A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words. Using visual aids in presentations helps you pass a lot of information in a relatively shorter time. With the right visual aids, you can create the desired impact that you want your presentation to make on your audience. Learning how to use visual aids effectively will boost the quality of your presentations. We discuss some of the top visual aids in our recent YouTube video:
Visual Aid Definition
What are visual aids? Simply put, visual aids are things that your listening can look at while you give your speech or presentation. Visual aid appeals to the audience’s vision more than any other sensory organ.
Why use visuals for presentations?
There is no such thing as a perfect speech. However, there are ways to make a presentation closer to perfection. What are they? Simple: Visual aids. Visual aids can bring life back into a tedious speech, and they take less time to come up with than long notes. This article discusses how you can use visual aids effectively and conquer an audience. Before that, we discuss how visuals can help you achieve a better presentation.
They help you structure your work.
Using the right types of visual aids can help you create a perfect picture of what you want your audience to see in your presentations. Instead of struggling to condense a lot of information into a long text, you can present your information in one straightforward image or video and save yourself the stress.
It is easier to engage the audience.
An excellent visual setup can help elicit audience interest and sometimes their input in the presentation. When the audience is engaged, they tend to be more interested in the presenter’s work. Also, an interactive audience can boost your morale and encourage you.
You save time on your presentation.
When presenting, time is of the essence. So, you can effectively reduce your presentation time if you have useful visual aids and use them properly. Would you prefer to go on and on for minutes about a topic when you can cut your speech down by inserting a few images or videos?
What are visual aids?
A visual aid is any material that gives shape and form to words or thoughts. Types of visual aids include physical samples, models, handouts, pictures, videos, infographics, etc. Visual aids have come a long way, including digital tools such as overhead projectors, PowerPoint presentations, and interactive boards.
Different Types Of Creative Visual Aid Ideas To Awe Your Audience
Have you ever been tasked with making a speech or a presentation but don’t know how to make it truly remarkable? Well, visual aid is your answer.
Giving a presentation or speech is hard. You have to strike a balance between persuading or informing your audience while also maintaining their attention. The fear of your audience slipping away is very real. And a visual aid can help.
We surveyed the Orai community to vote for their preferred visual aid. Here are the top ten creative visual aid ideas that you could use in your next presentation:
1. Videos
Videos emerged as the clear winner in all our surveys. We ran these surveys on all our social handles and contacted successful speakers. 27.14% of all respondents prefer visual aids because they are easy to understand, can be paused during a presentation, and can trigger all sorts of emotions. That being said, it is also very tough to create good videos. However, more and more tools are available to help you create amazing videos without professional help.
Hans Rosling’s TED talk, titled ‘the best stats you have ever seen,’ is one of the best speeches. He uses video for the speech’s entirety while not diverting the audience’s attention away from him. He does all this while also bringing out some optimism for the world’s future. We highly recommend this TED talk to learn how to use videos effectively as a visual aid and inject some positivity into your lives during these trying times.
2. Demonstrations
Demonstrations, also known as demos, are undoubtedly among the most effective visual aids for communication. You can use demonstrations in two ways. One as a hook to captivate your audience. Prof. Walter Lewin was famous for using demonstrations as a hook during lectures. In his most famous lecture, he puts his life in danger by releasing a heavy pendulum to show that a pendulum’s period remains constant despite the mass.
Demonstrations can also be used to show how some things are done or work. We use demonstrations to showcase how Orai works and how you can use them to improve your speaking skills.
18.57% voted for demonstrations because they are unique, interactive, up close, and have a personal touch.
3. Roleplays
Jokes aside, why do you think comedy shows are memorable? You guessed it right. Roleplays! Role–play is any speaking activity when you put yourself into somebody else’s shoes or stay in your shoes but put yourself into an imaginary situation!
Nothing is more boring than a comedian delivering lines straight from a joke book. Legendary comedians like George Carlin, Kevin Hart, Chris Rock, and Bill Burr use roleplays effectively and make a mundane joke genuinely memorable.
Jokes aside, you can use roleplays in business presentations and speeches. Use real-life stories or examples in your role plays to make them authentic.
15.71% of the survey respondents voted for roleplays because they are very close to real life and do not take the audience’s attention away from the speaker.
5. Props
With 12.86% of the votes, Props is number 4. A prop is any concrete object used to deliver a speech or presentation. Props add another dimension to our speech and help the listeners visualize abstract concepts like vision, milestones, targets, and expectations. It ties verbal to visual. Introducing a prop into your speech or presentation should not seem forced. Use them sparingly to highlight your address’s most critical points or stories.
