Visual aids can enhance a presentation by illustrating complex content, sometimes better than actually talking about it. However, visual aids can detract from an oral presentation if they do not support the message or are used inappropriately.

Depending on the type of presentation and delivery technologies available, you will have to select appropriate presentation tools or audio-visual aids to deliver your presentation.

The audio-visual aids in general can be presentation slides, audio (music, sounds, narration), video clips, real or scaled objects, etc.

The audio-visuals you select must be suitable for the size of the audience, room layout, lighting, sound system, etc. For example, in a large auditorium with an audience of several hundred people, showing a video clip with audio may not work well if there is no sound system.

Presentation Guidelines

The following are some guidelines to keep in mind when you are creating a slide deck for a presentation.

• Use simple or no background in presentation materials. Complicated background designs can distract from the content.
• Use colours that provide adequate contrast and make it easier to read. Use dark letters on a light background and light letters on a dark background.
• Limit bullet points to four or five points per slide and never more than seven bullet points per slide.
• Bullet points should be limited to no more than two, at most three, lines of text. Do not have whole paragraphs of text on the slide.
• Proofread and Spell-Check as even minor errors will be glaring on a large screen.
• If using white boards, write in big letters or draw appropriately-sized figures so that the audience can view the information easily.
• Cite sources properly using in-text citations and list corresponding references at the end of the presentation material.

Attribution

This chapter is the Northern Illinois University, Designing Effective Presentation Materials webpage. It has been shared here under the Effective Presentation Skills Tutorial licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.