When you’ve written it – you have to deliver it, there’s no escape! Top tips for the question ‘notes – or no notes?’

You’ve several options for delivering your speech:

❓No notes at all.

Winging it and hoping for the best 🤞 – or confident you know your stuff and it’ll flow naturally 😃? Only you know the answer.

❓Learning and reciting it word for word.

Great if you know it inside out so it’s ironed into your memory 😊. But lose your place, forget what comes next in front of an audience … it’s called ‘drying’ and it’s every actor’s ghastly nightmare 😱.

❓Full script.

Well, you know you’ll deliver it all and how long it should take 🤔. But – reading aloud from the text is a very specific set of skills that actors learn and develop. If you don’t have the skill, you can become monotonous and unnatural, which will quickly put them off 😴. And when you look up (highly advised), you may find you’ve lost your place when you look back 😬.

❓Keywords and bullet points.

My favourite – little memory joggers that keep you on track, quick glance – ‘ oh yeah, that bit – and you’re in the flow 🤗.

✔️So when you’ve finished writing your presentation, and you’re super-familiar with it – put it down. Turn it into bullets and keywords. And speak from the heart.

Enjoy Confident Public Speaking!

Philippa