To note or not to note?

It’s conference season and speechifying is everywhere, theoretically we should be looking at the cream of presentation skills. Theoretically.

The difference between a barn storming performance and being tied in linguistic knots can come down to something as simple as notes. An extemporaneous speech can communicate personality fantastically well, impressing the audience with your leadership credentials, however the need to avoid inadvertently promising to do away with income tax means that notes are essential.

The key difficulty with notes is that it is very difficult to read your notes and look at your audience at the same time (thus the clear screen displays so the leaders can look like they are looking at the audience).

When you don’t look at your audience they don’t believe what you are saying (don’t believe me, try it with your friends), so your notes need to be manageable and unobtrusive and above all you must not be tied to them. So rehearse and then rehearse again.

Then do it again. skillpresentations.com