NOTES OR NO NOTES – IT’S A BIG PRESENTATION QUESTION

MICHAEL DODD COMMUNICATIONS Helping you get your message across - through the news media and face-to-face NOTES OR NO NOTES – IT’S A BIG PRESENTATION QUESTION   G’day, The question of whether you should rely on notes during your speeches is an important matter for everyone who gives presentations. It’s a question I often get asked about in my role both as a professional speaker and as a presentation coach. It’s sooooooooooooo important that I’ve recorded a video on it for this ezine for you. Amazingly, the notes issue has burst on the centre stage in British politics. This followed the speech by the Opposition Leader, Ed Miliband, at his Labour Party annual conference in Manchester which he did - as he has before - without notes. But this year Mr Miliband had to admit afterwards that he forgot to mention his pre-prepared comments on two vital issues because he was speaking “off the top of his head”.

Party leaders can normally expect a post-conference “bounce” in the opinion polls after their big speech as a result of the massive media exposure which comes with it. But by forgetting to mention the vital issues of the economic deficit and immigration, Mr Miliband managed to get a “negative bounce” – with his party’s opinion poll rating dropping six percentage points after his address. Like the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, Mr Miliband is generally an impressive speaker without notes and has the ability to remember long passages and deliver them effectively….though this year the reviewers were harsher than before. The biggest mistake Ed Miliband made was to release an official written version of his speech in advance to journalists. This made it easy for them to spot the difference between what he planned to cover and what he actually did cover. Never do this if you’re not going to say what you say you will say! BIG NOTES BAD, SMALL NOTES OK My advice is that big notes on sheaves of paper that you hold in front of you make you look truly awful. They sap your authority. They block your direct engagement with your audience. However small, un-obvious notes with a minimum of words or pictures can be a highly effective way of keeping you on track - if you just glance at them occasionally and at exactly the right moments (when you’ve ensured the audience thinking about something profound you’ve just told them). Tiny notes allow you to talk rather than read your presentation and keep you connected with your audience. This video tells you more…

GETTING YOUR PRESENTATIONS JUST RIGHT As you've probably noticed, there’s much to think about when planning and doing an effective presentation. And what you do for one audience in a particular situation may contrast from what is right for another audience with different requirements. My bespoke master classes and one-to-one sessions on “Presenting with Confidence, Impact and Pizzazz” focus on the situations you and your team need to be ready for. These can include:   Working in harmony with your slides (rather than committing the sin of reading them)   Designing slides that excite your audience (rather than put them to sleep)   Knowing when and how to move with a purpose (rather than shifting routinely like a caged tiger) Getting the pitch, pacing and pausing right (to boost your engagement and authority)   Choosing visual aids that work (and which can also help you keep on track)   Getting your hands and feet in the right place (so you project a confident image)   Telling the right stories in the right way (to embed your message in the minds of your audience).   Send your presentation challenges and requirements toenquires@michaeldoddcommunications.com - or call 44 7944 952835 - and we can come up with a programme to hit the right spots for you and your team on premises selected by you. And of course we can devise the right method of reminding you what to say at key moments in your presentation – and avoid those “blanking” and “off piste” moments. If you're really up for it, this can involve using autocue…something Barrack Obama does brilliantly (even without my help). There's more about "Presenting with Confidence, Impact and Pizzazz" at: http://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/presentation_training.php If Ed Miliband had booked himself a session or two he'd be way back up there in the polls. SWITZERLAND AND KENYA It’s been a bit of a whirl this month, working all over the place including with the United Nations Refugee Agency through Arazon Associates just outside Geneva – that most picturesque of Swiss cities which still has snowcapped peaks around it in September. Then it was Northampton, Watford and then onto the somewhat warmer Nairobi to boost the media interview response skills of African peace-keepers. There are some great personalities in Africa and I met quite a few of them this time. But my all-time favourite is the stand-out African who is head, neck and shoulders above almost everyone else, Jock The Giraffe. I sometimes talk about Jock in my conference keynotes, master classes and after dinner speeches in order to demonstrate how to paint a memorable picture in people’s minds – as Jock is certainly a most memorable character. The African assignment was run by EU Media Business Consulting - headed by none other than Thomas Dodd. Amongst other things, Thomas sets up TV stations around the globe. (Let me know if you need one.) I didn’t meet Thomas through family connections, but I have a feeling we must be related as he looks just like my Uncle Geoff in Adelaide! Here’s Team Dodd posing against the fading Kenyan sunset at an amazing place called the Ole-Sereni Hotel which overlooks the Nairobi National Park. Here you can watch zebras, ostriches and gazelles grazing in the savannah landscape on the other side of the balcony. Yes, you can also see giraffes, but don’t be fooled by this picture below. Africans love building models of their magnificent animals. And I can personally verify the fact that giraffe standing on the magnificent balcony in this picture is a fake…unlike Jock who is as real as they come. Big Jock always makes a big, totally authentic impression without the need for big notes. My colleagues and I can ensure that you can too. Keep smiling, Michael your message... on radio on TV on line in newspapers in magazines face-to-face ...Michael Dodd Communications will show you how International Communications-Boosting Speaker - Media and Presentation Coach Helping you get your message across...in keynotes, master classes, one-to-one Mobile = +44(0)7944 952835 Landline = +44(0)1442 831921 michael@michaeldoddcommunications.com www.michaeldoddcommunications.com