Meeting & Study Guide

  Be Prepared For Meetings How to Lead Productive Business Meeting

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  Visual Aids Meetings 

Meetings: The Benefits and the Costs

Prepare Well

Proper use of visual aids can both keep your meeting focused an increas understanding and retention.  But you must use them effectively.  Delays and confusion caused by equipment failures can destroy a meeting.  We recommend you choose the simplest option with which you have complete confidence.  Chalkboards, flipcharts, and overhead projectors are your most flexible choices :

• They require little time to set up.

• The equipment required is simple and relatively fail-safe.

• They can be used in almost any location.

• Information can be written on them either in advance of the meeting or as the meeting progresses.

Start Fast

Stay On Track

Close Decisively

Visual Aids

Problem And Cause

Be sure your equipment is working properly.

Your flipchart falls off the tripod. Your tripod collapses.  Wind rips sheets from your chart.  Your tape dispenser comes up empty.  Your pen runs out of ink. You have no eraser. There is no chalk.  The only chalk is dark magenta. Someone has written a complicated equation on your board and posted a "DO NOT ERASE" sign over it. There's no electrical outlet. The bulb blows out on your projector.  There's too much sunlight and no drapes - your overhead projection are too light to read.  Test your visual aids in advance.  Make contingency plans.  Visual aids are very effective - if they work properly.

Write clearly.

Many of us tend to scribble when we try to write on a flipchart or chalkboard.  You need not write elegantly, but you should write legibly.

Use an outline form.

The main subject or problem should be written at the top of your chart or board, with sub points under it.  Indent secondary points for clarity and to emphasize their relationship as parts of the main problem.  If space isn't adequate on one chart or board, use as many as you need.  You can always tear full sheets from flipcharts and tape them to the wall.

Be brief.

You need not write out a complete thought.  Listen carefully to what a speaker says, then summarize with a few key words.  If you're not certain you grasped the main idea of what was said, write your version on the board as you understand it, then ask the speaker,  "Does that state your point correctly."   For example : 

STATEMENT: Turnover figures are high.    WRITTEN SUMMARY : High turnover.

STATEMENT: Morale is poor.           WRITTEN SUMMARY : Poor morale.

STATEMENT : Some staff members come in late all the time.      WRITTEN SUMMARY : Frequent  tardies.

STATEMENT : "Well, why don't you call a meeting with all the rest of the employees to get their ideas on just what kind of a program is needed."   WRITTEN SUMMERY : " Meet with employees."

Prepare visuals in advance.

Don't waste time writing out long lists of cost figures or other lists of data during your meeting.  Either supply statistics in writing prior to the meeting ot write them on the board or chart before the meeting begins.   If you're concerned that having statistics displayed through out the meeting would be distracting, keep them coverd until they're needed.  You can easily tape a sheet of paper over a chalkboard or a marker board.

Talk to the group, no the visual.

Once you have a chart on display, you may feel tempted to face the display and talk towards it.  Don't instead, look at the visual, then turn toward your audience before you speak.  You'll be more easily understood, and you'll be able to read participants gestures and attitudes more clearly.      

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