Visual aids are essential to helping your audience better understand the key points of your presentation. Visual aids will also help to improve the attention span of audience members during the presentation. However, it is important that presenters use visual aids in a manner that does not distract from the overall presentation. An effective visual aid will include the following attributes:

Easily seen or heard by the audience
Easily handled
Aesthetically pleasing
Easy to understand the key point
Act as a supplement to the speaker's message and not a replacement

Easily Seen or Heard by the Audience

Presentation aids must be accessible for every audience member. If those in the back of the room cannot see, hear, or otherwise experience a presentation aid, then it is counterproductive to use it. Graphic elements in presentation aids must be large enough to read, and audio must be loud enough to hear.

Easily Handled

You should be able to carry your presentation aids into the room by yourself. In addition, you should be skilled in using the presentation equipment. Your presentation aids should not distract you from the delivery of your speech.

Aesthetically Pleasing

The design of your presentation should not detract from the content of your speech. Keep your presentation simple so people can focus on the content rather than on the animation or colors. The decisions you make in designing your visuals should be dictated by the content of your speech. If you use color, use it for a clear reason. If you use a border, keep it simple. Whatever you do, make sure your presentation aids will be perceived as carefully planned and executed elements of your speech.

Easy to Understand the Key Point

If your PowerPoint slides or handouts have too much extraneous information, then the audience may not be able to understand the takeaway message of the presentation. A way to test if your visual aids are addressing the key point is to ask someone who is unfamiliar with your presentation if they can understand what the key point is. If they cannot determine the key point, it may be a good idea to revise your visual aids to include less non-essential information.

Supplement not Replace, the Presentation

Visual aids are useful to help the audience better understand your topic if they are used as a supplement to, and not a replacement for, your presentation. For example, a visual aid that replaces a presentation could be a PowerPoint that includes big blocks of text that the presenter reads verbatim. While this will be an accurate presentation, it will likely bore the audience members who will not gain much from the presentation. However, if the visual aid acts as a supplement, it will enhance the audience member's understanding through diagrams, graphs, charts, and summaries.

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