Presentation planner TOPIC or TITLE

Duration (specified or estimated):

My intentions are to:

My overall objective can be summed up as:

Summary of main points to be made:

STRUCTURE

The logic and sequence used will be:

The beginning:

Things to make clear:

Content:

The middle:

The end:

Final ‘sign-off’:

Additional points:

Set out headings like these, with space to make notes, and you are well on the way to planning a good presentation.

6.8 Visual aids

6.8.1 The most important visual aid

Perhaps the most important visual aid has already been mentioned: it is you. Numbers of factors, such as simple gestures (for example, a hand pointing), and more dramatic ones such as banging a fist on the table, which may be described as flourishes, are part of this, as is your general manner and appearance.

More tangible forms of visual aid are also important. Such things as slides serve several roles; these include:

• focusing attention within the group;

• helping change pace, add variety, etc;

• giving a literally visual aspect to something;

• acting as signposts to where within the structure the presentation has reached.

They also help the presenter, providing reminders over and above speaker’s notes on what comes next.

Be careful. Visual aids should support the message, not lead or take it over. Just because slides exist or are easy to originate, it does not mean they will be right. You need to start by looking at the message, at what you are trying to do, and see what will help put it over and have an additive effect. They may make a point that is difficult or impossible to describe, in the way a graph might make an instant point that would be lost in a mass of figures. Or you may have a particular reason to use them: to help get a large amount of information over more quickly, perhaps.

The checklist that follows deals, briefly, with the various options, offers general guidance on visuals production, and some tips on using the ubiquitous OHP (overhead projector) and PowerPoint.

6.8.2 General principles of using visual aids

• Keep the content simple.

• Restrict the amount of information and the number of words: use single words to give structure, headings, or short statements; avoid it looking cluttered or complicated; use a running logo (e.g. the main heading/ topic on each slide).

• Use diagrams, graphs, etc. where possible rather than too many figures; and never read figures aloud without visual support.

• Build in variety within the overall theme, e.g. with colour or variations of the form of aid used.

• Emphasize the theme and structure, e.g. regularly using a single aid to recap the agenda or objectives.

• Ensure the content of the visual matches the words spoken.

• Make necessary and relevant.

• Ensure everything is visible, asking yourself, ‘Is it clear? Will it work in the room?

Does it suit the equipment?’ (Colours, and the right-sized typeface help here.)

• Ensure the layout emphasizes the meaning you want (and not some minor detail).

• Pick the right aid for the right purpose.

6.8.3 Using an overhead projector

Given how the computer has usurped the overhead projector, or OHP, space will not be taken up here with advice; suffice to say they need to be used carefully and, if you have to use one, check it out – and practise.

The ubiquitous Microsoft PowerPoint system (and, to be fair, other systems) allows you to prepare slides on your computer and project them through a projector using the computer to control the show. So far, so good. It works well and you have the ability to use a variety of layouts, colours, illustrations and so on at the touch of a button.

There are some dangers (and many of the points made about using visual aids apply equally here). First, do not let the technology carry you away. Not everything it will do is useful – certainly not all on one slide or even in one presentation – and it is a common error to allow the ease of preparation to increase the amount on a slide beyond the point where it becomes cluttered and difficult to follow. This might also lead you to use too many slides. Similarly, if you are going to use its various features, such as the ability to strip in one line and then another to make up a full picture, remember to keep it manageable. Details here can be important: for instance, colour choice is prodigious but not all are equally suitable for making things clear.

The second danger is simply the increased risk of technological complexity.

Sometimes it is a simple error. Recently I saw an important presentation have to pro-ceed without the planned slides because the projector (resident at the venue) could not be connected to the laptop computer (which had been brought to the venue) because the leads were incompatible. Sometimes, problems may be caused by something buried in the software. Again, not long ago I sat through a presentation that used 20–30 slides and, each time the slide was changed, there was an unplanned delay of three or four seconds. It was felt unwarranted to stop and risk tinkering with the equipment, but, long before the 45-minute presentation finished, everyone in the group found it disproportionately maddening.

Always make sure (check, check, check!) that everything is going to work. Run off transparencies that can be shown on an OHP in the event that disaster strikes, if this would be a sensible insurance (or prepare a paper handout copy). Finally, follow all the overall rules and do not forget that you do not have to have a slide on all the time – when you have finished with one, blank out the screen until you are ready for the next.

Whatever you use, remember to talk to the group, not to the visual aid. Looking at the screen too much when slides are used is a common fault. Make sure visuals are visible (do not get in the way yourself), explain them or their purpose as necessary, mention whether or not people will get a paper copy of them and stop them distracting your audience by removing them as soon as you are finished with them.

6.8.4 Beware gremlins

Is this one of Murphy’s Laws? Certainly, it is an accurate maxim that if something can go wrong it will; and nowhere is this more true than with equipment.

The moral: check, check and check again. Everything – from the spare OHP bulb (do not even think about using an old machine with only one bulb), to which way up the 35 mm slides are going to be, even to whether the pens for the flipchart still work – is worth checking.

Always double-check anything with which you are unfamiliar, especially if, as with a microphone for instance, what you do is going to be significantly dependent on it. And remember that, while the sophistication of equipment increases all the time, so too do the number of things that can potentially go wrong.

The concept of contingency is worth a thought: what do you do if disaster does strike? You have been warned.

6.8.5 Anything and everything

Finally, be inventive. Practically anything can act as a visual aid, from another per-son (carefully briefed to play their part) to an exhibit of some sort. In a business presentation, exhibits may be obvious items – products, samples, posters, etc. – or may be something totally unexpected. Engineers may well have things to show, ranging from mere plans to an actual item that is a vital part of their presentation.

Like all the skills involved in making presentations, while the basics give you a sound foundation, the process is something that can benefit from a little imagination.

6.9 Summary

There is a good deal of detail here, albeit mostly common sense. It represents a lot to keep in mind at one time. Practice and building up the right habits help. Overall, the key issues are:

• preparation in all its manifestations – this is simply a must;

• balancing content and manner – it is as much how you say things as what you say that determines the level of impact;

• taking time – you must allow yourself the opportunity to use techniques, not simply rush through the content to get it over;

• visual aids – they can help (indeed, may be expected), but they must support what is said rather than lead.