 Presentational aids can be a really valuable resource as a public speaker. They can enhance your speech and and help an audience really understand and retain information, but there are specific guidelines that we need to be aware of and follow to use Presentational Aids effectively in our speeches. So let's talk about that a little bit. Starting with why do we use Presentational Aids? Let's start with the why. First of all, Presentational Aids can spark interest. They can draw an audience in. They can really be interesting to an audience and and and cause their curiosity to be to be engaged. So they can spark interest in the audience in the topic. They can also increase the understanding and really provide another avenue to share that information with the audience to allow them to digest information and to better understand and retain information. So it can really increase the understanding of the audience. It can emphasize key ideas. Again, the more we can press these main ideas home with the audience, the better. So we can speak about them, but we can also demonstrate them or show them on a screen or or whatever it is. We can emphasize those key ideas. All of this, of course, is going to aid retention. We want the audience to remember what it is we're saying. So a visual aid can be something memorable. It can help them retain things more effectively. We can use Presentational Aids to appeal to emotions as well for showing pictures and personalizing a topic. And you know those types of things we can appeal to the emotions of an audience. We can engage pathos right through using Presentational Aids. So there are others, but these are just some key reasons why we use Presentational Aids and why they can have so much of an impact in our speech. So I want to move on to talking about what are some of the different types of Presentational Aids. There are lots of different types of Presentational Aids. All of them have advantages or disadvantages, but let's just categorize them here real quickly. First of all, we can use an object or a prop. We can have that. We can bring in the actual thing of what we're talking about. If we have access to it and it fits in a room and it's allowed or whatever or not, if you're talking about snakes or something like that, don't bring those in, right? But we can bring in the actual object and use it as a prop. We can use models. We don't have the real thing. We may not have, you know, big, big sailing vessel like this, but we can bring in a model. We don't have an F-16. We can bring in a model of that. We can bring in a model of the Death Star or whatever it is we're talking about to demonstrate for the audience and to give them visual representation there. We can use graphs and graphs come in a variety of types of themselves, right? So we can use things like a line graph to demonstrate different relationships between things and just an indicator of a variety of things. We can use a line graph or we can use a bar graph to compare things side by side, to provide that visual comparison. We can use a pie graph to show distribution of things. So graphs have different purposes and can help accomplish different things. So we need to choose those wisely, but they can be very effective and fairly easy to put together. So other types of presentation lines that we have include charts and diagrams. So we can use a variety of different charts and diagrams, including things like flow charts to demonstrate different relationships between hierarchical structures and things. We could use diagrams to, again, provide visual representation of things. We can use a table to lay things out graphically for an audience. So charts and diagrams can be an effective presentational aid depending on our need and depending on what we're trying to convey to the audience. We can use a variety of different audio and visual tools. We have televisions and projectors and different things like that that we can use. We can use video to demonstrate things. We can use audio clips to enhance the audience's understanding or to spark their interest in things. So we can use audio visual presentations or presentational aids. We can demonstrate things, show how things are done and how to speech. We can bring in the actual things and we can walk the audience through a demonstration. Our own appearance can also be a presentational aid. If we're talking about welding, we can dress in our welding gear or, you know, whatever it is we're talking about, we can use our own personal appearance and we ourselves can become a presentational aid. In today's modern world, we use a lot of technology. We use different types of media for using presentational aids as well. So let's touch on a couple of those items specifically and using media to display aids. First of all, a lot of times we're using a computer and or projector and using some sort of multimedia software when we're giving presentation. So we need to be aware of things like PowerPoint and Google Slides and Prezi and different types of software that we can use and we need to use those effectively though. There's some resources out there that demonstrate how we can best use these and not get overly pulled in by them and not let them become a distraction on our speech. We want to be careful about that. We can go old school and use a flip chart. Again, depending on what you're doing, if you're working in small groups, your brainstorming and things, that can be effective. You do want to be cautious that it can seem a little bit prepared and it could also at times cause you as a speaker to turn your back on the audience if you're writing on a flip chart. But there are times when it's either necessary or when it's the best option. So we can do that. We can put together a nice poster. Poster board is pretty cheap and we can put something on a poster and go old school or low tech like that as well. We can use a whiteboard. Again, not ideal because it causes us to turn our back on the audience, but you use what you have and do the best with what you can. So keep in mind those different types of media that we can use to display aids as well. And finally, handouts. Now, handouts can be great for having the audience take information with them. However, you don't want to hand things out before or during your speech really because then it becomes a distraction. The audience is more interested in what's on your handout and they're reading it rather than paying attention to what your message is. So if you're using handouts, be sure you hand those out at the end of your speech after you're done speaking so that they're not a distraction. A couple of tips for presenting aids. How do we actually present these aids effectively and have the audience see them effectively? First, I want to encourage you to use the conceal reveal conceal technique for presenting your aids as much as possible. Visual aids can become a distraction for the audience when they're left out for the audience to see. So if you bring in that model ship, that's really cool. You can refer to it. You can use it and so forth. But then you want to put it away so the audience can't see it and isn't distracted by that thing. You don't just want to leave the PowerPoint up behind you the whole time if you can help it. You want to conceal that. So conceal it until you're ready to use it, then reveal it and use it effectively, use it fully and then conceal it again so it doesn't become a distraction