Even the best messages can be ruined by a bad presentation. To get your information across effectively and to generate the right response from your audience, you need to know how to use audiovisual technology to your advantage.

Interested in how to improve your presentation? Read on for some audiovisual presentation dos and don’ts.

Organization is the key. Forget about fancy graphics and sounds; instead, focus on making the flow of your presentation seamless and clear. It’s a good idea to first outline the points you intend to make before you even begin working on the presentation. Identify major themes and ideas so you know what to visually highlight.

Avoid clutter. Fancy animation and sounds are usually unnecessary; oftentimes, these elements only distract from the message instead of contributing to it. Brevity and simplicity work best – the shorter and simpler your messages and manners of delivery are, the more likely they are to be recalled by your audience. Too much clutter diminishes the impact of a good message. Highlight your message and not your graphics, and you will never go wrong.

Consider the physical requirements of the space where you will deliver your presentation. Are you going to use a small and private conference room with just four to five people or a big theater with hundreds in the audience? Are the room’s acoustics decent, or do you need to bring additional speakers to be heard? Is it well lighted? Can you control the lighting to enhance your presentation? You need to answer all these and many other questions in order to design an audiovisual presentation that makes the most out of what the venue has to offer.

Finally, complement your audiovisual presentation with handouts. No matter how effective your presentation, remember that your audience can only remember so much; you need to provide them with follow-through materials like a systematically outlined handout in order for them to truly retain your message. Keep your handouts short and sweet. This way, the reader only sees the most important messages.