Tips for Using Visual Aids from David Dempsey
I did a short review of David Dempsey’s book, Legally Speaking: 40 Powerful Presentation Principles Lawyers Need to Know. After that review, Al Nye the Lawyer Guy did a little research and found out that David Dempsey has a website about his book. The website includes a couple of great tip sheets. So if you haven’t bought the book yet, here’s some good advice:
Ensure That The Visual Aid Is Visible
Far too frequently, visual aids are hard to see. The lettering or the graphs are so small that even the speaker standing right next to the visual aid strains to read them. Other times, the speaker displays an object that is difficult to see. Make your visual aid visible from every vantage point, and if you cannot, either use a different visual aid or none at all.
Highlight Only Key Concepts
Focus on the key points that you want to reinforce with an audience or a jury . . . Use numbering, lettering, or bulleting to facilitate easy understanding of the visual aid. Limit the number of lines per page, as too many lines make a visual aid difficult to read.
Select Appropriate Lettering And Fonts
Use crisp, easy-to-read lettering, and use no more than two font styles per page. Artistic, cursive text is frequently illegible. The size of the lettering will be dictated by the size of the audience. A visual aid that may be appropriate for a courtroom setting, where only twelve people will view it in close proximity, may be useless at a luncheon meeting with one hundred people.
The rest of his tips are here. Good stuff. and thanks for the find, Al.
Makes every one visual aid visible from every vantage point, and if you cannot, either use a different visual aid or none at all."CLAPPING"
