The document discusses the importance and effective use of visual aids in presentations, emphasizing that while they can enhance talks, they must be chosen and used thoughtfully. It covers various types of visual aids, such as props, flipcharts, overheads, handouts, and photographic materials, along with best practices for their implementation. The content aims to provide trainers and presenters with actionable insights to improve their presentation skills using visual tools.

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Visual Aids
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
PRESENTATION
SKILLS
Visual Aids

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Visual Aids
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
The Course Topics series from Manage Train Learn is a large collection of topics that will help you as a learner
to quickly and easily master a range of skills in your everyday working life and life outside work. If you are a
trainer, they are perfect for adding to your classroom courses and online learning plans.
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Visual Aids
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
ARE YOU READY?
OK, LET’S START!

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Visual Aids
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
INTRODUCTION
A presentation can work perfectly well without any kind of
visual aid, but if chosen carefully and used to enhance,
visual aids can add to the impact of a talk. Contrary to
general belief that visual aids improve a talk - a picture
being, so it is said, worth a thousand words - most people
find it hard to remember what they see on a screen. They
remember a presenter's personal style much more. To have
an effect, therefore, you must choose and use visual aids
wisely and with care.

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Visual Aids
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
WHY USE VISUAL AIDS?
We live in a visual age when people expect to receive much
of their information through the visual medium.
Visual aids can enhance a presentation by putting over
information in a more interesting and accessible way. There
are also other benefits from using visual aids. These include:
1. providing a change of pace and style
2. making the presentation more entertaining
3. explaining something which is better seen (eg a model
of a finished construction site)
4. illustrating your talk (eg photos of people and places)
5. adding impact (eg film animation)
6. supplying a special effect (eg a cartoon)
7. lifting a presentation when it sags or becomes too
wordy
8. helping to prompt you through your talk.

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Visual Aids
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
VISUALS
There are five main kinds of visual aids: props; flipcharts;
overheads; handouts; photographic material. Other visual
aids which can be called on are: LCD and computer screen
displays; audio-cassettes; table-top mini-flipcharts; fixed
white boards.
There are some general rules to bear in mind when using
visual aids:
1. make sure everyone can see your visual aids
2. keep the visual aids simple and to the point
3. avoid too many capital letters; lower case is easier to
read
4. don't overdo the number of visual aids; use them only
where there is no other way to make your point
5. make them dynamic so that people think "Wow!" eg
using a succession of slides on top of each other
6. rehearse their use until you are slick
7. stay in control of the on/off switch of the machine.

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Visual Aids
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
PROPS
Props are any object you use in a presentation to illustrate
your talk. You may display a prop, hand it round or in some
cases allow people to use it.
Some props, such as product samples, may be thought of as
essential to the presentation. Other props may be used for
their novelty value or as gimmicks.
Props add variety to a talk; they are also invaluable as
standbys if you are held up or interrupted.
One of the more interesting uses of a prop was made by a
lecturer on quantum physics who had placed a large
pineapple on the lecture room table. Everyone's attention
was held throughout the 30-minute talk to see what
possible connection there could be between quantum
physics and a pineapple. Of course, there was none and the
lecturer left the spellbound but disappointed audience at
the end of the talk carrying her pineapple away with her.

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Visual Aids
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
PROPPING UP THE TALK
These are illustrations of how props can be used in different
ways in a presentation.
1. an onion cut up (to illustrate market segments)
2. maps
3. money and banknotes: one presenter cut up a £5 note
as a dramatic way to show how the company was
squandering money.
4. newspaper and magazine headlines
5. product samples
6. models of plans
7. human models and actors
8. people: during a presentation on the law of evidence to
newly-appointed judges, an unknown woman walked
quickly through the room in silence. Half an hour later,
the participants were asked to describe her appearance,
thus bringing home to them the difficulty of accurate
witness identification.

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Visual Aids
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
BILL GATES’ UNUSUAL PROP
Despite being the richest businessman in the world, (at an
estimated $79.2 billion in 2015), Bill Gates was never
regarded as an outstanding presenter. When running
Microsoft, Gates rarely presented in the showman-like way
of his counterpart, Steve Jobs of Apple.
Which is why it was all the more surprising when, in the
middle of a TED talk, entitled, "Mosquitos, Malaria, and
Education", Bill Gates did the unthinkable. He galvanised his
audience and made them sit up and pay focused attention.
And he did it by using a prop: mosquitoes which he allowed
to roam round the room.
Andrew Duglan of sixminutes.com says that the prop was
perfect because it met the six requirements of a great prop:
it was totally relevant to his subject, and it was concrete,
unexpected, dramatic, humorous, and entirely memorable.

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Visual Aids
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
FLIPCHARTS
The flipchart is the most versatile of presentation aids. It is
easy to see and move and can be used by anyone anywhere.
IBM boasts that all its offices around the world possess a
flipchart for instant presentations. For the general
presenter, it has replaced the teacher's chalk and
blackboard.
Flipcharts come into their own when you want to build an
idea progressively with your audience using diagram,
illustration or word. They are also excellent for producing
one-page summaries such as mind maps.
The versatility of flipcharts means that pages can be used...
1. to display the name of your presentation
2. to display useful themes around the wall
3. to record audience ideas and questions.