for the audience and doesn't keep them from hearing your actual message. Explain and reference your aids. Don't just put that model ship out or put whatever out or put the PowerPoint picture or anything up on the screen and not refer to it, not explain it and just think that it's going to explain itself. Use that aid, explain it, reference it. Don't just throw it up there and hope the audience understands. Make the aids large enough for everybody to see. This is where audience analysis comes in handy. You need to know what the situation is going to be. Are you speaking in a huge auditorium? If so, then that you know something small is not going to be visible for the entire audience. You need to think about the person in the back row of this of the setting and situation. Are they going to be able to see the visual? Are they going to be able to see things well enough to read them? So it needs to be big enough for everybody in the audience to see. You need to practice with your presentational aids. You need to, when you're practicing your speech or rehearsing your speech, which hopefully you're doing quite a bit before you actually speak, you need to do so with your presentational aids. You need to have experience running that PowerPoint and pushing it through at the right time. You need to have practice holding and handling that model or whatever it is you're using so that it's not the first time and so that it goes smoothly during your speech. So practice with your aids as you're rehearsing your speech. Remember you're giving a speech, not a slideshow. So don't expect, first of all, don't expect the PowerPoint to do all the work or whatever it is you're using. Don't just constantly stare at it. Make sure you maintain eye contact with your audience, but remember that the PowerPoint or whatever presentational aid you're using is there as an aid. It's not a substitute for you as a speaker. You are delivering that message. Use the presentational aid as an aid, not as the slideshow itself. So use some transitions in there. Now, not in your PowerPoint. It's fun. Don't use transitions and the PowerPoint provides, because those are kind of useless, but you do want to use transitions from one topic to another. Use your transitions in your speech, your connectives from main point to main point. Use those to help the audience move along. Don't rely on your PowerPoint. I mean, just because your next PowerPoint slide has a different title, don't just assume the audience knows that's the next main point. Use transitions still, right? The PowerPoint is there to aid things not to replace these things. Use your transitions. Don't read off your slides. Don't turn, you know, your head or just just, first of all, if you have too much text on your slide, the audience doesn't even need you. So you shouldn't use it as a manuscript or anything like that and there shouldn't be that much text on your slide to begin with. And then look at and talk to the audience, not to your slide or to your visual aid. Be sure your your focus is on the audience, not whatever that aid is. You should be able to hand again through practice and knowing what's there. You should be able to handle, move through that aid, and use it without really looking at it yourself. A few more tips for for Presentational Aids. First of all, keep it simple and professional. The Presentational Aid is not your speech. This should not take up the majority of your speech preparation time. You should use it simply and just keep it professional. A couple of things within that. First of all, use the 6x6 rule, which says no more than 6 lines per slide and no more than 6 words per line. Just keep that as a general rule. Now again, can you fudge that a little bit? Yeah, but if you get too far out of that, then you have the whole text on the screen and it's just busy and so no more than 6 lines per slide and 6 words per line. Don't use random clipart and things like that. It's not necessary. It doesn't really add that much to your speech. This fancy graphic and doesn't help the audience is understanding that much. So it's just a distraction and not really necessary. No more than two fonts. Don't use any more than two font styles. Typically one font and style for the header, the title on the slide, and another for the body. But you don't need more than two fonts for your PowerPoint or whatever you're using there. No more than four colors. Don't use a ton of color. Again, this is not a demonstration of your understanding of the color wheel and so forth. This is a speech with a message and this presentation light is just there to support that. Don't let it become a distraction. Don't use so much your time on it with all the fancy graphics and things. Just keep it very simple and keep it professional. Be sure that your font contrasts with the background. Now this particular line you may have some issue seeing what's on here because it doesn't contrast enough with the background. You can see it a little bit, but it should be very clear. There should be a dark font with a light background or vice versa, a light font with a back with a dark background. That's very simple for the audience to see and avoid animations and transitions in your in your presentation or just very simple ones. You can you note that all might have just been up here. That's all I use for animations and I don't use transitions between slides. Again, it does not add anything to your slides. It just interrupts the flow a lot of times and it's not necessary. It doesn't enhance the audience's understanding of your message. So just leave them out. As far as these presentational softwares avoid animations and transitions and things that they're just not necessary. No bolding, underlining or italics unless necessary. Again, let the word speak for themselves. They're just there in support and as an aid. So you don't really need all that other stuff. Have a backup plan. What if the computer doesn't work? What if the projector stops working? What if your technology is not functioning the way you think it should or would like it to your presentational aid is not the speech? Or what if you forget your model in the car? What if it breaks and you don't have it with you? You go on. The show must go on. As a speaker, you have a message that presentational aid should be there to support it. But you should be able to go on without it and adapt and adjust. So have a backup plan either with a different presentational aid or just to move on without it. And use consistent design elements. Again, we talked about avoiding all the other stuff. So use consistent design elements in terms of color, font sizes, styling graphics. Just keep it simple. Keep it professional. Don't worry about all the other bells and whistles and things that that are provided in these things. The point is your message. If you have questions about presentational aids, anything really related to public speaking, please feel free to email me. Be happy to chat with you in that way. So in the meantime, I hope you'll really give close consideration to your presentational aids with a full understanding that they are there in support. They do not replace any aspect of your speech. And while they can enhance and be a great tool in helping the audience understand and and receive the message that you're sending, they are not the speech alone. So use presentational aids wisely and appropriately in your efforts as a public speaker.