Do you know the feeling that you are afraid of forgetting to say something important to your audience as part of your introduction?
There are a number of great tips and tricks in the book Public Speaking Excellence.
What better not to do is writing it down on a small Post-it® note type of paper and hold this in your hand. Why? It may distract your audience and doesn’t look very professional. Furthermore if you are nervous the small piece of paper may start shaking in your hand which doesn’t give your audience an impression of you being very comfortable about the topic. If you need to use a piece of paper with speaker notes it is better to use a thick cardboard card (format postcard). Only write notes on one side of the card and make sure it is easy to read. Think about where you hold the card and don’t write text on that part of the card. But it is better to avoid using such a card.
Some make the card(s) with speaker notes and have the card(s) with them, but won’t actually use the card(s) during the presentation. In this case making the cards is part of the process to remember the important things they need to say to the audience as part of the introduction. Having the card(s) as backup within reach during the beginning of the presentation adds to having a more comfortable feeling.
