Using note cards confidently

On February 10, 2020 at Inc. there was an article by Deborah Grayson Riegel titled How to use notes when public speaking without losing your audience and subtitled Your notes shouldn’t become the focus of your presentation. Her ten tips have the following headings:

 1] Look polished

 2] Write big

 3] Number them

 4]Practice

 5]Plan your moves

 6] Choose the right (or left) hand

 7] Don’t read

 8] Distract from the notes

 9] Challenge your assumption

10] Don’t apologize

Deborah admitted that she rarely refers to notes. It’s always dangerous to give advice on something you do not do. Her detailed advice for the third point, Number them says to:

“Write large page numbers on each sheet of paper or index card. That way, if they get shuffled or out of order, you can quickly find your place.”

Deborah’s advice won’t keep you out of trouble if you get nervous and drop those cards. Back on April 19, 2017 I blogged about how You never should have to worry about shuffling or dropping your cue cards. Just chain (or tie) them together as shown above.

In her second paragraph she also says:

“And if you’re not lucky enough to have a ‘confidence monitor’ (that flat screen at the foot of the stage that allows the speaker to see his slides without breaking eye contact with the audience) you may have to rely on old-fashioned paper to bring up with you.”

I always print out my PowerPoint slides at six per page and then staple those few pages together as my emergency backup. If the projector doesn’t work I can still use notes to speak without the slides.

Back on October 3, 2015 I blogged about how Outline notes are a visual aid for the speaker.