CHAPTER 11

Verbal & Visual Support in Presentations

Chapter Objectives and Integrator Guide

The opening page of each chapter in Communicating at Work lists desired learning outcomes.
The Integrator Guide will assist you in locating activities and resources relevant to each
objective.

Integrated Objectives Resources

Use each type of verbal aid to add interest, clarity, In the text:
and/or proof to a main point. Page references: 371-381
Activities: 1-3,6
Key terms: comparisons; definitions; examples; On Your Feet: Storytelling to Make a Point
quotations; statistics; stories; supporting material Self-Assessment:
Does Your Supporting Material Measure Up?

Instructor's Manual online:

Personal Reflection for Journaling
Discussion Launchers: 1-6
Classroom Activities: 1-5
Design a visual aid appropriate for a given In the text:
situation. Page references: 381-389; 397-398
Activities: 4-6,7
Key terms: bar charts; column charts; graphs; Career Tips:
pictograms; pie charts Appeal to Varied Learning Styles
Ethical Challenge: Fooling with Averages

Instructor's Manual online:

Discussion Launchers: 7,8
Classroom Activities: 6,7
Choose the most appropriate and effective medium In the text:
for presenting visual aids in a given situation. Page references: 390-392
Career Tips:
Key terms: flip charts; handouts; slides; Finding Photographs and Videos
transparencies When the Lights Go Down

Instructor's Manual online:

Discussion Launchers: 9,10,13,14
Video Activity: 1

Student Online Learning Center:

Internet Exercises 1 & 2 from Ch 12

Design and/or critique a presentation using In the text:

PowerPoint or similar software Page references: 392-396

IM 11-1
 Career Tip:
Key terms: presentation software Avoiding Computer Catastrophes in Presentations

Instructor's Manual online:

Discussion Launchers: 11,12
Classroom Activities: 8

Student Online Learning Center:

PowerPoint Tutorial
Other resources found on the Online Learning Center:
Student online center
Glossary
Key Term Flashcards
Key Term Crosswords
Self-Quizzes
Instructor online center
PowerPoint Files

About Chapter 11
This chapter discusses ways to support main ideas in presentationsverbally and visually.
The chapter opens by explaining the functions of support in presentations: clarity, interest, and
proof. It is helpful to remind students that supporting materials are a means of describing their
main points in low-level abstractions, which were introduced in Chapter 4.
Various forms of verbal support are described: definitions, examples, stories, statistics,
comparisons, quotations, and citing sources. Students are advised to consider the preferences of
their audience as they decide which forms of verbal support to use in their presentations. They
are cautioned to always cite sources when they draw on other peoples work. A new section has
been added to this chapter that details a method for integrating sources into the speech without
interrupting its flow.
The section on visual support explains how to use the following types of aids: models,
objects, photographs, diagrams, lists and tables, pie charts, bar and column charts, pictograms,
and graphs. Next, the text describes effective use of various media students can use as they
present their visual aids: chalk and dry-erase boards, flip charts and poster boards,
transparencies and photographic slides, computer displays, video players, and handouts. Another
section addresses the benefits and potential pitfalls of using presentation software. The
last section of the chapter provides a concise overview of key considerations when incorporating
visual aids in a presentation. If you are teaching a course that touches only briefly on public
speaking, you can use these guidelines as an indispensable 'quick guide' to the effective use of
visual aids.

Throughout the chapter, several ideas from Chapter 1 are reinforced: There are many
channels available for communication. Choosing the appropriate channel involves consideration
of the physical, social, chronological, and cultural contexts. Students can be reminded to
consider all of these concepts to assist them in choosing the most effective visual and verbal
support.

IM 11-2
Personal Reflection for Individual Journaling Assignment

Think of presentations you have listened to in the past. What types of verbal and visual
support capture your interest in a presentation? What types bore you? What types best
help you to understand the topic? Which ones confuse you? What types leave a lasting
impact? Which do you forget most easily? How will you apply this reflection as you
select verbal and visual support for your own presentations?

Discussion Launchers

1. In Chapter 4, you learned the value of using low-level abstractions to explain your ideas
clearly. How can you apply this concept to your use of supporting materials in your
speeches?

2. Verbal support is supposed to make a speech interesting. Think of some specific

examples of verbal support you could integrate into your upcoming speech that would
captivate your classmates.

