Page 369 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

336 Part 3 Putting Theory Into Practice

Appropriate “Build” Effects (Animation)

Recall that when you use visual aids such as overhead transparencies, we rec-
ommended that you reveal your points only as you are ready to talk about them.
That way your next point will not distract your audience and you can control
the pace of their focus. The same applies to PowerPoint slides. Unless there is
a strong reason to do otherwise (such as a preview slide that lists all the main
points to be covered in the speech), be sure to animate your slide so that each
bulleted point is revealed as you are ready to discuss it. Furthermore, be sure to
use animation effects that are simple and fast. For example, avoid slow-moving
animations such as spiral, crawl, and swivel and use quicker ones such as dis-
solve, appear, and peek. Unless they are critical to your presentation, be sure to
turn off sound effects that can annoy your audience and your instructor.

Visual Balance

It is important that you strive for visual balance. This means avoiding a lot of
dead or empty space and also not having a lopsided slide. Also, position items
for legibility and clarity. Depending on the confi guration of the room and lines
of sight, words near the bottom of the slide are sometimes hard to see because
the heads of those in front of them block people’s views. Thus, don’t cram im-
portant information along the bottom of slides. It is better to use a new slide if
everything won’t fi t on one.

Tips and Tactics
PowerPoint Keys

• Keep it simple: less is usually best. The goal of all visual aids, including Power-
Point, is to organize, illustrate, simplify, and complement your speech. If
it starts to supplant or overshadow your presentation, it has not served its
purpose.
• Be sure of your purpose. Always ask yourself, how does the slide make your
www.mhhe.com/brydon6
presentation better? If it doesn’t, omit it.
To view a video of Shelly Lee • Rehearse. We never use Power-
Spratt’s speech and her use
of PowerPoint, click on the Point slides cold. No matter
Speech Coach link on our how well we think we have
Online Learning Center Web prepared them, we are often
site, and go to Segment 12.2.
surprised when we practice
to discover that the anima-
tion didn’t work as planned, a
hyperlink in the slide is dead,
or that what looked good on
our computer screen is totally
invisible on the classroom
screen.
• Have a backup! One of the con-
stant complaints we get from
students is that they feel they When using computers to present visuals for
a speech it is important to check out equip-
were unfairly graded when ment in advance as depicted here.
the presentation in class didn’t