Props, used in a presentation, can help the audience GET IT!

GETTING IT! is the goal of all communication; written, spoken, or visual.

People learn in different ways; seeing, hearing and feeling and a combination of these styles.

The more ways a message is received, the more likely the recipient will GET IT!

I once heard the late Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, the film critics, discussing the communication power of several mediums of communication; radio, TV, and the big movie screen.

Their conclusion, with no option close, was that radio is the superior medium.

Nothing can match what your mind’s eye can conceive.

Because the “mind draws its own pictures” based on previous experiences and associations, it does the best job of “seeing”. The message is better received and personalized.

Example:
If I were to take a coffee cup, and put it on a lectern, and say, “I’m going to speak about coffee today,” your eyes would look at the cup, hear my words, and wait for the next verbiage.

But if I said, “Picture you favorite coffee cup,” your mind starts working and making associations with all the coffee cups you have at home and work.

Maybe your favorite is the one your little child made in ceramics class; or maybe it’s the one co-workers gave you last holiday season. It could even be one bought at a souvenir shop while on a special vacation.

In either case, what I’ve done with this ‘prop’ is to personalize it.

It’s hard to do better than that and it’s powerful!