Preparing Visual Materials
Objectives
This article covers the following objectives:
- Construct entity relationship diagrams that demonstrate industry conventions
- Prepare tables and visuals that support their database documentation
- Demonstrate and provide examples of table formatting for database documentation
- Demonstrate and refine oral presentation skills during rehearsal and refinement
Purpose
- Visual materials complete the presentation.
- They complement the written documentation and the oral presentation.
- For nontechnical readers, graphs, tables, and visual presentation of data are key to understanding and clarifying the written documentation.
- Sports teams hold regular practice sessions, theater companies have rehearsals before a show, and musicians practice regularly on their instruments.
- The stellar performances you see at the game, the show, or the concert would not be possible without practice.
- Think about the first time you solved a math problem, played a video game, or learned to swim.
- Were you very good at it?
- What did you do to get better?
- Practice!
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
- People take in a lot of information through their eyes, much more than through their ears.
- Well-drawn and clearly labeled visual materials add impact to the presentation as it is being delivered and support it afterward.
Guidelines for Preparing and Using Visual Elements
- All diagrams, drawings, tables, or graphs should have a title that identifies what it depicts.
- All diagrams, drawings, tables, or graphs should have a label that identifies it for reference from the written documentation.
- For example, label a diagram “Figure 1 – ERD ” and refer to it as “Figure 1 – ERD” in the written documentation.
- If different colors or different styles of lines are used in a drawing, be sure to make a key to explain their meaning.
- Keep all diagrams, drawings, tables, and graphs simple and easy to understand.
- The reader doesn’t need 85 rows of data output to understand your point.
- Size diagrams, drawings, tables, and graphs to fit in the flow of the documentation and within the page margins.
- Use tables for numerical data and to show database output.
- Label each table with a centered bold row heading and a column heading.
- If several tables are part of a group, label them Table 1-1, Table 1-2, etc.
- Use the same font size and style of all similar elements in each table.
- Line up decimal points in columns.
- Don’t abbreviate without providing a key.
- If you use “mname,” make sure you reference it.
- Your audience may not know if this is maiden name, middle name, or manager name.
- For charts and graphs, choose the style (pie chart, bar graph, line graph) that best fits the data being illustrated.
- For visuals to be shown during a presentation, make sure the print size is large enough for someone to read from the last row of seats.
- Keep visual content simple.
- Your audience may not understand technical jargon or have time to read many lines of text.
- Rehearse the presentation to make sure you understand how to explain all visual elements.
Practice Makes Perfect
- Very few people get everything right the first time.
- The key is to practice and be willing to listen to constructive criticism.
- You have an important role both as a presenter and as an audience member.
- When you offer feedback to your class members about their presentations, be constructive, helpful, and positive.
Classroom Activity: Presentation Rehearsal
- Review your presentation with your group.
- Present a “mini” version of your presentation to the class (make a brief introduction, show the ERD, make one statement about it and then conclude).
- Refine your presentation, incorporating feedback from your classmates.
Summary
In this article, you should have learned how to:
- Construct entity relationship diagrams that demonstrate industry conventions
- Prepare tables and visuals that support their database documentation
- Demonstrate and provide examples of table formatting for database documentation
- Demonstrate and refine oral presentation skills during rehearsal and refinement
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