When we watch TED talks, such as Rory Sutherland\u2019s on the power of advertising<\/strong>, or Hans Rosling\u2019s on the power of data,<\/strong> we are watching two men who know their way around the presentation platform.<\/p>\n

Both speak without notes, use pictures and graphics as visuals (without a bulletpoint in sight), demonstrate that they have internalized their content, and in fact have memorized some verbal \u201criffs\u201d that delight their listeners.<\/p>\n

But what if they had used notes?\u00a0 Would that have damaged the appeal of their presentations?<\/p>\n

I think it depends on how they used them.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

If they had stood, hands in-front, head down, clutching a deck of 3×5 cards<\/span><\/strong>, yes\u2014they would have damaged their appeal.<\/p>\n

But if they had had, at their disposal, a lectern<\/strong> or a table, where they could have gone to glance down at an outline, would that have hurt their appeal?\u00a0 I doubt it, as long as each of them maintained their liveliness and engagement with their listeners.<\/p>\n

Audiences crave intimacy with a speaker.\u00a0 In addition to getting the pleasure of a new thought from a speaker, (or having an old idea buffed and polished) they want the speaker to be good company\u2014entertaining, bright, and well-informed.<\/p>\n

When we use notes in such a way that we devote the bulk of our attention to the audience, and not to the documents in front of us, we are in the zone of peak performance<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

After all, the presence of notes indicates that we have prepared<\/strong>, that we strive to be organized, and that we are respectful of the gift that our listeners give us\u2014the gift of their attention.<\/p>\n

\n<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we watch TED talks, such as Rory Sutherland\u2019s on the power of advertising, or Hans Rosling\u2019s on the power of data, we are watching two men who know their way around the presentation platform. Both speak without notes, use pictures and graphics as visuals (without a bulletpoint in sight), demonstrate that they have internalized… Read More »Using speaker’s notes<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_ti_tpc_template_sync":false,"_ti_tpc_template_id":""},"categories":[336,24],"tags":[603,18,88,21,600,30,117,339],"yoast_head":"\n