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USE VISUAL AIDS, NOT CRUTCHES
By Dr. Marc S. Friedman
If used carelessly, slides
or other visual aids will detract from your presence and
presentation, distract your audience and build a wall between
you.
You're all set to give an important presentation to your
managers. You've honed your PowerPoint skills over many months.
You're ready to dazzle your audience with your technological
skills as characters fly in and out of your slides. But do you
really think the slides will make your presentation more
powerful and persuasive?
If so, think again.
Successful speakers think about barriers. To connect with an
audience, you must remove the many barriers that could interfere
with the link between you and your audience. These barriers
could include the way you dress, the jewelry you wear, the
manner in which you carry yourself, the vocabulary you use and
your tone.
Experienced speakers know it is difficult enough to hold an
audience's attention. Visual aids sometimes are not just visual
crutches; they also can be additional barriers between you and
the audience. If used carelessly, slides or other visual aids
will detract from your presence and presentation, distract your
audience and build a wall between you.
Think back over the last year. How many times have you attended
a presentation only to see a cascade of PowerPoint slides chock
full of information and numbing statistics, full of colors and
characters intended to be entertaining, and slides that flew in
every which way? Do you think these helped your speaker to
connect with you? Did you find the speaker was more persuasive
and influential with these slides? Or, do you recall when a
speaker read his slides rather than looking you in the eye? Or
when she used the slides as her "notes" to which she was tightly
tethered?
Each of us can recall all of the above. These visual aids
"aided" no one. They were the speakers' crutches, which
needlessly created a tall barrier in front of them, as they
peered over it unsuccessfully trying to connect with their
audience.
Slides or other visual aids can be dramatic and useful tools.
They can help create a deep connection between the audience and
the speaker. Here are some tips to making your slides into
valuable presentation tools:
• Speak to your audience, not to your slides. Always face
your audience. Look them in their eyes. Move your gaze around to
connect with all. Don't take your eyes off them to look at you
slides or, worse still, to read the slides. This instantly will
destroy the connection you are trying to achieve.
• Follow the KISS principle. Keep your slides simple,
meaning plain language and limited content (preferably one
thought on each slide). The slides are meant to reinforce your
points by allowing your audience to absorb them visually. They
are not supposed to make the points for you. That should be done
through the power of your voice, your words, and your presence.
• Make sure everyone in the room, including those in the last
row, can read every character in your slides. That means no
fancy fonts or small print.
• Don't fall victim to the laser pointer or other handheld
devices. Yes, these snappy gadgets are hip. But they are
also distracting to an audience.
• Guard against the possibility that the slide projector will
fail. Egad, what happens then? Will you be lost without
your slides? If so, then you have not properly prepared your
speech. And your precious slides probably violate all the rules
anyhow if you cannot proceed in some credible fashion without
them.
Would Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" be revered today if the
first PowerPoint slide from which he read was:
Introduction to the Battle of Gettysburg:
• When? Four score and seven years ago
• What? The nation was founded by a group of wise and dedicated
men (not women)
* They came from all states and different professions
* They decided to attempt to form a new nation
* A key concept was liberty and also the notion that all men
were created equally by God and entitled to many things we
consider inalienable (i.e., that cannot be taken away)
I think not.
Dr. Marc S. Friedman
MessageMastersSM
61 Surrey Lane
Bergenfield, New Jersey 07621
Phone (201) 572 8801
E-mail:
info@message-masters.com
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