Anytime you see a fawning profile of a politician on the rise you invariably see a clause somewhere in the story that says, "And Senator Smithers is such a natural on the stump that he can speak for an hour without using notes." What's going on here? Why is it bad to use notes?
Actually, it is no sin to use notes while speaking; it all depends on how you use them. As I have stressed before, it is deadly dull to use PowerPoint slides as your notes, because everyone else can see them. Your notes are just for you.
"But TJ, how will I know what PowerPoint slide is next if I don't have all of my notes on the slides?" Simply put your notes on a piece of paper.
Ultimately, your audience rates you subconsciously on your relationship with your notes. If you are holding onto your notes for dear life, reading from them, flipping the pages ostentatiously, your audience will penalize you in their assessment of your speaking skills. If, however, you refer to your notes in a subtle, indirect, and undetectable manner, your audience will be highly impressed.
Ronald Reagan always spoke from note cards, but you never saw him holding them up, fumbling with them or flipping them. How did he do this?
Reagan would stride to the lectern with his hands free. Once he was at the lectern he would look up and out at his audience. He would smile and wink at certain audience members. Then and only then would he reach down with his left hand into his left suit jacket pocket and pull out a stack of note cards. Notice that he never pulled them out of his inside top pocket-that would have been too noticeable. Only after delivering his first line looking up at his audience did he even dare to look down at his notes for the first time. But by then, he had already established a professional and commanding presence with his audience. He never picked up his notes in front of his audience, he never played with them. He kept them out of site and so should you.
The most effective way to use notes is to use a series of one, two or three word phrases that will remind you of your key messages and points for each PowerPoint slide. You can use 3x5 cards, 4x6 cards or regular 8x11 sheets of paper.
Unless you are a Broadway actor, there is no reason you should have to memorize all of your words for a PowerPoint presentation. Use notes, but use them without being noticed by your audience and you will receive the maximum credit from your audience.
More Insights from TJ Walker & Jess Todtfeld
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Short Video Commentary:
Audio Commentary
Great leaders can speak on a subject for hours, but they also know how to summarize their message in one or two sentences.
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Anytime you see a fawning profile of a politician on the rise you invariably see a clause somewhere in the story that says, "And Senator Smithers is such a natural on the stump that he can speak for an hour without using notes." What's going on here? Why is it bad to use notes?