3. One of the functions of supporting material described in this chapter is "proof." Explain
this concept in your own words. Why is proof vital to an effective presentation?

4. In addition to the different types of verbal support material discussed in the textbook, are
there other types you have heard of or used?

5. Describe to the class some specific examples of verbal support you have heard. Ask your
classmates to identify which type of verbal support each example represents.

6. Which type(s) of verbal support do you think is (are) most effective? Explain.

7. Are there any types of visual aids listed in this chapter that you have never used?
If so, why not? Would you consider experimenting with them? Why or why not?

8. Which type(s) of visual aids do you think is (are) most effective? Explain.

9. Which types of media seem simplest to use? Which seem most challenging? Explain
your answers.

10. If you were to suggest a simple, general rule for selecting the most appropriate medium to
visually support your presentation, what would it be?

11. What do you like and dislike about sitting through a speech that is accompanied by
presentation software?

IM 11-3
 12. You have probably seen speeches accompanied by software presentations that illustrate
the dangers of presentation software described in your text. Why do so many speakers
violate the guidelines for effective visual aids when they use presentation software?
Should you go along with the crowd, or is it better to dare to be different and to create
simple, concise, uncluttered visuals? Would simple slides be too boring for you? Would
they be boring for your audience?

13. What is the Rule of Seven? Why is this an important rule to remember?

14. What examples of effective or bungled visual aids have you seen? What made them
effective or ineffective?

Classroom Activities

1. Functions of Verbal Support

Objective: Students will become familiar with the clarity, interest, and proof functions
of verbal support.

Procedure: Divide students into groups. Distribute copies of short, easy-to-read

speeches. Well-written informative or persuasive articles will work, also. Instruct each
group to identify at least six examples of verbal support in their manuscript. They should
then decide what function(s) the support plays.

Class Discussion: After all groups have had time to locate and classify some examples
of verbal support, elicit examples. Discuss the three types of functions and the
importance of each type. Evaluate how well each example supports the specific purpose
of the article. This would also be an ideal time to have students note whether sources
have been properly cited in the articles.

2. Types of Verbal Support

Objective: The purpose of this activity is to provide students with an opportunity to identify
the types of verbal supports used in prepared speeches.

Procedure: Provide each student or each pair of students with a copy of Vital Speeches and
a stack of 3" x 5" cards. Use the following instructions.

Instructions to Students: Read or skim one or more of the speeches in Vital Speeches. As
you read, copy onto 3" x 5" cards the various examples of verbal support that you find. Then,
on the opposite side of the card, classify the support as to its type. When all groups have
finished (one example of each type of support, or 10 cards), exchange the cards with another
group, and read the examples from the other group's cards. State the type of support you
believe it is, and check the other side of the card to see if you agree with the classification.

IM 11-4
 Class Discussion: After students have identified the types of support used in the speeches,
facilitate class discussion with the following questions:
Are there types of support used that don't fall neatly into one of the categories from
the text?
If so, list these on the board or paper provided. Be ready to read to the class some of
the best examples.
Tell why, within the context of the speech, certain support materials were especially
effective.
Can you think of additional types of support the speakers might have used
effectively?

3. Verbal and Visual Support

Objective: After completing this activity, students should be able to identify the type of
support materials used in non-presentational communication.
Procedure: Ask students to collect advertisements from newspapers and/or magazines and
examine them for the type of supporting materials used. On a specified day, each student
should explain one of these ads to the class.
Class Discussion: After each student has done this, lead a class discussion on the correlation
between types of support material and believability and credibility.
Why do you believe/not believe the advertisement you brought
What are common appeals made by advertisers? How does supporting material affect
these appeals?
Which advertisements do you believe display the best supporting material? Why?
What can you learn from this exercise that will help you when you select supporting
material for your own presentations?

4. Oral Footnotes

Objective: Students will practice correct ways to cite sources by creating oral footnotes.

Procedure: The day before doing this exercise, ask students to bring to class
photocopied pages that contain at least one specific definition, example, brief story,
statistic, comparison, or quotation. The photocopy must clearly indicate information such
as author and title of the article that would be needed for an oral footnote.
Before completing this activity, review with the class the section from this chapter
titled "Citing Your Sources." Then, arrange students in groups of four. Have groups use
the four-step process to model how they could integrate the verbal support into a
presentation.