People voted for props because they feel 3D visualization is more useful than 2D visualization. Props will make your presentations stand out because few people use them today.
4. Slides
When we sent out the survey to the Orai community and some highly successful speakers, we were sure that slides/presentations would come out on top. However, we were surprised by the results. With 12.86% votes, slides are number five on our list.
Presentations are effortless to create and, therefore, the most commonly used visual aid in business communications. Today, dozens of software programs are available to help you make beautiful presentations. Microsoft PowerPoint is the pioneer in the space and holds a significant market share.
Whatever is your preferred software, you need to keep your audience at the center while making presentations.
People described the ease of creation and the ability to incorporate other visual aids when asked why they chose presentations as their top visual aid.
6. Audio
The inclusion of Audio in this list can appear controversial. But it got a significant vote share in our survey and cannot be ignored. Audio can add a new dimension to your presentations where the audience is hearing your voice and other sound cues that can trigger various emotional responses. Especially when coupled with other visual aids, audio can be a powerful tool for making impactful presentations.
Audio aid is number six, with 4.29% of the votes.
7. Handouts
What is a handout?
A handout is a structured view of your presentation or speech that you can distribute to the audience.
What are the benefits of a handout?
Like how this blog gives more information than our YouTube video on the different visual aids, handouts can be used to furnish more information than your discourse itself. They give your audience something to take away after your presentation, making you and your presentation more memorable.
Are you going to be speaking about something overly technical? Then handouts are your friends. Handouts are also an opportunity to facilitate follow-ups if you specify your contact details.
Handouts are tied with whiteboards and got 2.86% of the votes in our survey.
8. Physical & Online Whiteboards
What is a whiteboard?
Traditionally, whiteboards are white, shiny, and smooth boards on which texts and diagrams are made using non-permanent markers. It is widely used in professional presentations, brainstorming sessions, and group discussions. Post-COVID, more and more companies are moving to online whiteboards. Online whiteboards are software that provides a space where individuals across the globe can collaborate online. Many companies have moved beyond the whiteboard and started using online whiteboards for meetings and discussions.
What are the benefits of a whiteboard?
A whiteboard helps listeners better visualize thoughts, concepts, and ideas. It is also a better alternative to the blackboard for a smaller audience as it is tidier and easier to use. Online whiteboards can be used instead of traditional whiteboards without being limited by space constraints. Online whiteboards will transform virtual meetings into a collaborative experience.
With 2.86% of the votes, whiteboards stand at eight on our list.
9. Blackboard
What is a blackboard?
A blackboard (aka chalkboard) is a surface on which texts or diagrams are made using chalk made from calcium sulfate or calcium carbonate. Blackboards are typically used in classrooms for large groups of students.
What are the benefits of blackboards?
Blackboard is one of the foremost and most popular teaching aids. Blackboard is useful for teaching as it helps instructors move from easy to complex topics in an organized manner. Diagrams, symbols, charts, and drawings can be introduced in discourse to bring life to rather dull topics. Blackboards are highly interactive, where the teacher and students can participate during a speech.
With 1.43% of the vote share, the blackboard stands at the bottom, along with flipcharts.
10. Flipchart
What is a flipchart?
Flipcharts consist of a pad of large sheets of paper bound together. It is typically fixed to the upper edge of a whiteboard or canvas. Flipcharts are easy to create and inexpensive fit for small groups of people.
What are the benefits of presenting using a flipchart?
Nowadays, everybody seems only interested in making presentations powered by computer-generated slide decks. However, the flip chart has its charm. Since most presentations consist of less than ten people, flip charts can be a refreshing change to the standard slide deck. Moreover, flipchart does not require electricity. No electricity and no software means fewer of those last-minute hick-ups.
Flipchart got 1.43% of the vote and shared the bottom position with its counterpart, which we will discuss in the next section.
Master the art of speech, practice with Orai
How to make an informative speech with visual aids in presentations
If you have a presentation coming up soon, you can follow the instructions below to learn how you can take advantage of visual aids:
Determine your overall objective
The aim of your presentations depends on you, what information is being presented, and your audience. The motivational speaker and the classroom teacher may approach the same types of visual aids differently due to differences in overall objectives. For instance, if you aim to inspire and remind your audience of salient points, a poster template should serve well; infographics work well when trying to show relationships between complex information. A chart will be quite effective if you seek to explain a given data set. For additional inspiration, you might consider using an AI poster generator to create visually appealing and informative posters that captivate your audience.
Choose appropriate visual aids in presentations.
