Partner Article

Stand and deliver

With Simon Raybould at Curved Vision Theatre

It happens every time I have to write a long article on my laptop at the kitchen table - I get all tense. (My office PC is, of course, ergonomically set up!) It’s because the table and chair aren’t quite the right height for each other, or for me, and so my shoulders get raised and I slouch and… you get the picture.

Similar things happen, I notice, when people make a presentation or a speech when they’ve got a script. (It’s only one of the reasons I’m not a fan of scripts but the other reasons are too big for this space.) As soon as they’ve got to read something they instinctively put the paper in front of the break between their stomach and their chest – and then have to bend their heads down and hunch to be able to read the thing! They hamper their own presentation style…

As often as not, it’s very frustrating because they have just spent an intensive day having some presentation skills training and they’ll have “got it” when they’re talking “freestyle”. Then they loose their nerve and reach for a script and it all goes wrong…

Here’s a tip! Stand the way you should be standing first and then adjust the position of your script (if you really insist on having one) to the place you need it for you second: don’t adjust yourself to the position of the paper! At the very least, if you really feel you need a script for your presentation, get the position right and print it out in a big enough font for you to be able to read it when it’s a couple of feet away from your eyes. The standard 12 points Times Roman won’t cut it for a speech you’re about to deliver.

It’s not rocket science, is it?! But you’d be amazed at how often I need to say it…

More hints and tips at the presentation skills blog!

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .