Introduction
Presentations are an integral part of communicating in a group setting. In making presentations, the use of presentation aids has been seen to contribute to the effectiveness of the presentation process. Owing to their great success in enhancing the presentation efforts, presentation aids have become so prevalent that sometimes they are seen to be synonymous to the very act of making a presentation.
It has been noted that sometimes, the overuse of presentation aids degenerates the quality of the presentations as the aids distract the audience from the speaker and his message. It is therefore important that great care is taken to ensure that the usefulness of presentation aids is exploited fully without having their adverse effects affecting the quality of the presentation.
As such, it is important to identify both the strengths and setbacks that are associated with the various presentation aids that are available. This paper shall set out to demonstrate that presentation aids have their inherent merits and demerits and that over relying on these aids may have a negative impact on the presentation. The paper shall begin by identifying the various presentation aids available and progress to give an in-depth look at the merits and demerits of using presentation aids.
Types of Presentation Aids
Presentation aids are defined as “supplementary audio and/or visual materials that help an audience understand and remember the content of a discussion or presentation” (Engleberg & Wynn, 2010, p.327). Presentation aids greatly increase the likelihood of the audience being receptive to the information being communicated.
There exist different presentation aids that may be utilized by a speaker in a particular setting. The choice of presentation aid made may depend on factors such as: the constraints of the particular topic, the availability of the particular presentation aids and the cost of the aids among other factors. Some of the most widely used presentation aids are as follows.
Arguably the simplest to implement and most inexpensive presentation aid is the flip chart. The simplicity with which this aid can be acquired and utilized makes it the most viable when cost has to be minimized and time is of essence. Flip charts may be prepared by the presenter prior to the actual presentation or even during the presentation to elaborate a point.
However, flip charts are only desirable when dealing with small groups. This is because the information presented on them is on a small scale and would therefore be illegible from great distances. Since flip charts utilize the presenter’s handwriting, they may be useless if the presenter’s handwriting is illegible.
Another presentation aid tool is a videotape or a DVD. These tools include audio visual tracks that have been prepared before hand. The vivid images that make up the tape make this presentation tools quite appealing as they capture the audience’s attention in the same manner that movies do.
However, it is hard for a presenter to interject his points before the viewing is over or for the audience to ask questions in mid presentation. This combined with the relatively expensive nature of producing videos makes this presentation aid tool undesirable in most settings.
The 35 mm slide was one of the most popular presentation aid means in the previous decade for audiences ranging from small groups to large groups. Slides have high credibility with audiences as a result of the authenticity of the pictures and their long history of usage. In addition to this, the hardware requirements for the 35mm slide are fairly little since only a slide projector and a suitable screen is required. However, this visual tool requires more time to prepare and needs a darkened room for the visual effects to be appreciated.
In modern times, presentation software is the most prevalent tool in making presentation aids. The most popular of the software is Microsoft’s PowerPoint which allows one to create slides on a computer and later present them using an overhead projector (Engleberg & Wynn, 2010).
Presentation softwares have empowered presenters by making them capable of coming up with presentation designs of relative sophistication without having to rely on professional graphic designers or media professions. This has led to an improvement of the quality of the presentations made with relatively little training being required on the part of the presenter.
General Advantages of Presentation Aids
Arguably one of the greatest strength of presentation aids is that they allow a presenter to translate otherwise abstract and complicated concepts into a form that the audience can get within the duration of the presentation (Zielinski, 2003). This is especially the case with the use of charts and graphs to demonstrate profits, loses, growth e.t.c. These aids simplify large amounts of numeric information that would otherwise be undecipherable to most of the audience into visual information that an audience can grasp intuitively.
Presentation aids also act as mental props therefore increasing the confidence of a presenter. While some people are capable of making presentations to large crowds with ease, most people find it hard to make such presentations and end up forgetting what they had prepared to say.
Presentation aids assist by providing markers for the speaker to follow therefore enabling him to effectively communicate. This bolsters the confidence of the presenter therefore enabling him/her to communicate better than he/she would have done without this presentation aids.
Some presentation aids have tools that make it possible to convert the presentation into other media formats such as CD (Zielinski, 2003). This means that a presenter can issue out copies of his presentation in formats that can be viewed later at the convenience of the audience. This is an especially endearing attributes where technical information is being communicated and the audience may want to go and review the material at their own pace.
General Disadvantages of Presentation Aids
Most of the presentations which make use of presentation aids end up being perceived by the audience as dull and boring as the presenter moves from slide to slide in a monotonous manner. Sewell (2007) affirms that the main setback when using presentation aids is that most presenters rely on their monotonous PowerPoint presentations to make their point making no effort to connect with their audience or be interesting for that matter.
Slide presentations also tend to flatten discussion, sacrifice the richness of dialogue and reduce audience involvement as the speaker is locked onto the slides. This combined with the fact that most presentation aids (with the notable exception of flip charts) require that the lighting of the room be dimed so that the audience can see the presentation better results in members of the audience drifting or dozing off hence reducing the effectiveness of the presentation.
In some cases, presenters bank too much on their presentation aids and therefore take too much time making the presentation colorful and sophisticated by use of software and other means. This is often at the cost of concentrating on the content of the presentation.
This results in little to no preparation for the actual presentation since the presenter hopes that his/her presentation aids will be the center of attention. Engleberg and Wynn (2010) assert that the key to a successful performance in any setting is constant practice. This is a view that is shared by Endicott (2000) who notes that most presenters rely primarily on their software to provide the creativity that is expected in their presentation therefore providing unimpressive work.
Some presentation aids used are so impressive that they distract the audience from the main message of the presentation. Engleberg and Wynn (2010) state that at times, the effects of the presentation are so impressive that the audience leave the presentation discussing the implementation of the presentation as opposed to discussing the data represented in the presentation.
In addition to this, Presentation aids also reduce the spontaneity of the presentation since most presenters make every effort to follow the script they have created therefore locking out any innovation.
Conclusion
This paper set out to demonstrate that while presentation aids are useful in making group presentations, they have their inherent demerits which must be held in check to increase the effectiveness of presentation aids. From the discussions presented in this paper, it is clear that for all their disadvantages, presentation aids have great potential and ways to mitigate the negative effects should therefore be looked for. As such, presentation aids should only act as visual illustrations to the presentation and not the entire presentation process.
It is therefore important to look closer attention to the other different faucets of presenting such as body language, eye contact and voice quality. When this other factors are combined with the presentation aids, one can be guaranteed that his/her message will be effectively communicated to the desired audience with maximum productivity.
References
Endicott, J. (2002). True Creativity Involves More Than Just Pretty Slides. Presentations, 10727531, Sep 2002, Vol. 16, Issue 9.
Engleberg, N. I. & Wynn, R. D. (2010). Working in Groups: Communication Principles and Strategies. USA: Allyn & Bacon.
Sewel, H. (2007) Performance Art. USA: Incisive Media.
Zielinski, D. 2003. Learning to Live With PowerPoint. Successful Meetings, 01484052, Nov 2003, Vol. 52, Issue 12.