Using visuals in an oral presentation is a great way to make an impact on your audience. While the presenter provides a logical argument to appeal to the audience's sense of reason, an image can appeal to emotion and can influence people in a way logic and words cannot.
When to Use Visuals
Introductions
- Opening a presentation with an image is an effective way to engage the crowd and introduce the general theme or topic of the talk.
Main Points
- Highlighting a main point with an image is a great way to emphasize its significance.
- Presenting data in the form of charts and graphs makes it easier for your audience to understand and absorb quickly. This is great for adding supporting details and evidence to back up your main points.
Conclusions
- Closing the presentation with an image can be a good way of making an impression on the audience or leaving them with something to consider.
Do not overdo it
- Try to limit your use of images in your presentation in order to get the most impact from them. Using too many images can diminish their effectiveness.
With your partner(s), discuss the presentation questions below and, for each, find an image that could be used to engage the audience and introduce the topic. Then present the images to the class and explain why you chose them.
- Should wealthy countries provide foreign aid to poor developing nations?
- Reducing meat consumption would be an effective way of reducing the impact of global warming.
- Should people who have unhealthy lifestyles, such as people who smoke or consume too much fast food, receive the same national healthcare coverage as people who live healthy lifestyles?
- Should schools do away with standardized testing?
- Is the increased use of robots in the labour force a problem or a solution?