You can't control the room, you can only control yourself. So how do you set yourself up in a way that subconsciously controls the room? That's the theme of that whole lesson. So, what I want us to think about, I do mention in it, that a slide deck necessarily has you turning away from the audience. And a handout has you between, right like a meal, but. >> I think one important thing about a hand out is, as soon as you give people handout, they start looking at it. So you need to be really careful about, when and what you hand out. >> That's one of the most dangerous things about a hand out, because yeah. >> You can be presenting and rolling, right. >> Yeah. >> And then what happens is, someone is over here going. >> They're all like, cool. >> Dr McAndrew. >> [LAUGH] >> I see. >> [LAUGH] >> I always tell students, don't present your hand outs, and don't hand out your presentations. >> Yeah. >> I think they're two separate animals, and I agree that giving your handout early in a presentation, it's a huge mistake. >> So Dave, talk about that a little more. What separates a handout in a presentation in your view? >> A presentation depends on you being there, and a good handout, you wouldn't need to be there at all. It should explain itself, and it should speak in a clear, textual narrative or whatever, I mean it's almost like a kiosk. Whereas, students ask me for copies of my presentations and I always tell them. >> Yeah. >> They won't mean a thing to you, because without me there, my presentations, they're just impressionistic. >> Isn't that a common mistake that we probably all see, is when people have presentation slides that are behind them, they put too much information on them? And so what you're saying is, if you have a hand out, maybe it goes out at the end, but it has more of the context. But the slides themselves are supporting documents for whoever is giving the presentation. >> That's right but then, let me play devil's advocate a little bit. When someone has a lot of information, perhaps they're only the delivery person, the messenger, and their company feels like, this is what needs to be said about this topic. Dave, how do you get around that, because that puts the presenter in a really awkward position. >> Yeah, I agree with you. >> Well, you can't get around it in that case. But you have to make darn sure those slides are very, very clear. And that the audience can look at each slide, understand what it is that that slide has to say, very very quickly, and then return their attention to the presenter. So, what I prefer to do in cases like that, is put less information on each slide and use more slides. >> That's great. >> It's great, yeah. >> So the slides don't become what I call sticky. >> That's good. >> When you look at it, you get stuck on it, and the poor presenter is left. >> Right, it's like having a handout up on the screen and you're looking at the slide trying to decipher the slide, and you're not paying attention to the person you should be paying attention. >> I like that concept of stickiness, because basically too many words make things sticky. >> Yeah. [LAUGH] >> So, one thing I've been talking about in my lessons is the notion of a keyword. And a keyword I think is very useful to the speaker, because the speaker can get stuck as well, right? If you're trying to memorize a script and say, I have to say all these sentences, you're getting stuck in them and your mouth gets all [SOUND] and it can't get through it. If you focus on a keyword, and if that keyword is behind you on a screen, you can make it through. >> Yeah. >> Because you know what the keyword means, and you just need to explain it. >> There are studies I read about in an experiment once, it said if you think the word banana, it's hard to think that word with your mouth open. Because we tend to mouth what we read, believe it or not. So, if you're slides are crazy complex with all sorts of text, it's hard on an audience, because their trying to read along and listen to you at the same time. >> Yeah >> That's great. >> Remember, we don't want anything to be hard on our audience, we're making the best experience for them possible. >> Your audience has to feel that their embraced by you, because it's only in that warm embrace, that sense that they're all part of that one community, that they're going to trust and therefore give you the authority that you need to make your point. >> Yep. >> Yep.
