How to build a visual presentation

75 percent of what we know is through vision. Scientists have concluded that 55 percent of the information we perceive visually and only 7 percent using text. An image is worth a thousand words. Therefore, your oral presentation must be accompanied by visual images.

Visual presentation is a teaching method used to visualize ideas. Charts, graphs, slides, photographs - all these are auxiliary tools that can be used. A visual presentation, in fact, is an illustrated report.

A visual presentation teaches you to do the following:

• Explore the subject.

• Express your thoughts briefly and clearly.

• Organize ideas in a logical order.

• Highlight the main points through visual means.

• Hone your ability to speak in front of an audience.

• Develop self-confidence.

Visual aids help presenters highlight key points so that students understand and remember more information. Plan your future presentation on paper. Planning saves time; this is the key to effective presentation. Decide what you will say during each slide. The title should be short but informative.

Rules of conduct during the presentation

• Try to remain collected and calm - do not lean on the table, do not knock with your foot, keep your hands to yourself.

• Keep eye contact with the audience. Spread your attention across the audience.

• Control your voice. Speak loudly enough to be heard and understood. Also speak slowly. Twenty percent slower than usual.

• Avoid long, unnatural pauses.

• Use the pointer to pay attention to important facts.

When presenting text on a projector or on slides, it’s good to use rule six, which means:

- a maximum of six lines per slide;

- a maximum of six words per line.

If you adhere to this rule, you will not overload your presentation with unnecessary information.

Building the right presentation

1. Tell a story that will engage the audience and generate curiosity.

2. Rule of ten / fifteen / thirty slides.

• Ten slides - too many slides will overload information. Select the most important items and focus on them.

• Fifteen minutes - stay within less than fifteen minutes; if more, then you will lose the interest of the audience.

• Thirtieth font - choose the correct font and its size; large fonts are easier to read, small fonts are hard to read.

3. The smaller, the better - use headings, but not paragraphs. Use words or simple phrases to inform.

4. Photography = a thousand words. Use high quality images that say a thousand words. Pictures will help listeners remember and understand information more effectively than words.

5. Use characters and graphics to visualize text.

6. Beautiful design is important. Choose the appropriate color combination - the color palette creates a good design and looks great. Colors will also help show the structure of the presentation and share ideas where necessary.

Color combinations for good visibility:

• black on yellow

• black on orange

• dark green on white

• scarlet red on white

• dark blue on white

• white on black

• white on purple

• yellow on black

• purple on orange

• emerald green on yellow (white)