Broadly speaking, moves are actionable strategies, steps, or maneuvers that people take to accomplish their goals. Presenters use both oral and also visual moves to communicate effectively.
This guide is a compilation of “visual presentation moves.” It was written to teach you how make visual choices in your presentations that align with and support your communication goals.
The best presentations are cohesive and easy to follow. Consider using some of these orientation moves if your presentation feels choppy or confusing.
1. Visual Checklist
Start the presentation with a visual checklist of what you will cover. Doing so gives your audience a roadmap to your talk.
Be sure to refer back to the checklist throughout the presentation. This helps your audience keep the larger picture in mind.
2. Visual Methods Overview
Context is important. When discussing a scientific paper, your audience may benefit from understanding the methods scientists used to conduct the experiment. Before delving into the results of the experiment, consider spending a few seconds explaining how researchers conducted the experiment.
Icons can make your explanation quick, yet concrete. For example, if the experiment involved mice, show a cartoon-like drawing of a mouse. If the experiment involved doing surgery on a mouse’s brain, show a mouse, an arrow, and a brain.
3. Legend
When using abstract icons or symbols, be sure to include a legend or visual key somewhere on the page. Even if you do not take the time to walk through the legend, viewers will notice it. You can include a legend in a corner of the page for viewers to reference if needed.
4. Labeling
Visually label all the important parts of your drawing, even if you verbally explain them. Listeners may not be paying attention completely throughout the presentation. If a member of your audience stops listening or becomes distracted for a moment, labels will help them catch up. On graphs and charts, include titles and units, and label your axis. Define any abbreviations.
5. Legibility
Make sure your writing does not distract from your content. Your lines, handwriting, and other visual elements need to be dark enough and thick enough to be seen by the overhead camera. Your audience should not have to squint. Use sharpies, not ballpoint pens. Never write in yellow.
Remember: Good design goes unnoticed. Aim for good design.
6. Consistent Visual Style
Websites that use multiple fonts, colors, and layouts appear unreliable. They are also harder to use. The same holds true for your presentation. Maintaining a consistent visual language across your presentation will not only make your work look more professional, but it will also support your audience’s comprehension.
Especially when working in a group, make sure that your aesthetic choices are consistent. For example, every time you introduce a new section of your talk, you may want to display a heading, written in the same color and handwriting.
Relatedly, make sure that you maintain a color’s meaning across representations. For example, if you use green legos to represent a neurotransmitter in one part of your talk, make sure to always represent that neurotransmitter in green. If later in the talk, you write a mathematical equation including a variable that represents that neurotransmitter, you should use the color green to write the symbol representing that neurotransmitter in the equation.
The best presentations release information “just in time.” They do not overwhelm the audience with too much information all at once. Consider using some of these gradual moves if there are cluttered visuals in your presentation. Break busy visuals into smaller steps that build over time.
1. The Reveal
In advance of your presentation, draw several related points on one piece of paper. Arrange the points from the top of the page to the bottom of the page. Then, cover the page with a blank sheet of paper. As you introduce each new point, pull the cover page downward to reveal related visual information. Don’t reveal visual information on the page until you’re ready to discuss it.
For example, if you are comparing a normal hippocampus to a lesioned hippocampus, consider drawing both in advance on the same sheet of paper. Reveal the normal hippocampus first. Point out salient features. When you are ready to discuss the lesioned hippocampus, pull the paper away.
2. Transparency Comparisons
If you have two different sets of data that you want to compare, consider drawing each set of data on a transparency in different colors. Start with an empty container for the data on a clean sheet of paper (e.g. a graph with labeled axes, missing the data). Explain what each axis represents. Next, lay one transparency on top of the axes and discuss the data. Finally, lay the second transparency directly on top of the first. This will enable you to easily compare the two sets of data. Any differences will be immediately apparent.
3. Cut Outs
Think of this move as a lo-fi animation technique. In advance of your presentation, pick a topic that involves movement. Draw the important visual components of your topic and cut them out. Start with a blank background, or with a pre-drawn background image. As you introduce each component verbally, physically place the cut-out representing that component onto the background page. Now, move the cut-outs around on the page.
If you use this technique, be aware that it takes time to physically lay down every single cut out. You don’t want your audience to ever feel like you’re slowly dealing cards at a card table. For example, if you have a bar graph with many bars, you may not want to cut the individual bars. Rehearse the choreography of this move and have a management system (such as folders) for all loose papers. If you don’t plan in advance, it will take up time and seem unprofessional.
4. Drawing in Real Time
If you’re able to draw while you speak, your audience will pay attention to the movement of your hand. You will have the power to literally “draw” their attention to the marks you are making in the moment. This is an especially effective technique to use when explaining a dynamic process. Draw the background of an image in advance. Then, draw the dynamic part of the process during the presentation. This could be as simple as drawing an arrow between two pre-drawn icons or drawing red dots on a pre-drawn background.
5. Writing in Real Time
If an equation is very complicated, do not present your audience with the entire equation at once. If it is important that the audience understand the equation, write the equation out in steps. Pause between each step and explain each one.
The best presentations use visuals in ways that reinforce the content. Consider using some of the following moves if you need ideas about how to incorporate drawing and other visual media into your presentation.
1. Concretize Abstract Concepts with Icons
Where possible, create an icon for each important concept in your talk. For example, if you start your talk with a list of “key” ideas, consider drawing an icon of a key next to the phrase “Key Ideas.” If one of the key concepts is “Learning through Reinforcement,” consider drawing an icon of a Pavlovian dog next to the text.
2. Visual Anthropomorphism
Metaphors and analogies are often very helpful to audiences. Consider endowing non-human entities (e.g. cells, chemicals) with personalities, emotions, backstories, etc. Narratives can make information easier to understand.
3. Icon + Photo
In some cases, showing your audience a photograph will be more instructive than showing them a drawing. For example, an audience may benefit from seeing what a robot in an experiment actually looks like rather than seeing a cartoon of a robot. At other times, however, a photograph may contain extraneous details that distract your audience from your main point. At such times, a carefully edited drawing or icon may serve your purposes better. It is important to consider your communicative goals when deciding whether to show a photograph or an icon. As a third option, you may consider including a cartoon-like icon in your presentation and following the icon with a photograph.
4. Multimedia Representations
Consider presenting important concepts through multimedia representations. Use real, physical objects. Combine media in surprising ways. For example, you might draw the axes of a bar graph on gridded paper, then stack legos on the graph. One difference between experts and novices is that experts can easily translate between different models of the same concept whereas novices get caught up in the trappings of each model. Consider explaining the same idea through different models. Shake things up with novel combinations of media.