Are you missing an unexpected ingredient (a visual aid) that could significantly improve your presentation?

There always is more than one way to present information - many types of visual aids. On December 8, 2019 I blogged about how Toastmasters press releases confuse a fear of public speaking with a social phobia. In that post I quoted the detailed diagnostic criteria for social phobia from the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. That quote is way too detailed for an oral presentation. I could have created a PowerPoint slide with a list of three bullet points, as shown above. Instead, in the blog post I began by showing a Venn diagram, as also is shown above.  

A flip chart is another unexpected ingredient. On February 28, 2015 I blogged about Don’t make things any more complicated than necessary, and discussed how in his Start with why – how great leaders inspire action TEDx talk Simon Sinek drew concentric circles, as is shown above. For a larger audience you could instead build a PowerPoint slide (or even better a set of three PowerPoint slides), as also is shown above.

Another unexpected ingredient is a simple prop. On March 8, 2009 I blogged about “Show and Tell” with a simple model of a product feature. As shown above, I used an oatmeal container to represent the water outlet from a fire sprinkler head - and show two possible types of seals.

This post was inspired by thinking about an appetizer. Hummus usually is made from garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas) flavored with tahini (sesame paste), lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, cumin, and salt. Years ago I saw a hummus recipe from Sunset magazine which got the sesame flavor from a tablespoon of toasted sesame oil - instead of a quarter or half cup of tahini.