Tips for using visual aids

Informative Speech Tips for using Visual Aids

Processes

• Demonstrating how to do something or how something works usually requires specific visual aids. Absence of these visual aids can lead to a lack of full understanding by the audience. For example, if I am discussing how perform certain yoga poses, I might demonstrate them myself, show short video clips, or display large high resolution photographs of each position. Simply telling the audience about the poses will not lead to a rich understanding of the topic. Demonstrating other kinds of processes may require flow charts and/or graphs.

People, Places, or Events

• Videos and/or photos can be useful to incorporate for speech topics involving people (e.g. Martin Luther King, Jr.), places (e.g. The Amazon rain forest), or events (Gloucester cheese rolling race). If you are showing a photograph, be sure to interact with it. Do not simply put up a visual and not refer to it. Do not assume the audience will interpret it themselves. If you are showing a video to your audience, keep it brief. Your video should not replace you explaining/informing the audience (You need to speak for a minimum of five minutes - you should NOT present a video for 4 minutes and speak for one minute - that does NOT meet the requirements).

Overall, you might consider using a combination of the following visuals:

• Yourself (as in the yoga pose example)
• Videos (but remember, keep it brief; the video should supplement what you are saying, NOT replace your explanations of the topic)
• 3D Models
• Drawings
• Charts/flow charts/graphs
• Photographs
• Audio recordings
• Objects (be sure they are large enough for your audience to see)

Finally, I discourage you from passing around your visual while you are speaking. Sometimes the visuals are so intriguing that the audience becomes distracted by examining the visual and no longer listen to your speech. If you have a visual that you would like the audience to hold, wait until the end of your speech to pass it around.

Below are two versions of an informative speech about chili peppers (the food, not the band). The first one "needs to be improved." Pay close attention to what improvements the speaker can make, especially with his visual aids. Then, watch the improved version. How did the student improve from round one to round two? How did he change his visual aids? Did they help you to understand his speech more clearly?