This post is simple.
If you want people to remember the message of your presentation, create a handout.
Last week at SEASPIN, one of the attendees commented on how rare and wonderful the handout was. (I may be paraphrasing, but–hey–it’s my blog.)
Today I enjoyed the sound of rustling papers echoing across a full auditorium as attendees flipped to the next page of a handout I created for another person’s presentation.
The sound proved that the attendees were indeed following along with the notes, so with that simple action they showed they were engaged in the presentation.
It seems presenters too often assume they are engaging enough to capture and retain the attention of the audiences. Worse, they gamble that the attendees will be uniformly diligent enough to take details notes that make recall of the material a snap later. Let’s not be so naive.
If you want people to remember the message of your presentation, create a handout.
Why not try?