Summary

Properly used, presentational media can make the difference between a successful speech and a failure. Improperly used, they can undermine your purpose. Remember:

• Avoid relying too much on presentational media, cramming too much information on a single hard-to-see visual, and using the wrong type of presentational medium to achieve your purpose.
• Think of presentational media as extensions of your senses, using them as a complement to speech, as visual illustrators of speech, as regulators of speech, and as emblematic speech.
• Use presentational media appropriately, matching a medium with its best possible purpose.
• Consider all of the possibilities, including actual objects, models, audio, video, and computer-generated slides.
• Match content with the appropriate medium, for example, using visual media such as pie charts and bar graphs to show statistical data.
• Keep presentational media simple, visible, easy to read, and colorful.
• Give the audience at least 10 seconds to process presentational media.
• And never forget that presentational media may complement your speech, but they can never take your place or achieve your purpose and goals.