A quick and dirty primer Visual Aids A quick and dirty primer

Visual Aids Audience Advantages Add clarity Indicate what’s important Reinforce key points Increase interest Reach different learning styles Aid retention

Visual Aids Speaker Advantages Show preparedness Add credibility Help reduce fright Add confidence

Visual Aids Simple Large Clear Consistent (An oil slick – get it?)

Visual Aids Not… SIMPLE

Visual Aids Not Simple

Visual Aids Visual Aids allow you to reach students of different learning styles because it adds a visual element to your oral presentation. This is especially important because today’s students seem to be more visual than other generations. It helps reinforce the key information in your presentation and keeps student interest focused on the front of the room. It allows you to give students clear prompts for their assignments, especially in-class assignments. They can always look up to refocus their attention to the assigned task. Visual Aids can be used over and over again and can be electronically moved directly to a web site so that students can look at it again after class and as many times as they want. It serves as Ockham’s razor by helping you structure your thoughts. Not Simple

Visual Aids Not Large

Visual Aids Not Large

Visual Aids

Visual Aids Not Clear

Visual Aids Not Consistent

Visual Aids Not Consistent

Visual Aids Use me for hard copy (with serif) Use me for projection (sans serif)

Visual Aids If using text in general Six words per line Six lines per page

Visual Aids DON’T USE ALL CAPS… It’s easier to read this... …THAN THIS!

Visual Aids Color is important Yellow Brown Green Blue Red White

Visual Aids And so is intensity… Green

Visual Aids is worth A

Visual Aids

Visual Aids But… …don’t over do it!

Visual Aids

Visual Aids What about displaying data?

Visual Aids Graphs Give life to data Make data more interesting Show trends, patterns, and relationships

Visual Aids The type of graph Depends on the kind and amount of data Depends on what story you want to tell

Visual Aids Constructing a graph Requires using your whole brain (just like mind mapping)

Visual Aids Aesthetic thinking is needed to: Insure the visual look and feel is appropriate Analytical thinking is needed to: Select the right graph type Insure the graph is complete & accurate

Visual Aids Graph Types

Visual Aids Line Graphs Shows changes in data over time

Visual Aids

Visual Aids Area Graph Variation on basic line graph Shows the contribution of a set of data to the whole

Visual Aids

Visual Aids Bar Graph Each column represents a particular category at one point in time Compares related data Almost always sorted

Visual Aids

Stacked Bar Graph Variation of the bar graph Shows contributions of sub-sections to the whole At given point of time

Visual Aids

Visual Aids 3D Bar Graph Another variation of the bar graph Places one row of bars in front of another Highlights comparisons Again, at one given point in time

Visual Aids

Visual Aids Pie Graph Compares the components of a set to each other Shows percentage proportion of two or more values to a meaningful whole

Visual Aids

Visual Aids X-Y Graph Also called Scatterplots Shows correlation or relationship between two different sets of data Data often have different scales of measurement Best fit line shows type and degree of relationship

Visual Aids

Animations “Appear” works well Allows focus on each point Avoids audience reading ahead But don’t get carried away

That goes for sound as well