Which of the following would probably be the best kind of visual aid to illustrate?

Sometimes there is no substitute for showing the actual object to your audience. For example, you need to show the actual assault rifle to your classmates during your public speaking class on campus to illustrate key points made about the weapon.

a. True
b. False

PowerPoint slides or a Prezi presentation can enhance any speech.

a. True
b. False

Using several different sized fonts for each PowerPoint slide is not advisable because it may confuse your audience and make reading text difficult.

a. True
b. False

The “rule of seven” for PowerPoint slides is that each slide should have a minimum of seven bullet points to be effective.

a. True
b. False

There is little reason to use visual aids if the choice of aids serves no useful purpose.

a. True
b. False

Computer-assisted presentations are enhanced by the following:

a. Read your bullet points on PowerPoint slides to your audience
b. Provide lots of animation and clever graphics for each slide
c. Practice with the technology before giving your presentation
d. All of the above

Guidelines for competent use of visual aids include

a. avoid simple visual aids; they are too commonplace
b. almost any visual aid is preferable to no aid at all
c. an occasional misspelling or grammatical error on a poster or slide is fine as long as you don’t have too many
d. none of the above

Which of the following is a common mistakes made by speakers who use visual aids?

a. The speaker stands in front of the visual aid, blocking the audience from seeing it
b. Font size of 44 points is used for PowerPoint slide headings when lecturing in a large auditorium using a huge screen
c. Covering visual aids when not referring to them; this prevents audience members from studying the aid carefully
d. All of the above

You are giving a speech on Middle East crises in the last decade. Recognizing that most members of your audience cannot identify most countries and their locations, you should

a. draw a map of the Middle East while giving your speech
b. provide a bar graph of each country
c. show a large map of the Middle East taken from a geography book
d. provide a table that lists all Middle Eastern countries with directions that give their locations

You want to demonstrate the perils of gum disease. Which of the following would be an effective visual aid?

a. Asking for a volunteer from the audience and showing the state of his or her gums for all to see
b. Showing a large photo of gum disease
c. Drawing a picture on the whiteboard showing potential “hot spots” for gum disease
d. All of the above