When I accept invitations to speak, my host usually asks, “What will you need?” What they really mean is “Will you need PowerPoint?” Today, we equate public speaking technology with screen visuals.
As servant speakers, we need a broader view of technology. Our planning can be more like preparing for a staged theatrical performance—from properties (props) to lights, sound, and a slide or video screen. Unless presenting in a group, we can plan technology for a kind of solo performance.
This chapter explains how we can use technology appropriately and effectively to serve our audiences. It cautions against using unnecessary technology and addresses the range of visual and aural technologies to consider.
Perform for Stage
The ancient art of public speaking was associated with theatrical performance. Whether speaking indoors or outdoors, presenters treated their spaces as oratorical stages.
Today, we need to consider all older and newer performance technologies—everything that helps us communicate with a live audience. The most common speaking technologies are podiums (or lecterns), lighting (even just room lighting), sound systems, and screen imaging.
We live in an age of technological optimism. We assume that there are technological solutions to just about all human needs, including communication. As a result, we tend to overuse technology.
SERVANT SPEAKING TIP
As you start planning your speech, invite a few friends who love theater to listen to your ideas and offer any suggestions about how you might stage your presentation.
For instance, sometimes we assume that developing a PowerPoint presentation is more important than crafting our message. That our technical glitz is more significant than our actual content. That what we show is more important than what we say.
For a sobering view of the overuse of PowerPoint, search the internet for “death by PowerPoint.”1 While presenters often think the technology is essential, audiences tend to be critical of how often and poorly PowerPoint is used. Audiences come to hear the speaker, not to watch a screen presentation.
Advanced performance/presentation technologies never automatically improve communication. They might make our speech more engaging or entertaining. They might even impress our audience. But we might use them only when they will further our speech purpose. For instance, with a small audience, a whiteboard or flip chart might be more fitting and effective than PowerPoint—especially if we can write down key points in advance.
The key is using and adapting technology to best serve our audience. Sometimes we have to adapt technology to our speech, making sure the technology advances our speaking purpose and MAIN IDEA. Other times we have to adapt our speech purpose and MAIN IDEA to the available technology.
SERVANT SPEAKING TIP
Make a short list of any quotations, ideas, and visual examples or illustrations that will be essential parts of your speech. Then consider if you could communicate any of them more effectively with particular technologies.
I spoke at a lecture series at a large church that urged all speakers to use the excellent projectors and audio system. The series was billed as “multimedia presentations.” I wrote a presentation composed of an entertaining series of cartoon clips about technology. The clips demonstrated my MAIN IDEA: “Humanly created communication devices always create new communication problems.”
My primary purpose was to delight the audience with satirical humor. My secondary purpose was to persuade attendees to reject the idea that we must have the latest communication technologies to be happy. I adapted my message and purpose to the technological venue as well as to my host’s expectations. PowerPoint was essential. I could have delivered a speech with the same MAIN IDEA without using screen technology, but my speech would not have been as delightful or memorable.
SERVANT SPEAKING TIP
Never assume which technologies you will be able to use well without first visiting the venue. Try out existing technologies to see how well they actually work there—and how you might have to accommodate your speaking style, voice level, and content to the venue.
When I spoke in a meeting room to a group of about thirty corporate vice presidents about the importance of listening to employees, I used two small, stuffed toy birds—a chickadee and a Canada goose—that imitated their respective calls when squeezed. Chickadees are friendly and curious birds; they like to know what is going on around them. Canada geese are not; they tend to chase off interlopers. I asked attendees, “Which one are you?” I did not need a sound system, special lighting, or slides. My props communicated splendidly.
When we deliver highly informative presentations in a lecture style, we might want to use both screen technologies and printed handouts. For example, when I speak about writing effective résumés, I need to show examples on the screen and provide printed samples for the audience to make notes on and take home. I use a laser pointer to direct audience attention to specific spots on projected résumé pages.
Prepare a Menu
Once we know our audience size and location, we can create a menu of technological options to select from. Which ones will and will not work in the setting—both practically and functionally? If the location will not meet our needs, we might look for a different one.
The basic rule in selecting from our menu is to begin with lower-tech possibilities and gradually move to higher-tech options. If lower-tech options will work well, we probably can avoid complicating our preparation and presentation. For instance, what about using a prop or poster, depending on audience size? Are simple, less time-consuming, and less failure-prone options sufficient?
The more sophisticated and complicated the technology, the more planning and coordination required (such as possibly needing others to operate the lights, advance slides, or run the video or sound), and the greater likelihood of failure. Computers, projectors, remote controls, and interconnecting devices fail regularly. Flip boards and banners do not. But maybe the audience and venue are so large that lower-tech media are not fitting options.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Technology Options
Finally, the more complex the technology, the more likely that small glitches will become significant interruptions. When we misspeak and correct ourselves, the audience is immediately forgiving. When we misspell a word on a whiteboard, no one really cares. A misspelled word on a PowerPoint slide looks careless and is distracting. When we have to fiddle with a remote control to get back to a missed slide on PowerPoint, the technology distracts.
One often-overlooked advantage of screen technologies like PowerPoint is that they can reduce speech apprehension. We can appropriately use the technology to divert the audience’s visual attention away from us and toward the screen.
However, using screen technologies can also increase our anxiousness. We have to worry about producing and using screen images. Do we want the added stress?
Visualize for Memorability
We all tend to remember better when we can match words to images. We can use visuals to help our audience understand and then remember our main points both during and after our speech.
First, we can visualize text for our most important points. If we both speak and display key words, we enhance memorability.
Second, we can use visual graphics to reinforce what we are saying. When I speak about listening, I show photos of great listening postures—attentive, visually focused persons. If appropriate, I add satirical images of people ignoring others, such as texting while supposedly listening. Then the audience will better remember my comments about how to listen actively.
