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It’s About Them: 12.5 Low-Tech Presentation Aids

It’s About Them
12.5 Low-Tech Presentation Aids
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table of contents
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Table Of Contents
  5. Preface
  6. What Is an Open Textbook?
  7. Chapter 1: Why Public Speaking Matters Today
    1. 1.1 Public Speaking in the Twenty-First Century
    2. 1.2 Why Is Public Speaking Important?
    3. 1.3 The Process of Public Speaking
  8. Chapter 2: Building Confidence
    1. 2.1 What is Communication Apprehension?
    2. 2.2 Classifying PSA
    3. 2.3 Learning Confidence
  9. Chapter 3: Audience Analysis
    1. 3.1 What Is Audience Analysis? Why Conduct It?
    2. 3.2 Why Conduct an Audience Analysis?
    3. 3.3 Three Types of Audience Analysis
    4. 3.4 Conducting Audience Analysis
    5. 3.5 Using Your Audience Analysis
  10. Chapter 4: The Importance of Listening
    1. 4.1 Importance of Listening
    2. 4.2 Listening vs. Hearing
    3. 4.3 Listening Styles
    4. 4.4 Why Listening Is Difficult
    5. 4.5 Stages of Listening
    6. 4.6 Listening Critically
  11. Chapter 5: Ethics
    1. 5.1 The Ethics Pyramid
    2. 5.2 Ethics in Public Speaking
    3. 5.3 Free Speech
    4. 5.4 Mass Communication and Ethics
  12. Chapter 6: Researching Your Speech
    1. 6.1 Beginning the Research Process
    2. 6.2 What Is Research?
    3. 6.3 Developing a Research Strategy
    4. 6.4 Citing Sources
  13. Chapter 7: Supporting Ideas and Building Arguments
    1. 7.1 Crafting Supporting Ideas
    2. 7.2 Using Research as Support
    3. 7.3 Exploring Types of Support
    4. 7.4 Using Support and Creating Arguments
  14. Chapter 8: Organizing and Outlining
    1. 8.1 Why is Organizing and Outlining Important
    2. 8.2 The Topic, General Purpose, Specific Purpose, and Thesis
    3. 8.3 Organizational Patterns of Arrangement for Informative Speeches
    4. 8.4 Outlining Your Speech
  15. Chapter 9: Delivery
    1. 9.1 The Importance of Delivery
    2. 9.2 Methods of Speech Delivery
    3. 9.3 Preparing for Your Delivery
    4. 9.4 Practicing Your Delivery
    5. 9.5 What to Do When Delivering Your Speech
  16. Chapter 10: Introductions and Conclusions
    1. 10.1 Introductions
    2. 10.2 Conclusions
  17. Chapter 11: Language
    1. 11.1 What Language Is and Does
    2. 11.2 Standards for Language in Public
    3. 11.3 Using Effective Language in Public Speaking
  18. Chapter 12: Presentation Aids
    1. 12.1 What Are Presentation Aids?
    2. 12.2 Functions of Presentation Aids
    3. 12.3 Types of Presentation Aids
    4. 12.4 Using Presentation Slides
    5. 12.5 Low-Tech Presentation Aids
  19. Chapter 13 Informative Speaking
    1. 13.1 What is an Informative Speech?
    2. 13.2 Types of Informative Speeches
    3. 13.3 Guidelines for Informative Speech Topic Selection and Preparation
    4. 13.4 Sample Informative Speeches and Speech Outlines
  20. Chapter 14: Persuasive Speaking
    1. 14.1 Why Persuade?
    2. 14.2 A Definition of Persuasion
    3. 14.3 Why is Persuasion Hard?
    4. 14.4 Traditional Views of Persuasion
    5. 14.5 Constructing a Persuasive Speech
    6. 14.6 Sample Persuasive Speech Outlines
  21. Chapter 15: Special Occasion Speaking
    1. 15.1 Understanding Special Occasion Speaking
    2. 15.2 Types of Special Occasion Speeches
    3. 15.3 Special Occasion Language
    4. 15.4 Special Occasion Delivery
    5. 15.5 Sample Special Occasion Speech Outline
  22. Chapter 16: Online Public Speaking
    1. 16.1 Online Public Speaking
  23. About the Contributors
  24. Adaptations
  25. Glossary
  26. Appendix A: Checklist for Accessibility

12.5 Low-Tech Presentation Aids

One reason for using digital media is that they can’t be prone to physical damage in the form of smudges, scratches, dents, and rips. Unlike posters and objects, presentation software can be kept professional looking if you have to carry them through a rainstorm or blizzard. However, there are times when it makes sense to use “low-tech” media for presentations. Here are some directions for those times.

