster boards, flip charts and all extra items for each presentation in a marked sturdy protective container. This includes all originals and clean handouts. Store electric cord covers flat.
#17: Covering any part of the information increases the risk of ripping the page of a flip chart or moving the transparency and it is always awkward. If you have to cover portions of your page because you do not want the audience to get ahead of you, then you have too much information on it. Rethink and reorganize information. Make a new page,
Remember all visuals are distractions as we look at the don't dos of visuals.
A: Do not fiddle with the visuals or the equipment during your presentation.
B: Do not get caught without a back-up plan in case of equipment failure and other contingencies.
C: Do not set up or focus your projector after the meeting starts.
D: Do not add information after you have moved to another page, the audience will never know you left something out, unless you tell them.
E: Do not use laser pointers or other handheld devices, they are distractions.
F: Do not situate yourself so you face the projected image or turn yourself to face the projected image while speaking. Keep your face toward the audience.
G: Do not let your visuals upstage or out perform you.
H: Do not pass your visuals around the audience for any reason. They will upstage you.
Creating a quality presentation using visual aids does not guarantee someone will not fall asleep. It guarantees the majority of the audience will hang on your every word and hear what you have to say.
The young lady who made her audience disappear is now a professional trainer for a major corporation. Her best presentations are the ones she does with an old fashioned overhead projector and a handful of transparencies. She says the diminished lighting empowers her. Let making your notes large enough for everyone to see empower you.