After identifying the overall aim of your presentation, you have to match it with the right visual aids example. Will a graph, picture, or video suffice?
If you use the PowerPoint Presenter, focus mainly on the media that best conveys your message. Make sure that the notes you add are bold and brief. Try to keep your sentence in one line of text.
Prepare thoroughly
You will spend some time preparing your visual aids before the day of your presentation. It is good to allow yourself enough time to prepare so you can perfect your work accordingly. Take note of when, where, and how you will use your visual aids. If you discover some inconsistencies, you can compensate for them by adjusting your choice or using visual aids in presentations.
After you have a final draft of your visual aids, run a series of sessions with them. Let your friends or colleagues be your audience and ask for their honest feedback. Make appropriate adjustments where necessary.
During presentation
First, you need to be comfortable and confident. A neat and appropriate dress should boost your confidence. Follow the tips below during presentations.
- Keep your face on your audience. It may help to look a little above their heads while presenting.
- Only point to or take the visual aid when needed. When you do, explain what you mean immediately.
- Do not read texts on your visual aids verbatim.
- Once a visual aid has served its purpose, you should keep it away from your audience’s view.
If you need more help boosting your confidence, we have written a detailed piece on how to conquer your fear of speaking in front of people.
What is the importance of using visuals in giving a presentation?
Visual aids in presentations are invaluable to you and the audience you hope to enlighten. They make the job easier for you, and the audience leaves feeling like they learned something. Apart from their time-saving abilities, here are some reasons why you need to incorporate visual aids in your presentations:
- Visual aids can help your audience retain the information long-term.
- The human brain processes images faster than text, so visuals make us understand things faster.
- Using visual aids makes your presentations more enjoyable, interactive, and memorable.
- Visual aids help your audience connect and relate with you better
- Presentations with visual aids are less likely to be misunderstood or misrepresented. They are usually easier to understand and leave little room for confusion
- Visual designs help stimulate cognition and they are great for people with learning disabilities.
- Visual aids act as key cards and pointers for the presenter and help you keep track of what you’re saying
What are the ideas for speech topics using visual aids?
- Use a picture or image that closely represents the topic. A one-hundred-dollar note can suggest topics revolving around money and finances.
- Use a chart showing trends or statistics that your audience finds appealing. You can use popular sayings or quotes to generate topics your audience can relate to.
- Newspaper headlines on related issues can be good starters for opinion-based topics.
Why is the use of color important in presentations, according to research?
Color plays a crucial role in presentations, boosting audience engagement with its ability to enhance motivation and create visually appealing visuals. By understanding color theory and using shades thoughtfully, presenters can ensure their work is professional and organized and accessible to a diverse audience, considering color blindness and cultural associations.
What are the key points to consider when using visual aids in a presentation?
Ensure effective and engaging visuals in your presentation by considering the space, practicing beforehand, utilizing and limiting color strategically (considering color blindness), and maintaining consistency throughout your presentation.
What are some tips for using objects or artifacts as visual aids in presentations?
Objects in presentations can captivate your audience! Choose relevant objects for demonstrations or explanations. In small groups, pass the object around but manage time. For larger audiences, move it around for clear visibility. Reveal the object at the right moment with context and explanation. If demonstrating, use deliberate movements and explain each step clearly to keep them engaged.
What are some tips for using visual aids to engage the audience and maintain their interest?
Capture and keep your audience’s attention with impactful visuals! Ensure clear visibility, maintain eye contact, and use visuals to complement your spoken words, not replace them. Explain each visual promptly and remove it seamlessly when finished to refocus attention on your message.
How can visual aids be tailored to suit the audience and make the presentation more effective?
Craft impactful presentations by tailoring visuals to your audience and goals. Choose relevant and resonant visuals, be it a graph, picture, or video, accompanied by clear, concise notes. Prepare thoroughly, refining visuals and considering timing, context, and integration. Seek feedback to fine-tune for optimal audience connection.
How should one prepare and use visual aids effectively during a presentation?
Prepare polished visuals beforehand, considering timing, context, and integration. Seek feedback. During your presentation, prioritize clarity, avoid overwhelming the audience, and use visuals purposefully to enhance, not replace, your message. Practice beforehand and maintain audience engagement through confident delivery.
Conclusion
The visual aid definition is very clear on how much impact using visual aids in public speaking has on an audience. With a great selection of visual aids, you can transform your presentations into a pleasant experience that you and your audience will always look forward to.
Become a confident speaker. Practice with Orai and get feedback on your tone, tempo, conciseness, and confidence.