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Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
USING FLIPCHARTS
When presenters fail to follow the simple rules of flipchart
use, their presentation can be ruined. All credibility may be
lost. To look professional when using flipcharts, observe
these rules:
1. don't use the flipchart for information which would be
better given directly, or in a handout, or in discussion
2. position the easel where everyone can see it
3. stand to the side when presenting so that people can
see
4. write from your nearest side (ie stand on the right if you
are right-handed) so people can see what you write
5. don't talk while writing, unless it is to spell out what you
are writing
6. if you are drawing diagrams and pictures or want the
final chart to look a certain way, sketch it in pencil
beforehand so that when you draw over the lines you
look slick and quick.

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Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
OVERHEADS
The overhead transparency has become the standard tool
for presenters, particularly when speaking to large
audiences.
Transparencies are valuable for conveying information which
words cannot adequately describe. This includes pie charts,
graphs, tables of figures and diagrams. Successive slides can
also be used to build a show by adding slides to previous
ones, or by unmasking sections of the slide as you go.
Overheads are also indispensable if you want to show your
audience an idea or theme, such as a picture or drawing,
that you cannot draw yourself or have no time to draw
during the presentation.
If they are used as an integral part of your presentation, you
need to rehearse your overhead show as much as any other
part of your performance.

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Visual Aids
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
USING OVERHEADS
To avoid fumbling with overheads and destroying an
otherwise good presentation, observe these rules:
Do's:
1. do put the slide in position first and then switch the
projector on
2. do plan your slides so you can find them in the dark
3. do focus the projector lens before the presentation
4. do give the audience time to read and absorb the slide
before moving on
Don'ts:
1. don't place the projector where people's view is
obstructed
2. don't slide slides into place, learn to place them on
exactly
3. don't overdo slides which merely repeat what you've
already said.

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Visual Aids
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
THE IMPACT OF OVERHEADS
The impact of an overhead must be immediate. An audience
doesn't want to search a lot of information on an overhead
screen in order to find your message.
There are three rules to follow to help your impact:
1. The 6 x 6 Rule. The 6 x 6 rule states that an overhead
should have no more than six words horizontally and six
words vertically to create maximum impact.
2. Numbers And Words. When you present numerical
information it is better to show the numbers in picture or
graphical format than words.
3. Images And Numbers. Charts and lists of numbers are
practically impossible to read and make sense of. If you want
to use numbers, first turn them into a graph or a graphical
representation, such as a pie chart.

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Visual Aids
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
HANDOUTS
The written handout can accompany a presentation but
there are important pros and cons.
The advantages of a handout are that...
1. they can be welcomed by those who want more
information
2. they save people taking notes
3. they can be a lasting reminder of your talk.
The disadvantages are that...
1. because they have to be prepared in advance, they may
not provide the information people want
2. they are not always read. If distributed during a talk, they
can become a distraction.
3. the quality of copies may be poor and so detract from
the impact of your talk.
If you want your audience to keep their handouts, give them
a reason for doing so. You could add a reference item such as
a phone number, website address, book reference; your
details; or even theirs.

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Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
PICTURES
Photographic material means any visual aid that uses still or
moving images. This means principally the carousel slide
and the video.
There are pluses and minuses in using photographic
material.
Pluses: Slides are excellent for instructional purposes
enabling an audience to go to places they couldn't
otherwise go. They can include colourful diagrams,
animations, movies and of course sound.
Minuses: The cost of producing good photographic material
is high. People now expect TV and film quality in any
photographic presentation. A video limits the amount of
two-way discussion you can have.

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Visual Aids
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
THE COLOURS ON A CHART
Colours on a flipchart or overhead can convey different
shades of meaning, whether they are used in graphics or
text.
Red = urgent, brutal, dangerous, hot, Stop!
Dark blue = traditional, factual, stable, trustworthy, calm
Light blue = cool, refreshing
Green = relaxed, future-oriented, organic, go, money, new
life, healthy
Yellow = light-hearted, sunny, bright, warm
Orange = active, assertive;
Black = serious, heavy, profitable, death
Brown = earthy
Violet = luxurious, regal, mysterious
Pink = soft
Grey = neutral, mature, integrity
White = hopeful, pure, clear.

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Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
USING COLOURS
Here are some tips on using colours...
1. black, blue and green inks have the greatest visibility
2. blue is the most pleasing to look at followed by red
3. don't use red on the whole chart, it's far too
overwhelming and strong
4. avoid purple, brown, pink and yellow
5. permanent markers are the most vivid visual aid pens,
but dry out quickly if you leave the tops off. They often
bleed through to the next chart.
6. water colours are less vivid and squeak.
7. add bright colours to small graphics to make them stand
out
8. add subtle colours to large graphics so they don't
overwhelm.

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Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
THAT’S
IT!
WELL DONE!

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Visual Aids
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
THANK YOU
This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn