• Make sure room is equipped with proper technology
• Don’t use too many forms of visual aid – just enough to supplement your speech
• Make sure to bring a back up of your presentation (zip drive, Cd-rom)
• Don’t rely too much on the aid during your speech, practice and be comfortable with it beforehand. DON’T TALK AT YOUR VISUAL AID.

PowerPoint Format Advice:

• Keep it simple! Avoid more that 4 bullets of text per slide.
• Use consistent slides – same background color and font text.
• Don’t overflow your slides with graphics and pictures.
• If using an unfamiliar room, try to do a pre-run of your presentation.
• Use clear and readable font (size 28-32).

Pamphlet/Handout Advice:

• Consider when you want to use a handout.
• Direct your audience where to look for information. Example, number the pages.
• It may be best to hand them out towards the end of your speech. Don’t draw them away from your speech by handing it out at the beginning.

Posters/Tri-Fold Advice:

• Make sure it can be seen by everyone in the room.
• Place it high so your audience will see it.
• Try to avoid making a “collage” and creating a poster that is too cluttered.
• Use large, clean font texts so your poster is easily readable.

Diagram/Table/Chart Advice:

• Avoid using a chart with too many rows/columns - it makes it very hard to understand.

Prepared by Julianne Kissane