Visual Literacy and Tips for Improved Presentations

Presenters have many tasks in addition to "covering" content, such as addressing learning and retention, dealing with unwilling and/or difficult situations and participants, and applying appropriate strategies to address these areas. Planned use of visual literacy techniques can impact learning and increase retention. Using a variety of techniques have allowed us to increase the retention of participants, maintain a collaborative environment, deal successfully with topics and groups that are difficult, and extend sessions through the use of technologies. These techniques have been used in groups where the participants were school-based staff who were known to us and each other as well as groups that were from diverse schools and were not known to the presenters. These interesting and sometimes unique strategies have proven successful while presenting quite a variety of topics.

The resources below are drawn from the skills and experiences of the presenters listed below and the works of:

Ernie Stackowsky,
Robert Garmstrom,
Lynell Burmark's Tips for Effective Presentations,
MIT Media Lab Research,
Motion Picture Experts Group's (MPEG) research,
and others.

Presenters
, Technology Instructor, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD, Grapevine, Texas
, Staff Development Manager, Education Service Center, Region VI, Huntsville, TX
, M. Ed., Educational Resource Specialist, Education Service Center, Region VI, Huntsville, TX
, M. Ed., Executive Director of Technology Services, GCISD (Retired); Software Solutions Pro, TX

Resources and links . . .

Visual Literacy Handout - An overview of guidelines for maximizing the impact of visual materials on learning

Visual Literacy Presentation - A presentation over guidelines for maximizing the impact of visual materials on learning

Challenges of Training Handout - Strategies for planning ahead for, avoiding, and addressing challenging situations while presenting to maximize retention and understanding in a collaborative environment

Challenges of Training Presentation - A presentation over strategies for planning ahead for, avoiding, and addressing challenging situations while presenting to maximize retention and understanding in a collaborative environment