Third, we can use a logo (a graphic symbol) to reinforce our main point. If we are persuading our audience to exercise three times weekly, for instance, we might design a logo that combines a visual of someone exercising along with the number three; it could even be a simple caricature with a cleverly designed “3” as the face. We could display that logo prominently on our opening and concluding slides, and include a smaller version of it on every other slide. One life-size banner on stage displaying the same logo could also be effective.
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Use the power of just the right visual for just the right spoken message. One chart or graph, even a single photograph, can make an entire speech powerfully memorable. Sometimes just a prop, held up and lit well, can have the same impact.
Finally, we can follow the rule that less is actually more when it comes to visuals. The more we show, the less impact each visual has, and the less memorable they all become. By using only a stuffed chickadee and a goose, I was able to focus memorable, visual attention on the two props, with the bird calls reinforcing each one aurally.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
When to Use PowerPoint
Focus Lighting
Normally, we want to maximize light on us and minimize it on our audience. This focuses attention on us and lessens visual distractions for our audience.
When using a screen, however, we might need to reduce the room lighting at the screen location to improve image visibility for the audience. If the entire room lighting must be turned off just when we use the screen, we need a partner to run the lights for us. We can cue our partner with a quick glance of our eyes or similarly unobtrusive signal.
Direct the Audience’s Gaze
Screen technologies create competing focal points. Attendees wonder if they should look at us or the screen—and when to do so. Telling the audience when to look at the screen is a poor solution: “Now please look at the screen.” Such verbal directives take away from our speech content.
Implied directives are better: “Now I would like to show you an example” or “Here is a fine illustration of . . .”
When we project a new visual, the audience will automatically look at it. But if our spoken words do not seem to match the screen image, some members of the audience will look back at us while others will continue staring at the screen, waiting for a relevant visual.
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Never use visuals just for the sake of visuals. This confuses audiences and reduces your credibility.
We can also gesture toward the screen without verbal directives. The audience’s gaze will move back to us when attendees feel they have adequately considered the screen content.
If we are not anchored at a lectern, we can direct the audience’s gaze to and from the screen by walking toward and away from it. This is generally what I do in small rooms, including classrooms. When I want to direct the audience’s attention to the screen, I walk toward it and then stand right next to it. When I want to move the audience’s gaze back to me, I walk away from the screen while continuing to look at and speak to the audience. The audience naturally tracks me.
When I will not be using the screen for a while, I use the remote to “mute” the image. This turns the screen blank and reduces audience distraction.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Rules for Using PowerPoint
Minimize Slide Design and Content
The biggest complaint I hear from audiences about screen technologies is speakers who put excessive text on slides and then read it all. That is “death by PowerPoint.” A slide presentation never works as the speech manuscript. Audiences get bored and frustrated. They prefer that the screen be turned off.
Audiences secondarily complain about overly fancy slide designs with elaborate graphics, unnecessary object animations, and distracting visual transitions between slides. Such slides become visual noise. The way a slide is designed is inherently part of its message. Simplicity is best.
A helpful guide is to use a slide for each significant point on our outline. Then we can add one or two slides, as needed, to illustrate each point. Finally, we can include an introductory and a concluding slide along with slides for any key quotations or definitions. A ten-minute speech with three major points might include a deck of fifteen slides.
Consider Print or Digital Handouts
Printed handouts can serve our audiences well. They can save us from near disaster when our screen technology fails. But they can also distract audiences and give away our upcoming aha moments. Even professional speakers disagree about when, if, and how to use printed handouts.
Some speakers believe that if they show their speech outline on a screen, slide by slide, they do not need to provide paper copies. Others always distribute printed outlines. Yet others use printed handouts only for lecture-like, information-rich topics.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Possible Handout Elements
Some speakers provide links to download digital copies of their screen slides after their presentations. They should announce this at the beginning so audience members do not feel like they have to take extensive notes.
Handing out extensive printed materials is risky. Unless we are dynamic speakers, some attendees might read the materials rather than pay attention to our speech, missing important explanations and background information.
Follow Copyright Law
In general, we do not have the right to present material that is copyrighted—owned by someone and not available for general public use. We ought to assume that just about everything online is copyrighted, unless the rights to use the material are explicitly stated.
Fortunately, there is a “fair use” doctrine that allows presenters to use some copyrighted material for educational purposes (such as an academic course) and critical purposes (such as a movie clip used in a movie review). Also, there are copyright-free websites designed specifically to provide usable materials in the public domain—available to the public as a whole and not subject to copyright.2 Even when using such noncopyrighted material, we need to credit the source.
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Always consider using props (properties) that are portable and the audience can see well. In the age of PowerPoint, we underestimate the visual power of one or two key props that symbolize our message.
Amplify Voice
Why speak if others cannot hear us? This is a common problem in larger venues and smaller ones with poor acoustics.
Working with a voice amplification system is a special challenge because we cannot depend on what we hear as presenters in the front of the room with our ears toward the audience. We need help before and during our speech to ensure that audiences can hear us clearly. We need to arrive early and check the audio system with someone who will run it well, sit in the audience to make sure that everything is running smoothly, and quickly fix any problems that arise.
We should not wait to check the audio until we begin speaking; it is disruptive to begin a speech with the opening line “Can everyone hear me okay?” What if some people cannot hear us well? Will they speak up? If so, what will we do?
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Tips for Voice Amplification
Conclusion
As servant speakers, we can consider using any technologies that will help us serve our audiences well. Adapting technology to our speech is essential. Like the ancient rhetoricians, we stage our presentations as compelling events using all appropriate means.
Modern technologies like PowerPoint are exceptionally useful if we learn when and how to employ them well. Otherwise, they prove that “fools with tools are still fools.”3
FOR DISCUSSION