Class Discussion: Ask each group to share with the class at least one of the oral
footnotes they constructed. Stimulate discussion by asking:
Why are oral footnotes essential?

IM 11-5
 Have you ever heard someone present a speech that did not include oral
footnotes? Is that a good model to follow? Why or why not?
Would it be sufficient simply to distribute a handout with the sources typed on it
or to display a PowerPoint slide listing all your sources? Why or why not?
What's the point of this four-step method? Is it necessary to include all four
steps?
Should you cite yourself as a source?
What should you do if you run across an old handout that has some facts you
would like to use in your speech, but the handout does not have the name of its
author or the title of the class or conference where you picked it up?
Is it legal to electronically copy a piece of graphic art from a website and paste it
into a PowerPoint display to show with a speech?

5. Constructing A Bibliography to Submit with Your Speech Outline

Objective: Students will learn to create a formal bibliography using an APA, Chicago, or
MLA style sheet.

Procedure: Refer students to the 'APA Wizard' website, available at

http://www.stylewizard.com/apa/apawiz.html
This site provides a tutorial for constructing bibliography entries. Distribute to students in
various locations in the classroom copies of books, journals, newspapers, and the like.
Ask first, "Who has a book with one author?" Using the website as a guide, write on the
board the correct elements of a bibliographical entry as the student reads them to you.
Demonstrate hanging indent format, as well. If the last name starts with a letter that is
late in the alphabet, leave plenty of space above this entry so you will have sufficient
space to alphabetize additional entries above this one.
Next ask, "Who has a book with three authors?" Continue this process until you
have a list with several items on the board.

Class Discussion: After you have written out enough examples for students to get the
idea, elicit the following:
How does the information you should include in a formal bibliography differ from
the information you would cite in your oral footnotes?
Why it is important to include a written bibliography?
Why do you need BOTH oral footnotes and a written bibliography in a speech?
Is that overkill or do they serve different purposes?

Finally, if students don't know how to create a hanging indent using word processing
software, demonstrate how. For Microsoft Word, the current sequence of commands is:
Highlight the bibliography item.
From the top menu bar, select 'Format.'
From the drop down menu, select 'Paragraph.'

IM 11-6
 Look at about dead center of the pop-up menu that appears. It's in the section
called 'Indentation.' You will see a box titled 'Special.' From the drop-down
menu, select 'Hanging.'
Click OK.

6. Constructing Visual Aids

Objective: The purpose of this activity is to provide students with an opportunity to analyze
the research process and to construct a visual aid to support statistical evidence.

Procedure: The following items are factors in the cost of a training workshop. Tell the
students that the speaker wants the audience to understand the relative importance of each
item to the overall cost of the training session. The information is:
a. Consultant's Fee $2,000.00
b. Food/Refreshments $ 126.00
c. Lodging for the Trainer $ 175.00
d. Equipment Rental $ 138.50
e. Room Rental $ 275.00
f. Miscellaneous $ 9.29

Divide the class into groups of three or four. Each group is to construct a visual aid using the
above data. (This may mean allowing the use of a computer lab.) On the day the assignment
is due, put the visual aids on display for the class.

Class Discussion: After students have presented their visual aids to the class, the following
questions could be used to foster class discussion.
How did you give the numbers impact?
How did you show their relationship to one another?
Are there other ways you could have organized the numbers?
Which of the visual aids on display presented the information most effectively? Why?
How might the visual aids be different if this were 1975? Would class expectations be
different if this were 1975?

7. Evaluating Visual Aids

Objective: Students will familiarize themselves with guidelines for evaluating
audiovisual presentation aids.

Procedure: Divide students into groups. Give them 10 minutes to design an evaluation
form for evaluating the quality of visual aids used in a public speaking class. The form
should draw from characteristics explained in this chapter. . For added motivation, you
might even offer to use the best evaluation form for the next round of speeches.
Encourage students to focus on general principles that would apply to all types of visual
aids.

IM 11-7
 Class Discussion: If you have an opaque projector, have groups show their evaluation
forms while they explain them to the class. Otherwise, you might want to wait until the
next class meeting to have students share their forms, to allow them time to make copies
to distribute to the class.
As each group presents their form, allow other groups to ask questions, suggest
additional elements to consider, and critique elements that are incorrect or imprecise.
After all groups have presented, ask the class which of these elements they would
consider to be most important and least important to the effectiveness of a visual aid.

