Visuals:

Cliché as it is, pictures really do paint a thousand words, which is why visuals comprise another tool for making effective presentations. They help impart information in a simple and easily understood way, and can make it easy for your audience to remember facts and figures.

Create a Graph:

Graphs are a great way to show patterns, sequences, comparisons, facts, and sets of numerical values. Simply plug in your values into a spreadsheet, like Microsoft Excel, and create a graph you want. There are several kinds, each with their own strengths and uses.

Line graphs:

These are good for showing continuous data or trends. A line graph is essentially a set of points plotted on an X-Y axis and connected by a line. The variable measured on the X-axis has to be something continuous, such as time or distance. Line graphs can be useful for comparing the progress of several trends, like the rise or decline stocks, prices, population, income, and so on.

Bar graphs:

Note that too many lines can make your line graph confusing. A bar graph is a more convenient way of describing a large number of trends. Instead of a line, bars are used to represent values; the higher or longer the bar, the greater the value. Bar graphs are ideal for providing data on the performance of employees, several models of cars, the GDP of different countries, etc.

Pie Graph:

This graph is the ideal way of comparing data as a whole. The pie represents a totality of the data involved, while the individual slices are the percentages of the whole. However, be careful about having too many slices. If you find the segments becoming too thin, switch to using a bar graph.

Video Presentation:

Everyone loves a good video—particularly the speakers, who they don’t have to talk while the video presentation is running. Video is an effective means of reaching out to your audience, as it can incorporate music, effects, and vocal delivery. To enhance the experience, keep the following in mind when doing a video presentation:

   *  - Take care of all technical aspects of the video before the presentation. Prepare the correct volume, focus, equipment and room lighting. Begin the video with a brief explanation of what it’s about.
   *  - Watch the video with the audience, expressing interest and focus. This will help them keep their interest and focus as well.
   *  - After the video is finished, take some time to explain to the audience what they just saw and highlight key points.
Beware of running videos that are too long, as they can prove a distraction to your speech instead of a way to enhance it. Remember, you are the one doing the presentation, not the projector.

Powerpoint Presentations:

Because they are easy to use and update, Powerpoint presentations have become the most common visual tool in business presentations. The ability to add graphs, videos, text, and even music to a Powerpoint presentation makes it a versatile and effective instrument. However, precisely because you can do a lot with Powerpoint presentations, you’ll need to exercise some thought and restraint when using it.

Do not make your slides too “busy.” Use at most six bullet points per slide, or a single important statement, or just a single picture or diagram with one line of text.

Do not use the slides as cue cards. As with all visual aids, remember that your audience should be listening to YOU, not reading the slides.

For formal situations, do without transition effects, animations, and sound effects. These can rapidly distract or even annoy your audience.

Visuals are not always necessary, and it’s important for you to determine if you do need them. Visual presentations are prone to technical failures—missing files, incorrect laptop connections, a faulty projector, power failures—all of these things have happened in past speeches and are bound to happen again. And if you do need to use them, it’s a good idea to use them in service of your presentation. The people are there to listen to you, after all. Focus on your audience and you cannot go wrong.

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