Using Visual Aids
Effectively
“Where’s the darn flipchart in
this room?”
Why Use Visual Aids?
They
save time and add interest
They improve listener
understanding
They improve listener retention
They allow for different learning
styles
Verbal and Visual Recall
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Verbal Only
Visual Only
Verbal and Visual
After 3
hrs.
After 3
days
Types of Visual Aids:
Advantages and Disadvantages
 Overhead Transparencies
 Slides
 Flip
Charts and Posters
 Objects and Models
 Handouts
 Whiteboards and Chalkboards
 Computer Assisted Audiovisuals
Guidelines for VAs
 The
VA should never become the REASON
for the speech
 The VA should be appropriate for the length
and format of the speech
 Know what technology will be available to
you
 The higher the tech, the more you need
redundancy and backup--Burnett’s rule of
VA
Size Matters

This is a 20 point font
 This
is a 32 point font
This
is a 48 point font
This
is a 60 point font
This
is a 72 point f
Type Fonts
 Serif
fonts versus Sans Serif fonts
This
is a sans serif font--This
is Arial
This
is a font with serifs--This
is Times New Roman
More On Fonts
Please
see the overhead
projector for more on fonts
Additional Guidelines for Text
 Use
only 4-6 lines of text per VA
 Use phrases, not full sentences
 Use Upper Case and Lower Case for ease of
reading
 Leave the same space at the top of a VA
 Limit lines to no more than 40 characters
Use Clip Art to Keep Interest
The
text can be
placed here on
the left, and the
picture on the
right
How Not to Use PowerPoint
 In
most situations, PowerPoint should NOT
be used as a running outline as we do here!
 Use PowerPoint to generate illustrations of
particular data points or pieces of support
 Slides are easily printed to overheads using
specialized inkjet and laser jet overheads
(print on the rough side!)
 Kinko’s (and others) can do the job!
Technology and Its Impact on
Communication in
Organizations
“I’ll have my fax call your fax with
my email address.”
Some Trends Regarding
Technology
Organizational decentralization, both
geographically and managerially
 Increases productivity, decreases in employees
 Dramatic increases in information sharing
 Dramatic decreases in middle level management
 Increased use of contract workers

Theoretical Approaches to
Technology
Neil Postman--Amusing Ourselves to Death
 Thesis--The dominant technology of the age has a
profound effect on what passes for truth in a
culture
 Applied to business--increasing information
technology will color our judgments about the
credibility of information produced by other
means

Some Email Statistics
 1991--8
million had email access
 1997--67 million have access
 1999--108 million have access
 Office workers exchange 25.2 BILLION
message DAILY
 20% of US businesses randomly check
employee email
Some Email Litigation
Nightmares
“Yes, I know we shipped 100 barrels of
[deleted], but on our end, steps have been
taken to ensure that no record exists.
Therefore, it doesn’t exist. If you know
what I mean. Remember, you owe me a
golf game next time I’m in town.”
Litigation Nightmares, cont.
 “Did
you see what Dr. [deleted] did today?
If that patient survives it will be a miracle”
 “Hi David, please destroy the evidence on
the [litigation] you and I talked about today,
Thx, Laura.” “Hi Laura. Ack yr. msg. and
taken care of. Aloha, David”
Email Overview
 Remember,
email belongs to the company
[Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 1986]
 It is retrievable even after deletion
 Monitoring by the company is legal, that is, you
have no expectation of privacy
 If you have a private email address that also gets
used for business, expect no privacy here either
Email in Practice
 Don’t
write anything you wouldn’t want to
see on the front of the New York Times
 Don’t ever respond in anger
 DON’T USE ALL CAPS, IT LOOKS LIKE
YOU ARE SHOUTING!!!
 Understand your company’s email policy
Steinfield Email Study, 1990
(Xerox)
Do the business advantages of email outweigh the
social costs?
 Yes: People learned more rapidly, social contacts
valuable, increased quality of work life, increased
creativity
 No: responses often seem overly critical or blunt,
no tempering context

Teleconferencing--Pros and Cons
Advantages: shorter meetings, more task oriented,
more organized, more equal participation
regardless of status, more open exchange of ideas,
less likely to be swayed by group norms, less
threatening
 Disadvantages: fewer nonverbal cues to aid
interpretation, tech uncertainty

Videoconferencing
 Advantages:
almost all of teleconferencing
plus better chance of getting nonverbals
 Disadvantages: startup costs ($20-25,000),
tech uncertainty2
Intranets and Organizational
Communication
Defined--any LAN or WAN capable of supporting
internet applications
 What’s on one?--Policy manuals, benefits info, price

lists, product catalog, marketing literature, newsletters and
announcements, online help, reports, customer data
Why do it--access for employees + staff,
transparency, efficiency
 Caveats--security, disclosure?
