“I’ll do a deal with you.
As long as you can deliver your opening and closing without notes, you can do
what you like in between”. That was how I described in my most recent post
the way that I start to wean the business presenters I am coaching off the use
of notes.
So what form of notes
should they use in the middle sections of their presentations? Let’s look at the options:
1. Full script - Definitely not a good
idea unless you have a really compelling reason such as lawyers insisting that
delivery needs word-perfect precision to avoid litigation. The only time I have
ever had a full script to hand was for the delivery of an address at my
father’s funeral – I simply couldn’t be sure that my emotions wouldn’t get the
better of me.
Every business presenter
knows that reading from a script is to be avoided and yet many of the people I
coach arrive with closely-typed sheets of A4 paper. This is marginally preferable to 56
sheets of printed out PowerPoint slides, but neither so-called ‘aid’ is actually
helpful to the presenter. The reason they give for carrying a script is that “I
might freeze”; having focused on the potential to freeze, invariably that’s
exactly what happens. They look down at their copious notes and are none the
wiser – because they can’t begin to find where they should be!
So we establish the need
for something smaller and less ‘flappy’. With a touch of intended innuendo for
the sake of memorability, I introduce them to the benefits of ‘small and stiff’
as we start to talk about cards, but even this usually needs a step-by-step
approach.
2. Set of cards – This is intrinsically
good because, if you have not already done so, it forces you to carve up your
presentation into series of segments, with one card for each segment. Then you
need the discipline to restrict yourself to five rows and about five words
across each row. The cards then cue you to the key points and even the moments
that require a pause as you move to a new point and, especially, a new card. If
you number the cards and move them to the left each time you complete one you
are all set – as long as you have the physical space to lay your cards. Many
people fall at this final fence, fumbling their cards due to lack of space and
even dropping them on the floor.
3. Simple ‘map’ card – The ideal solution.
Assuming you know your subject matter – and if you don’t what are you doing
talking about it? – all you really need is the simplest prompt so that a brief glance enables you to cover off all the main points, get them in the
right order, and get back on track if you freeze. And the good news is that all
this should fit onto one – probably A5-sized - card.

That’s all you really need
to know about notes if you are simply standing up and speaking, but of course
most of us are expected to use at least a degree of PowerPoint when making
business presentations. If so, it is essential
that you know what slide is coming up next and cue it with confidence and in
sync with what you are saying. How do you achieve that without a bunch of
PowerPoint print outs?
If you have an Apple
laptop loaded with either PowerPoint for Mac or Keynote you already have the
solution and may not even realise it. In
either of these programmes click ‘View’ and select ‘Presenter View’ ('Presenter Tools' for older versions) and your
screen will give a display like the one below.

I said up front that I
wean people off their notes gradually and there two reasons for this. First, I put a
lot of emphasise on working on the structure and content of their presentation,
often re-ordering it and taking a lot out. The result is that it has a much
more natural flow. They are speaking from their heart rather than being driven
by some slides, so they don’t need a bunch of reminders about what to say! Second, simply knowing that the safety net of
some simple notes is there invariably instils enough confidence to mean that
you are not going to need it. Indeed, that is why I refer to my map-style prompts as 'Confidence Cards'.
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