Category Archives: Visual Aids

Maximizing Engagement: Interacting with Visual Aids in Your Presentation

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Visuals 1.0 Photo by Christina Morillo on Pexels.com

As a presenter, visual aids can be invaluable for conveying your message and engaging your audience. However, simply displaying the visuals is not enough; you must also interact with them to maximize their impact. In this blog post, we will explore various techniques to interact with your visual aids.

Touch-Turn-Talk

The Touch-Turn-Talk method is an effective and engaging way for presenters to interact with visual aids during their presentations. By touching (or gesturing to) the visual aid, turning to face the audience, and then talking about it, a presenter can ensure that they remain connected to the audience while discussing the visual.

This connection is created by maintaining eye contact with their audience while still utilizing the visual to illustrate their point. This ensures that the audience remains engaged instead of simply looking at the visuals without listening to what is being said. Furthermore, the Touch-Turn-Talk method helps to allow the presenter to have a more natural and conversational style when discussing the visual aid.

This method can also help to keep the presenter focused on their presentation. By touching the visual aid, turning to face the audience, and then talking about it, the presenter can ensure that they are talking about the visuals and not just talking to or reading from the visuals.

“Load Aim Fire”

The “Load, Aim, Fire” concept is a powerful tool used to effectively communicate information to an audience.

It is a process that can be used with any type of reference material, such as a book or article, to help ensure that the information is delivered effectively and accurately.

The process is simple, yet highly effective and can be used in any setting, such as the classroom, boardroom, or even in a public speaking setting.

The first step in the “Load, Aim, Fire” process is to “load” the information into your brain from the reference material. You do this by looking at the material and refreshing your memory. This should be a glance as you should be familiar with the information.

Once you have loaded the information into your brain, the next step is to “aim” your focus on one person in the audience using your eye contact.

Finally, the third and final step is to “fire” or deliver the information to that person. This may be for 2 or 3 seconds before you move onto the next person. When you have completed that thought you look back down and repeat the process.

Moving from One Side of the Screen to the Other

When using visual aids, it’s useful to move from one side of the screen to the other to direct the audience’s attention to specific areas of the visual. When doing this we do it in silence so we don’t lose connection with the audience.

Vocalizing Where You Are on the Slide

Another useful technique is vocalizing where you are on the slide to bring the audience’s attention to a specific point. For example, you can say, “on the top right of the screen, you will see,” and then talk about the point you want to emphasize. This technique helps the audience follow along with the presentation and ensures that they stay on track.

Using the B Key in PowerPoint

The B key in PowerPoint is a useful tool to send the screen to black when the presenter wants to draw the audience’s attention away from the visuals and back to them. This technique can be an opportunity to summarise what has just become before, to signal a transition, or regain the audience’s attention after a brief diversion. This works by pressing the the letter B key when you are slide show mode.

 It’s understandable that some of these techniques might feel a bit robotic at first, but with practice, they will become more natural. Just remember the sole purpose of these techniques is to prevent you from talking to the screen and losing your connection with the audience.

Boost Your Learning and Development Initiatives: Applying Mayer’s 15 Principles of Multimedia Learning

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3. Visuals Photo by FOX on Pexels.com

The basic premise of Richard Mayer’s Theory of Multimedia Learning is “that we can learn more deeply from words and pictures together than we can from just words alone.“ Multimedia learning uses text, graphics, audio, video, and other media of communication to deliver information.

How successful we are in using these modes will determine how effective our learning programs will be. Mayer’s principles provide a great framework for achieving this. In this blog post, we will discuss these principles and explore how they can be applied to enhance employee training and development.

Mayer’s 15 Principles of Multimedia Learning

Applying Mayer’s Principles can improve the effectiveness of learning material in the following ways:

  1. Multimedia principle – The use of words and visuals together is more effective than using words alone.
  2. Modality principle – People learn better from graphics and narration than from on-screen text.
  3. Redundancy principle – Avoid presenting the same information in multiple formats.
  4. Coherence principle – Organise and present material logically and meaningfully.
  5. Signalling principle – Highlight key concepts and important information.
  6. Spatial contiguity principle – Present graphics and corresponding text close together.
  7. Temporal contiguity principle – Present graphics and narration simultaneously.
  8. Segmenting principle – Break material into smaller, manageable segments.
  9. Pre-training principle – Activate prior knowledge before presenting new material.
  10. Individual differences principle – Consider the learner’s prior knowledge and experience.
  11. Guided discovery principle – Encourage exploration and discovery but provide guidance.
  12. Image principle – Use relevant images to enhance learning.
  13. Modality principle for text – Use conversational language and avoid technical jargon.
  14. Personalization principle – Use a conversational tone and address the learner directly.
  15. Voice principle – Use a pleasant and human-like voice for narration.

Applying Mayer’s 15 Principles in Your Business

To apply Mayer’s 15 principles of multimedia learning in your business, consider:

  1. Identify learning objectives – Determine what you want employees to know and be able to do.
  2. Choose multimedia elements – select graphics, narration, and text that support the learning objectives.
  3. Consider the audience – Understand the employee’s prior knowledge, experience, and learning preferences.
  4. Use a consistent design – Maintain a consistent look and feel throughout the learning material.
  5. Follow the principles in sequence – Follow the principles in a logical sequence to ensure coherence and effectiveness.

Benefits of Applying Mayer’s 15 Principles in Business

By applying Mayer’s principles, you can improve employee learning in several ways, for example.

  1. Improved understanding.
  2. Increased engagement.
  3. Increased retention and
  4. Better transfer of knowledge

Conclusion.

Mayer’s 15 principles of multimedia learning provide a solid framework for creating effective and engaging learning material.

Whether you are creating an e-learning course, developing a multimedia presentation, or designing a training program, Mayer’s principles can help ensure that your material is both effective and engaging.