Visual Aid Basics and NSDA Rules
The visual aid is what makes Info visually distinct from other speaking events, but it comes with real rules. You'll learn what aids are typically allowed, common formats, and the core rule violations that cost points.
What Counts as a Visual Aid
Common aids include tri-fold poster boards, single boards on an easel, foam-core cutouts, or small props, all built or assembled by the student. NSDA rules generally prohibit aids that are dangerous, alive, or require electricity/technology unless the specific tournament invitation says otherwise — check the invite every time.
Core Rules to Know
The aid must be a visual aid, not a crutch for reading your speech — writing your outline on the board is a violation. You may touch and reference the aid, but it must support the memorized speech rather than replace it. Aids must generally be self-supporting or easily set up within the room without help from anyone else.
Reading the Invitation Every Time
Because aid rules vary slightly by tournament and state, competitive speakers keep a checklist and reread the specific invitation's Info rules before every tournament, since some allow easels and others require free-standing boards, and some permit small technology like laser pointers while others don't.
A speaker on honeybee communication is deciding what to put on a tri-fold board.
She rejects writing full sentences of her speech on the board (a rule violation and a crutch) and instead designs a large diagram of the waggle dance pattern with three labeled angles. The board has almost no words, just visuals and short labels, so it reinforces her spoken teaching instead of replacing it.
1. Which of these is a common rule violation with visual aids in Info?
2. True or False?
"Visual aids in Info generally must not require electricity unless the tournament invitation specifically allows it."
3. What is the primary purpose a visual aid should serve?
4. Why should a competitor reread the tournament invitation's Info rules before every event?
Answer all 4 to check.
A visual aid should teach the eyes what the speech is teaching the ears — never serve as a teleprompter.