Dry-Erase Board

If you use a chalkboard or dry-erase board, you are not using a prepared presentation aid. Your failure to prepare visuals ahead of time can be interpreted in several ways, mostly negative. If other speakers carefully design, produce, and use attractive visual aids, yours will stand out by contrast. You will be seen as the speaker who does not take the time to prepare even a simple aid. Do not use a chalkboard or dry-erase board and pretend it’s a prepared presentation aid.

However, numerous speakers do utilize chalk and dry-erase boards effectively. Typically, these speakers use the chalk or dry-erase board for interactive components of a speech. For example, maybe you’re giving a speech in front of a group of executives. You may have a PowerPoint all prepared, but at various points in your speech you want to get your audience’s responses. (More recent technologies, such as on iPads, allow you to do the interaction on the screen, but this would have to be supported by the environment.) Chalk or dry-erase boards are very useful when you want to visually show information that you are receiving from your audience. If you ever use a chalk or dry-erase board, follow these four simple rules:

  1. Write large enough so that everyone in the room can see (which is harder than it sounds; it is also hard to write and talk at the same time!).
  2. Print legibly; don’t write in cursive script.
  3. Write short phrases; don’t take time to write complete sentences.
  4. Be sure you have markers that will not go dry, and clean the board afterward.

Flipchart

A flipchart is useful for situations when you want to save what you have written for future reference or to distribute to the audience after the presentation. As with whiteboards, you will need good markers and readable handwriting, as well as a strong easel to keep the flipchart upright.

Posters

You may have the opportunity in your college years to attend or participate in a “poster session.” These are times during an academic conference where visitors can view a well-designed poster depicting a research project and discuss it one-on-one with the researcher. These kinds of posters are quite large and involve a great deal of work. They can be generated from PowerPoint but often require a special printer. Otherwise, posters are probably not the best way to approach presentation aids in a speech. There are problems with visibility as well as portability. Avoid producing a presentation aid that looks like you simply cut pictures out of magazines and pasted them on. Slapping some text and images on a board looks unprofessional and will not be viewed as credible or effective.

Handouts

Handouts are appropriate for delivering information that audience members can take away with them. As we will see, handouts require a great deal of management if they are to contribute to your credibility as a speaker.

First, make sure the handout is worth the trouble of making, copying, and distributing it. Does the audience really need the handout? Second, make sure to bring enough copies of the handout for each audience member to get one. Having to share or look on with one’s neighbor does not contribute to a professional image. Under no circumstances should you ever provide a single copy of a handout to pass around. It is distracting, and everyone will see it at different times in the speech, which is also true about passing any object around the room.

There are three possible times to distribute handouts: before you begin your speech, during the speech, and after your speech is over. Naturally, if you need your listeners to follow along in a handout, you will need to distribute it before your speech begins. If you have access to the room ahead of time, place a copy of the handout at or on each seat in the audience. If not, ask a volunteer to distribute them as quickly as possible while you prepare to begin speaking. If the handout is a “takeaway,” leave it on a table near the door so that those audience members who are interested can take one on their way out; in this case, don’t forget to tell them to do so as you conclude your speech. It is almost never appropriate to distribute handouts during your speech, as it is distracting, takes up time, and interrupts the pace of your presentation.

Conclusion

To finish this chapter, we will recap and remind you about the principles of effective presentation aids. Whether your aid is a slide show, object, a person, or dry erase board, these standards are essential:

  • Presentation aids must be easily seen or heard by your audience. Squinting and head-cocking are not good reactions. Neither should the audience look at the screen the whole time and ignore the speaker.
  • Presentation aids must be portable, easily handled, and efficient.

Annotate

Next chapter
Chapter 13 Informative Speaking
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Presenting and Public Speaking
It’s About Them: Public Speaking in the 21st Century Copyright © 2022 by LOUIS: The Louisiana Library Network is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted
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