About ten percent of speakers can use no notes at
all and still deliver a clear, compelling, motivating
message. Bully for them.
Another ten percent read their speech text verbatim
with all the enthusiasm of the monotone science
teacher Ben Stein played on “The Wonder Years.”
Shame on them.
A third group doesn't use notes, but their
rambling streams of consciousness make us wish
they did. Deliver us from them.
That leaves the rest of us with our notes. Ah,
but there are notes and there are notes.
Here are three ways to ensure your notes work for
and not against you:
1. Use an outline. It’s much easier to
glance down, catch your next point and look right
back up from an outline than from verbatim text.
2. Use a big font and lots of space between
lines.
Notes are meant to be glanced at, not
squinted at. And there’s nothing more painful than
watching a middle-aged speaker using trombone arm
to read notes.
3) Name your stories. Don’t write out your
stories at all. They are your stories. You
know them by heart. Just title them. I can assure
you, just glancing down at titles such as “Wedding
Night,” “Graduation Story” or “My Unfortunate
Incarceration” will be all you’ll need.
So note this: you can be a brilliant, compelling,
motivating speaker while still using notes. I do and I
am.
And I’m happy to help.
