Presentation Technology in the Age of Electronic Eloquence: From Visual Aid to Visual Rhetoric

Abstract

Attention to presentation technology in the public speaking classroom has grown along with its contemporary use, but instruction generally positions the topic as a subset of visual aids. As contemporary public discourse enters an age of electronic eloquence, instructional focus on verbal communication might limit students’ capacity to effectively participate in an evolving public sphere. Instruction that more fully integrates visual, verbal, and haptic forms of communication might provide a better foundation for effective civic participation in the media age.

Keywords:

• Public Speaking
• Visual Rhetoric
• Powerpoint
• Eloquence
• Visual Aids
• Presentation Technology

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Jon Radwan, who generously allowed the use of instructional materials and sample outlines developed for his course at Seton Hall University.

Notes

1. Disciplinary discussions have taken place on CRTNET NEWS #5573, #5579, #5584, #5590, #5596, #5600, #5604, #5608, #5612, #5618, #5634, archived at http://lists.psu.edu/archives/index.html, a Townhall Debate, “Resolved: that PowerPoint is an abomination and should not be taught in the basic communication classes,” at the National Communication Association annual convention at Seattle, November, 2000, and at a panel and round table sponsored by the NCA's Visual Communication Commission in November 2001. Since 2002, PowerPoint has been most commonly referenced on CRTNET as a teaching responsibility in position announcements, suggesting that the use of PowerPoint is now assumed. The only discussion of PowerPoint at the 2005 NCA convention came as part of a short course on its successful integration into the public speaking curriculum (Coopman, 2005), and in 2006 PowerPoint had become a topic of the Great Ideas For Teaching Speech (GIFTS) series (Burns, 2006).

2. This research is limited to the use of PowerPoint to support a speaker's oral delivery to a present audience. The software can also be used to create stand-alone displays, which are often used for web- or kiosk-delivered training or promotional messages. While such uses might demonstrate significant rhetorical effectiveness, they appear to function outside the realm of public address. In general, PowerPoints designed to support presentations are the least effective when used as stand-alone communications (Farkas, 2005) and several high-profile instances of organizations banning the software have occurred in response to the practice of electronically transmitting large PowerPoint files to those not in attendance at a presentation (Jaffe, 2000; McNealy, 1997).

3. Assignment instructions and outline sample, adapted as Figure 1, were generously provided by Jon Radwan, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Seton Hall University.

4. An issue not addressed in this project is the degree to which speech instructors’ level of expertise with the contemporary technology impacts instructional effectiveness. Contemporary students expect any competent instructor to use appropriate amounts of technology in the classroom and assume their instructors to be competent (Schrodt & Witt, 2006). The generally incompetent use of PowerPoint in academic classrooms might thus be taken by students as the exemplar of media-supported public address. The situation is exacerbated when an instructor of public speaking who is not proficient in the use of presentation software nevertheless attempts to teach students to use the technology.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dale Cyphert

Dale Cyphert (Ph.D., Penn State University, 1998) is an associate professor in the Department of Management at the University of Northern Iowa