Using Visual Aids
Chapter Objectives
After reading this chapter, students should be able to:
2. Identify the kinds of visual aids available for use in speeches.
3. Apply the guidelines given in the chapter for preparing and presenting visual aids.
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CHAPTER 14—USING VISUAL AIDS 199
Chapter Outline
I. Visual aids offer a speaker several advantages.
A. Visual aids enhance a speaker’s credibility.
II. There are many kinds of visual aids.
A. Objects and models can work extremely well as visual aids.
B. Photographs and drawings can be of great advantage to a speaker.
C. Graphs are a good way to clarify and simplify statistics.
2. Pie graphs are well suited for demonstrating distribution patterns.
3. Bar graphs are effective for showing comparisons between two or more items.
D. Charts are a good choice when a speaker needs to summarize large blocks of
information.
E. Video can be extremely effective as a visual aid.
F. Sometimes the speaker can use her or his own body as a visual aid.
G. Presentation technology allows a speaker to combine charts, graphs, photographs,
and video in the same talk.
2. Speakers need a clear idea of exactly why, how, and when they will use
presentation technology in their speeches.
III. There are seven basic guidelines to follow when creating visual aids.
A. Speakers should prepare visual aids well in advance.
B. Speakers should keep visual aids simple.
C. Speakers should make sure visual aids are large enough.
IV. In addition to preparing visual aids effectively, speakers should follow seven guidelines
when presenting visual aids during a speech.
A. Speakers should display visual aids where listeners can see them.
B. Speakers should avoid passing visual aids among the audience.
200 CHAPTER–BY–CHAPTER GUIDE TO THE ART OF PUBLIC SPEAKING
C. Speakers should display visual aids only while discussing them.
D. Speakers should explain their visual aids clearly and concisely.
Exercises for Critical Thinking
(from text page 267)
1. Watch a how–to video (a cooking show, for example) or the weather portion of a local news-
cast. Notice how the speaker uses visual aids to help communicate the message. What kinds
of visual aids are used? How do they enhance the clarity, interest, and retainability of the
speaker’s message? What would the speaker have to do to communicate the message effec-
tively without visual aids?
Discussion: This exercise helps attune students to the advantages and logistics of using vis-
2. Consider how you might use visual aids to explain each of the following:
a. How to stretch before and after exercise.
b. The proportion of the electorate that votes in major national elections in the United States,
France, Germany, England, and Japan, respectively.
f. How to play the ukulele.
g. The basic equipment and techniques of rock climbing.
Discussion: This exercise is designed to get students thinking about how they might use
3. Plan to use visual aids in at least one of your classroom speeches. Be creative in devising
your aids, and be sure to follow the guidelines discussed in the chapter for using them. After
the speech, analyze how effectively you employed your visual aids, what you learned about
the use of visual aids from your experience, and what changes you would make in using visu-
al aids if you were to deliver the speech again.
Discussion: Some teachers assign a round of speeches—usually informative—in which
students must use visual aids. Such an assignment has several advantages. First, it gives
Using Public Speaking in Your Career
(from text page 258)
As a veterinarian and owner of a small–animal practice, you work closely with your local humane
society to help control a growing population of unwanted dogs and cats. You and your staff de-
vote many hours annually in free and reduced–cost medical services to animals adopted from the
society. Now you have been asked to speak to the city council in support of legislation proposed
by the society for stronger enforcement of animal licensing and leash laws.
In your speech, you plan to include statistics that (1) compare estimates of the city’s dog pop-
ulation with the number of licenses issued during the past five years and (2) show the small num-
ber of citations given by local law enforcement for unleashed pets during the same period of time.
Knowing from your college public speaking class how valuable visual aids can be in presenting
statistics, you decide to illustrate one set of statistics with a chart and the other with a graph.
For which set of statistics will a chart be more appropriate? For which set will a graph be
more appropriate? Of the three kinds of graphs discussed in this chapter—bar, line, pie—which
will work best for your statistics, and why?
Discussion: As with other Using Public Speaking in Your Career scenarios throughout the
book, this one is designed to give students a sense of the many kinds of public speaking sit-
202 CHAPTER–BY–CHAPTER GUIDE TO THE ART OF PUBLIC SPEAKING
Additional Exercises and Activities
1. Show students Part Two of Introductions, Conclusions, and Visual Aids, which is available
on Connect.
Discussion: When it comes to teaching students about visual aids, a picture is truly worth a
2. Develop a file of old visual aids you can display for students to demonstrate the characteristics
of effective and ineffective visual aids. Have the students identify which aids work well, which
do not, and why. Ask students for ways to improve the ineffective visual aids.
Discussion: This exercise complements Additional Exercise/Activity 1 above. Displaying old
3. Show the class one or more of the speeches that use visual aids from the DVD of student
speeches that accompanies this edition of The Art of Public Speaking. Use the DVD to illus-
trate points about the effective use of visual aids.
Discussion: It is one thing to show students excerpts from speeches that use visual aids;
it is another thing to show them full speeches that revolve around the effective use of vis-
CHAPTER 14—USING VISUAL AIDS 203
The DVD also contains five informative speeches that demonstrate the use of presen-
tation technology: “Supervolcanoes: The Sleeping Giants,” “Lady Liberty,” “Medical Ro-
bots: From Science Fiction to Science Fact,” “Securing Yourself Online,” and “The Hidden
4. Show students one or more TED Talks, which often include highly effective visual aids. You
can find a variety of TED Talks by searching “TED Talks” on YouTube or by navigating to
www.TED.com.
Discussion: These days, TED Talks are a prominent outlet for dynamic public speaking.
TED—which stands for Technology, Education, and Design—showcases inventive thinkers
from academia, the business world, and the political arena. TED Talks tend to be brief (10–
15 minutes), which makes them a good candidate for classroom viewing. Moreover, the