Overheads and Other Display Media

Section 2.10.3

Overheads and Other Display Media

Overheads, whether acetate or digital, or other display media are usually the only physical, tangible means your audience has to follow your oral presentation. Therefore, learn how to prepare such visual materials effectively.

Viewgraphs (Acetate Overheads)

Viewgraphs are the most common method for displaying visuals and limited text during an oral report. Viewgraphs are made from 8½-by-11-inch acetate transparencies, onto which you photocopy the information you want to display.

Preparing Viewgraph Text

Choose the correct orientation of viewgraph--landscape (long edge on horizontal) or portrait (shorter edge on horizontal)--based on content, room size, distance to the screen, audience seating arrangement, and perhaps any preference expressed by the sponsoring organization.

Title each viewgraph at the top. Titles should be in boldface and large enough to read (try 36-point type).

Put main points in a bulleted list; subpoints of bulleted items should be indented beneath the bulleted item. Avoid writing complete sentences and wordwrapped lines. Use phrases and keywords instead. Avoid tables on viewgraphs.

Keep mathematics to a minimum by showing governing equations only, not detailed derivations. (If you think you will be asked how an equation was derived, you can prepare these slides for possible use during the question-and-answer period.)

Preparing Viewgraph Figures

Title each viewgraph at the top (you do not need to number viewgraph figures as you do in a written report). Titles should be in boldface and large enough to read (try 36-point type).

Figures should be schematic and graphs should be simplified if taken from a written report.

Digital Overheads

Software exists that permits you to create digital "overheads" that may be displayed using a small computer and a specially designed device atop an ordinary overhead projector. All of the guidelines that are presented for acetate overheads apply to digital overheads. However, digital overheads can be much more elaborate in design than the commonplace acetate overhead. As with any tool, however, you should be familiar with their limitations. Follow these simple rules for constructing digital overheads:

Avoid excessive typographical displays that may distract the audience from your content.

Limit the palette of colors you use. Some combination of colors will obscure your content.

Print dark words on a light background for ease of viewing.

Use animation sparingly and only to demonstrate those concepts that naturally require this method of display.

In general, digital overheads may grab an audience's attention initially, but it is your content and style of speaking that will hold them throughout your presentation.

Flipcharts, Whiteboards, Chalkboards

At informal oral presentations, such as meetings, you sometimes make use of flipcharts (large sheets of paper bound at the top edge and placed on an easel), whiteboards (light-colored surfaces for writing on with dry markers), or chalkboards to display general points or to record items of discussion as they arise. These graphic media, while basic, are nevertheless subtle focusing tools for a speaker or the leader of a meeting. "Whoever controls the blackboard, controls the meeting" is an old saying but nonetheless often a true one. Effective managers know that the items that are recorded on the flipchart or board are the items that focus the discussion as it proceeds and are generally the points of discussion that get recorded in the minutes of a meeting.

Learn these basic techniques for using flipcharts and boards:

Be brief. Write down only key words and phrases. Do not attempt to write a full transcript of a discussion as it is occurring.

Be legible. It won't help the audience if your writing cannot be read easily; therefore, print in block letters.

Be aware of the sense of the discussion. Don't mark down trivial asides or tangents, or only those ideas that interest you.

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