Page 25 - 2_studijní opora - modul 8ANG

Visuals
Visuals are another typical feature of the presentation. They should support your
communicative aim and enhance your verbal message, which means that they
must be closely connected to the ideas you are talking about, and during the
presentation you should refer to them. In fact, there is a triad which should be
applied in your speech all the time: you as a presenter, audience and visuals. All
should be connected: you are talking to the audience and get a feedback from
them, you point at visuals the audience is looking at.

Visuals affect the emotional side of the audience’s personalities (use of colours
and images) and they also significantly improve the interest in the presentation.
However, they must be relevant to what you are saying. A careless design or use
of visuals can simply ruin the presentation.

What technical means you use, it depends on the type of talk you are giving and
of course, on the equipment of the room. Here are some possibilities:

 Computer with suitable software (e.g. PowerPoint or Prezi) and data
projector;
 Video, film sequences – also on a computer connected with data
projector. These two can be combined, so in the PwP presentation you
can have video sequences;
 Real objects - either shown from the position of the speaker or passed
around. In fact, you should employ as many audience’s senses as possible
and suitable. If you are talking about flowers, let the audience smell them,
when your talk is about singing in the class, use audio recording, if you
present new materials, let the audience touch them;
 Flip-chart or whiteboard – nowadays not very often used; however, they
offer a possibility to expand on a point immediately;
 Overhead projector transparencies (OHP) – very common some decades
ago, but now considered old fashioned, rarely used.

At present, most often used are PowerPoint of Prezi screens. If you want to use
them, adhere to the following basic advice:

Make sure you know well how to operate the equipment and also when you
want a particular visual to appear. A very complex set of hardware can result in
confusion for both the speaker and the audience.
Edit your visuals as carefully as your talk - if a visual is not discussed in the
presentation, leave it out. Always check your visuals - for consistency of fonts and
layout, spelling and grammar mistakes.

Then, during your presentation, speak to your audience, not the visuals; they
should support you, not the other way round. Ideally, screens are graphics with

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From the beginner to the mentor (Supporting strategies of education of teachers in Zlin region)
Fund of Educational Policy project, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports