Talk Prep:EF781
Verbal vs. Visual Elements

     Ideas that preclude words are supported with pictures and graphs on the screen. To the eye your presentation will give information about shapes, colors, surface qualities, and spatial relationships. To the ear, your presentation will provide reasoning. The best technical talk is an effective mix of verbal and visual elements.

    Illustrate what you cannot verbalize, what would take too long to describe, or what you want to emphasize. Use slides to hold attention, illustrate, clarify, restate, explain and interpret. Ears have trouble accepting numbers and abstractions. Numbers are easier to remember if they are written out. Quantities and relationships must be visually compared. By adding illustrations to your spoken words, you add understanding to what you are saying and enliven interest in your presentation.

• Animations
  Make use of its dynamic capabilities to highlight different features, to indicate a chain of reasoning, to introduce successive levels of detail into an example, or to demonstrate the dynamic behavior of an algorithm.
  
• Maintain context
  Never say one thing visually on the screen and something else orally. The mind can not readily accept such conflicting information even when both things are correct and related.
  
• Blank slides
  Slides are an aid to your presentation and not the presentation itself. Avoid reading slides, keep your attention on the audience. Sometimes, you might wish to digress from the topic of the current slide but do not want the audience distracted by the next one. In this case, use a blank slide of a subdued color (dark color, no white).
  
• Prepare for the question period
  Make a list of probable questions. This will help you to make a quick response. Some presenters even make up a slide or two for expected questions.