by Ethan Rotman
Imagine trying to read a book while driving. Every time you look from the road to the page, you can’t find your place. Your eyes dart back and forth while the car swerves from left to right. It is a rather frightening thought!
This is what many speakers experience as they try to read detailed notes while making a presentation. Their eyes flit from sheets of paper to the audience. They stumble because they look at the audience, lose their place on the paper, and forget what to say. They cannot find their place on the notes. The talk veers and the speaker feels (and looks) nervous and not credible. It does not need to be this way.
You can avoid this by creating proper notes and taking time to practice your talk. You will find it easier to stay on track and your credibility will increase.
Effective notes should be on a single card or sheet of paper and written in a clear outline (or bullet) form. Think of your notes as a guidepost rather than a recipe: They keep you on track, but are not followed verbatim. Your notes are a prompt to indicate what your next topic is.
Title of talk
Opening line written out
Intro
- Story to set stage
- Overview of talk
- Ground rules
Body
- Point 1
- Point 2
- Point 3
Conclusion
- Overview of talk
- What I want them to do
- Closing line written out
Practice your talk repeatedly to decrease your dependency on the notes. Begin practicing with detailed notes and reduce these down as you become more familiar with your talk. Your presentation will flow easier and will be more enjoyable to your audience.
Well-written notes and a practiced presentation will help you feel more confident during your talk, increase your credibility, and help you deliver a polished presentation.
This speaking tip is one in a series provided by ISpeakEasy. Contact Ethan Rotman at 415-342-7106 or ethan@iSpeakEASY.net.
This advice seems so logical, we have heard it before, and some of us have even fallen asleep during presentations that were read word for word…hopefully not the ones we were giving.
I’ve found what Ethan says to be true. I blow it worst when I will be presenting to large audiences and perceive a lot to be at stake. This gets me anxious and has led to me reading my presentation word for word so I won’t blow it. Resorting to reading my notes has always been a mistake, for while the message has been accurate, the presentation lacked the eye contact, energy, and voice inflection that would have made it truly effective.
If I ever show up anywhere and start to read a presentation word for word, jump up, grab my notes, and set them on fire. This will improve the experience immensely for the audience and be much more valauble than whatever I thought was so important that I had to read it word for word.