26, 2008, where my friend and visual thinking expert Dave Gray of xPlane shows you the visual fundamentals you need to know to start illustrating your ideas. One of the fundamental communication skills everyone needs to have is the ability to turn thoughts into sketches. But where do you go to learn how to do that?

It's 2008! went back to the office for a rewrite and added more powerful visuals. Practice makes perfect, right? Not really. What about imperfect practice? If you practice badly, your performance will likely reflect your bad practices. So what components make for a better rehearsal for your next presentation? Strike the Pose. Video V.

Use visualization techniques. We delineate our thoughts visually and your audience needs to “see” what they “hear.” C)2008 www.schrift.comDid you know that great speakers are often nervous with butterflies in their stomach before giving a presentation? Here are a few tips I learned from them. You want to be nervous.

Vary the visuals If you've got several speakers in an 8-hour day of training, break up the visual monotony by interspersing video, image-based slides, props, flip charts and other visual interest. During a session with a client the other day, we talked about the delivery of his company's new employee orientation. The reason?

Read this excellent analysis by Garr Reynolds of the visuals behind John McCain during his acceptance speech. You may choose visuals that seem innocuous -- but that in itself is a problem. If your visuals don't support your words, the audience becomes confused and distracted. Choose your visuals carefully.

Easy access to fresh videos and pictures can make your presentation more visually unique and compelling than sticking to the over-used, cliched, packaged stock images and clip art built into standard software. Yes, you can design a PowerPoint presentation without using PowerPoint. And you don't need Keynote or OpenOffice, either.

Create Presentations for the Post-Template Visual Era. Author Ellen Finkelstein and I were collaborating on a PowerPoint presentation design and script the other day. Ellen was in Iowa. was in Michigan. We needed to show each other our work as we talked through our concepts. What to do? We decided to give Dimdim a whirl.

If you've read my books or been on any of my courses, you'll know that one type of visual aid that tends to go down well with audiences is the use of objects or props to make a point. Two nice examples came my way recently, showing that even something as apparently unpromising as cutting up or brushing items of clothing can be very effective.

Visualization is a valuable tool for preparing to speak. By visualizing yourself in the venue, giving 100%, speaking to an appreciative audience, and running through your complete presentation successfully, you ready yourself mentally for the event. The important thing to remember about visualization is that it requires focus.

And yes, visuals -- with "big pictures and big type and few words and scary thoughts and startling insights" all throughout the workshop, not just for ten minutes. How much you use PowerPoint depends on what you're trying to achieve with your audience, and how you integrate visuals with the rest of your presentation. Pay by the word.