Page 374 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

Chapter 12 Using Media in Your Speech 341

Tips and Tactics
Laying Out Information and Graphics

• Place images near the top of your visual to ensure maximum visibility.
• Accentuate key points with bold type, underlining, or a contrasting
color.
• Leave generous margins, larger on top than bottom, and equal on
the sides.

Use Color

The proper use of color helps your audience pay attention, comprehend, and
remember your visuals. As you begin to consider color and its place in making
your visuals more powerful, follow these guidelines.

• Use primary colors—red, blue, and yellow—which have been shown to cre-
ate the strongest impact.

• Use contrasting but complementary colors so that your audience can see
clearly. Yellow lettering on a white background, for example, is almost
invisible.
• Use colored backgrounds as long as the color is not so dark that the mes-
sage is hard to see. Colored backgrounds are more visually soothing.

• Don’t use confusing colors. For example, don’t use red to show profi ts and
black to show losses.

When in Doubt . . . Leave It Out

This rule should come as no surprise given our previous remarks. As we’ve re-
peatedly said, you should only use presentational media when they truly add
something to your speech. This is true of the content of a poster board, over-
head, or PowerPoint slide. Always ask yourself whether a graphic or bit of text is
absolutely necessary to achieve your speech purpose. If you have doubts, then
the graphic or text can probably be left out.

Plan Ahead

As Murphy’s Law reminds us, no plan is foolproof (see the box “Speaking
of . . . Murphy’s Law Revisited.”) Only fools would try to integrate media with
their speech without planning ahead. At a minimum, consider these recommen-
dations, which we emphasize with our students.