The Power of Visuals at the Ski Chalet

I went skiing with my son’s class this week and helped get the students their ski boots in the rental area. When fitting boots, the easy way to tell if the boot is too small is to check whether their toes are flat or scrunched. That’s easy with regular boost where you can push down on the top of the boot and feel their toes. But with a hard ski boot, you have to ask them. The question that the ski center staff use is “Can you wiggle your toes?” That sounds like a good question but with 9 and 10 year olds they aren’t sure how much they should be able to wiggle their toes. So once again a visual provided the solution. I would show the kids my hand vertically as the front of the boot. Then I would use the fingers of my other hand to show toes flat or curled under and ask them which way their toes were. The kids understood this instantly and sped up the process. The lesson for presenters is to think of visuals that can explain your points better than text on your slides. Is there a simple diagram or illustration that would help your audience understand instantly?