To use notes for a big presentation?

[notetakerforlife]

NC so not linked to other posts.

I am short on time and could memorise it but it would take hours many hours if my life however it's a big presentation I have approx 20 minutes, and I want it to be great.

Do you feel the quality of a presentation is regarded when someone uses their notes?

Please be honest or is content more important?

I give talks and presentations fairly regularly.

Having notes is absolutely fine, so long as you aren't 'reading' them. Glancing at them every now and then is fine.

Can you use slides? I always always have speaking notes. It helps ground me at the start of each slide. I've usually rehearsed so much that I'm comfortable and on the day, I don't usually need to refer to the notes but at least they're there if I lose my train of thought etc.

The act of writing speaking points helps focus what the main point is that you're trying to get across too for every slide, I think it's a valuable exercise.

I think notes are fine but reading not ideal. If you have to read try hard to break in right places and not to read too fast. Assuming you have slides I find having first point for each slide written down really helpful to jog my memory and keep me on track.

I use slides only with key points on and make sure I know exactly what I want to say (but not the actual words). Never use notes as I think it comes across too stilted and doesn't connect with the audience. But if I couldn't use a presentation, I'd put the key points on cards just to jog my memory.

Oh no 🤦‍♀️ seems like I need to put in many more hours then judging by these responses 😬

Also I wouldn't be reading word for word, I am able to read then glance back up to make eye contact it's not like I'm constantly glancing at the notes

Then you'll be fine!

Absolutely fine. People always say that It’s best not to use notes, but I’ve seen good people (great people, even) read out entire key note speeches. If the delivery is good, it’s fine!

@Doodleboodle thank you! You e made me feel. Lot better ☺️

Notes to jog your memory and keep you on track and on time are fine as long as you aren't reading off them - I can't bear it when people um and er rather than get on with the talk or wildly overrun because they lose their plan. (Professional lecturer here, so I know whereof I speak!)

Of course it's fine. I'd suggest bullet points so you remember the ideas and aren't reading it (which would be terrible for anyone watching). Good luck!

Sorry OP, I think this sounds terrible. You ARE reading them word for word, just with the occasional glance up. In my industry, you would most definitely be judged very badly but perhaps it's different in yours?

Oh no!!! Flipping hell ok - I'm now very very scared as I don't have long and not sure there's enough space in my memory !!!!

@HundredMilesAnHour what industry?

Is it a speech or a presentation? If it's a presentation I wonder why you're not using slides? People won't take it in if you're just talking.

@titchy it's a presentation approx 20 minutes - it has slides but there's only bullet points on the slides and it doesn't give me enough space to talk about everything

I probably have about 5 lines of words for each bullet which doesn't fit on the slides!

Management consulting / financial services (we do a LOT of presentations!)

@HundredMilesAnHour oh dear I'm similar sector

It's not about memory, it's about knowing what you are talking about.

To give a good presentation, you really should know (I mean really know - inside out, back to front) what you are talking about.

That's why you only need bullet points for a good presentation (written or powerpoint/equivalent) - they are simply an aide memoire.

I used to teach new PhD students how to do this, and the first thing I did when they came to give a trial presentation was rip up any notes they had (well not really, but 'confiscated' them).

Unless you have a proper autocue setup and are used to reading from one, never, ever, ever try to read a script. It never flows or feels right, and many people if they lose track then flounder as they are struggling to find where they are in notes etc.

I used to make notes on postcards and tie them together with a treasury tag so you couldn’t drop them and mix them up. If you’ve made the slide presentation you probably know all you need to say but you should always practice a presentation several times. It’s amazing how much it can improve and you will become more at ease with your material.

Do you not know the material? Did you prepare the deck yourself or has someone else done it? I'm trying to understand why you think it will take your hours to prepare what you're going to say if you already have bullets?

IF the delivery is good. Unless you're a trained actor I can almost guarantee it won't be.

Not to mention reading out a presentation usually means it's a text geared for reading rather than speaking. Very different sentence length, structure, etc. I should know, I've sat through many, many conference presentations by novice speakers that turned out awful for that very reason.

I agree with pp. Write the presentation as key words, or slides. If slides have a printout that contains the whole thing on one page. Then give the presentation itself as free speech, and don't worry about a few stutters.

Don't those words act as a prompt though? Don't memorise like a speech though that'll sound really false.

For each word on the slide if you find it doesn't act as a prompt it's fine to have a couple of bullet points written down though. There's a reason PowerPoint has different presenter and viewer views!

Totally agree with @WrigglyDonCat

Shot I'm worrying now!

So is it best to do postcards?

Because the location doesn't have facility to show the PowerPoint notes section so either post card OR my laptop is what I'd need to do?

Any suggestions