There is nothing worse than listening to a speaker who is head down, reading from notes, and not looking up and engaging with the audience, but equally whilst you get used to your speaking role it can be difficult.
So here are our top tips for not being that person…
- Have a crib sheet with titles as prompts.
- Have a sheet of pictures in front of you that the audience can’t see, in the order of your talk, to use as prompts.
- Decide to talk with other members of the group and each stick to a short part of what you want to say. This works fine with up to 3 people, but after that can be a bit unorganised so do this with caution – but it can work!
- Use your slideshow as prompts where appropriate – but try to avoid reading out word for word what’s on the slide.
- Practice! Ask other group members or volunteers to be your guinea pig audience and ask them to be really honest with you about what you are saying and how you are presenting it. And remind them to be kind…