8. Evaluating Presentation Software

Objective: Students will compare differences between software-generated presentations that

follow the guidelines in the text and those that violate these standards.

Procedure: Create two brief software-generated presentations: one illustrating the

guidelines in the text for effective use of visuals, the other illustrating the dangers of
presentation software.

Class Discussion: Elicit reactions from the class regarding the strengths and weaknesses of
each presentation. Relate students' comments to the potential drawbacks mentioned in the
text: poorly conceived messages, design over content, and overly complex presentations.

Video Activities

1. Evaluating Visual Aids

Objective: After completing this activity, students should be able to analyze other speakers'
choices in using visual aids.

Procedure: Obtain a demonstration video from your college video collection, or use clips
from a variety of programs. If your school offers majors in health occupations, building
trades, chemistry (and other labs), food services, and technologies, you may find interesting
how-to videos. Select one that uses many visual aids.

Class Discussion: As students watch, ask them to identify each form of visual support
material and to be ready to explain how each visual helped or hindered the speaker in
communicating the message.
What could have been done better with the visual support used in the program?
What other types of visuals could have been used in the presentation of information?
What would have happened to the quality, believability, and understandability if the
speakers had not used the visual aids they did?
What would the speaker have to do in order to get the same amount of information
across to the listeners without the use of visual aids?

IM 11-8
Additional Resources

Print
3M Meeting Managers Team with Jeannine Drew. "Chapter 6: How to Develop and Deliver
Powerful Presentations" (pp. 133165) in Mastering Meetings: Discovering the Hidden Potential of
Effective Business Meetings. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994).
There is much to recommend in this chapter; especially the ample and thoughtful advice on using
visuals to enhance a presentation. Look for sound advice on creating, choosing, and using
graphics to spice up your talks.

Flatley, M. E. (1989). Finding experts online (my favorite assignment). The Bulletin of the
Association for Business Communication, 52(4), 16.
This article demonstrates the use of online bulletin boards and information. It benefits students in
locating experts and information and in encouraging them with the rapid responses.

Kearny, L. (1994). Graphics for presenters. A Fifty-Minute Series Book. Menlo Park, CA: Crisp
Publications, Inc.
This book will help you improve your presentations by understanding the basics of pictures, line,
and color.

O'Meara, F. (1995, May). The trouble with transparencies. Training, 3641.

Step-by-step instructions for improving transparencies.

Robbins, J. (1997). High-impact presentations: A multimedia approach. New York: John Wiley &
Sons, Inc.
Chapter 11 includes information and advice about adding high-tech power to a presentation.

Video
Aids to Speaking. 15 min. Coronet/MTI Films and Video.

Face To Face: A Common-Sense Approach to Developing Effective Business Communication Skills. Vol.
II. Part 1: Implementing Visuals. 30 min. The Educational Video Group.

Face To Face: A Common-Sense Approach to Developing Effective Business Communication Skills. Vol.
I. Part 3: Preparing Effective Visual Reinforcements. 30 min. The Educational Video Group.

Great Moments from Great Speeches. 108 min. The Educational Video Group.
Uses 30 three-minute film clips from 25 speakers from FDR (1933) to William Clinton (1993).

Web
APA tutorial online
http://www.stylewizard.com/apa/apawiz.html
Students love this interactive guide to writing APA documentation.

Patricia Fripp, Consultant

IM 11-9
http://www.fripp.com/articleslist.html
This site offers a number of free educational articles. Scroll down to the heading Public
Speaking and Presentation Skills.

http://www.uky.edu/ArtsSciences/Classics/rhetoric.html#1
This site has a list of more rhetorical devices than students may need to know. Devices range from A to Z;
from little-known devices such as Anadiplosis to Zeugma! Of course, you can find the more common
ones such as metaphors and similes, along with several examples for each one.

http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalsugg.html
This site provides a number of useful techniques for those students who choose to utilize Web-based
resources when attempting to provide verbal and nonverbal support for their ideas during a presentation.
This site provides a number of useful examples as well as techniques for generating a bibliography when
using a variety of Web-based materials.

"Most visual aids are terribly nonvisual and no aid at all." --- Frank O'Meara

IM 11-10