Day 16 - Ace Presentations by Freestyling Them
I always freestyle my presentations. And get consistently good feedback.
Once a professor even asked they could share the recording as a best practise example for other classrooms.
Does that mean I don’t put in any effort? No. I just don’t sabotage myself.
A rookie mistake when giving a presentation is reading off something.
Those carefully prepared text notes with the goal of making you seem competent, do exactly the opposite. They make you seem unsure of yourself.
Preparing Note Cards is a Trap
- They prevent you from delivering impact. Take your eye contact off from the viewers and you loose your position of being the expert.
- Reading off something is boring
- They constrain your flexibility and break your flow.
Instead, Offer Visual Cues instead of Note Cards
Prepare Slides that hint the next topic without using visual Cues without explicitely writing it down. Use images, a few key words, or animations.
That meme on slide 13? That’s your note card. Except it doesn’t look like one.
Notice everybody stops listenings when you switch to a slide? Theyre busy digesting the slide.
Take that moment to prepare yourself and the audience of whats coming next.
It’s your job as a presentor to offer value through speech, not by reading off a wall of text. Otherwise this presentation could have just been an article.
For your next presentation, try converting your note cards into visual Cues as transition slides
First published on Typeshare