As a speaker, you are a presentation aid.8 Your body, grooming, actions, gestures, voice, facial expressions, and demeanor always provide an added dimension to your speech. Use these factors to help convey your message.
What you wear can function as a presentation aid. If you will be talking about camping and wilderness adventures, blue jeans and a flannel shirt might be appropriate attire. What you wear, however, should not be more interesting than what you say. Here, as in all other cases, presentation aids should enhance, not overshadow, your verbal message.
You also can use other people as presentation aids. Neomal Abyskera used two of his classmates to illustrate the lineup positions in the game of rugger as played in his native Sri Lanka. At the appropriate moment, Neomal said, “Peter and Jeffrey will show you how the opposing team members line up.” While his classmates demonstrated the arm-locked shoulder grip position, Neomal explained when and why the position was assumed. This demonstration was more understandable than if he had tried to describe the position verbally or drawn it on the chalkboard with stick figures.
If you plan to have other people act as a presentation aid, be sure that they are willing to help you. Rehearse your presentation with them until it goes smoothly. When you give your speech, have them sit in the front row so that they can come forward and then sit down again as quickly as possible when their part is completed.