4.2.2 Adding visuals of your own

Figure 3

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Image with the rear view of an elderly audience seated in a presentation in a darkened room, with a projection on a screen

Figure 3

In the last section, you examined why you would want to use visuals to support your talk, and looked at how Bill Davenhall used them in his TED talk. You should now consider how you would use visuals to support your talk.

When creating visuals to accompany a talk, you should consider the following:

• Visuals are there for the same reason you are: to get your point across. If they don’t contribute to communicating your message, then you can probably afford to remove them.
• Using special effects (dissolves, animations, slow reveals) or clip art can be tempting, but overuse will be distracting or tiring for the audience.
• Consider where you will present. Does the venue support the technology you want to use? Do you need internet access? Can you practise in the venue beforehand?
• There is no law that says a presentation must start with a logo and the title of your talk, nor that it must end with a picture of a sunset!