When working with students to prepare oral presentations, the question--"What makes an effective visual aid?"--often arises. Most teachers realize the value of visual aids, but what makes them effective is sometimes unclear. There seems to be a disconnect between what the teacher, the textbook, and the student actually perceive to be a "good" visual aid. This article presents "The Gallery," an in-class exercise that aims to help students better understand and appreciate effective visual aid construction via student-led critiques. "The Gallery" creates an art show environment that encourages students to critically evaluate sample visual aids based on the principles they have been taught and their interpretations of those principles. Through this exercise, students will create ballots based on established criteria and critique visual aids. The author has developed this activity for use in Public Speaking, Introduction to Human Communication, Business and Professional Communication, Persuasive Speaking. [A list of references and suggested readings is included.]