Communication Within the CurriculumVisual Aids
After you draft an outline of your speech, you can consider interesting ways to make your points. PowerPoint, Keynote, Prezi and other programs allow speakers to create impressive visual aids without years of design training. Still, these are tools used by speakers—not speakers or speeches themselves. Speakers need to exercise good rhetorical judgment when creating slides.
What can you do to prepare effective visual support for your message?
1. Attend a CWiC workshop
2. Meet with an advisor at CWiC's Speaking Center.
3. Enroll in a CWiC critical speaking seminar.
Note that CWiC Advisors teach a workshop about common PowerPoint mistakes and strategies for successfully integrating visual aids into a presentation. CWiC is a public speaking program; therefore advisors should not teach students how to use software. Penn’s Weigle Information Commons provides excellent support for students in this area. In addition to taking CWiC’s workshop about PowerPoint, you may take any of a number of Weigle Workshops including PowerPoint.
Inventor of PowerPoint
PowerPoint inventor Robert Gaskins; the website has many interesting articles, videos, and PowerPoint examples, including his own critical look at the prolific use of PowerPoint.
Gaskins, Robert. Home Page for Robert Gaskins.
PowerPoint Expert
Design expert and PowerPoint critic Edward Tufte's website has a number of interesting texts and examples.
Tufte, Edward R. The Work of Edward Tufte and Graphics Press.
Helpful Information and Websites
Resources for STEM Presentations