Don't let bad visuals sink your talk

The United States Navy is, in anyone's estimation, a serious operation. The US Navy is by far the largest in the world, with nearly 300 ships in service and more tonnage than the next 17 largest navies combined. Even outside of combat operations, the men and women of the Navy deal with challenging and dangerous situations as part of their day-to-day routine.

The US Navy also employs a lot of scientists. Its Office of Naval Research (ONR) sponsors research over a broad range of scientific disciplines, and has funded the work of more than 50 winners of the Nobel Prize.

In the mid-1990s, the ONR released "Tips for Preparing Scientific Presentations', an online guide to preparing and presenting a scientific talk. Although the guide has started to show its age a bit (mainly through references to 35-mm slides), most of its advice is just as relevant to presentations using slideware.

The guide provides a wealth of constructive advice, ranging from how to prepare your talk to advice for dealing with the question-and-answer session. One of my favorite sections is the guide's 'Ten Commandments to Visual Aids'. To summarize briefly, the 'Commandments' include:

1. Each visual aide should support the material covered in your talk.
2. Information presented visually should be brief and concise.
3. Visual aids must be legible and visible to the audience.
4. Two or three facts per image are best (and in my opinion, the fewer, the better).
5. Don't cram too many visuals into your talk.
6. Use color for emphasis and clarity.
7. Don't read your slides.
8. Be aware of the 'life span' of each visual.
9. Rehearse your talk with your visual aides.
10. Tailor your visuals to suit your speaking environment.

As the guide says, "visual aids ruin more speeches than they improve". Keeping these rules in mind should help make your talk clearer, shorter and more informative.