TJ Walker explains how to use a single-sheet cheat sheet with 18-20 point font to prepare for presentations. Paper never fails when your tech does, and it lets you focus on talking to people instead of reading slides.
Chapters
Here's the single biggest piece of advice I have for people when they are preparing their PowerPoint presentations. That is universally ignored. So somehow I'm failing at this piece of advice. But my advice is this. I want you to cheat. I want you to be lazy. What do I mean by that? I mean I literally want you to have a cheat sheet. I want you to have a single sheet of paper that has your notes, all your key points on it, and a couple of words to let you know what slides are coming up so that you don't have any pressure on your memory. People feel like, oh, I'm using PowerPoint. I'm not allowed to use old technology of paper. I have to use the new, fancy technology. Well, that is utter nonsense. They can be quite complementary. Now, I love new technology. I love computers, projectors. I've got a gazillion computers, video cameras. But they've all let me down at some point. They've all complained about no electricity or me not formatting something. There's one piece of technology or one tool, I should say, that's never let me down. A good old fashioned piece of paper. It doesn't require electricity. It's compatible with everything. It never has hiccups, it never just automatically deletes itself. And that is my security blanket. I urge you, I beg you, have your notes for everything you want to say on a simple piece of paper. Make it in large font, at least 18, maybe 20 font. That way you don't have to put your glasses on or touch it or pick it up. You can just walking around, occasionally glance at it. And this way you're not using your PowerPoint slides as your notes. You're using your notes that only you can see as your notes. This way you'll come across as much more authoritative, confident and believable to your audience because you're not having to refer to your slides. You also have an insurance policy in case the power goes out or the slides don't work, and it just takes all the stress off of your memory. Your audience doesn't care if you have a great memory. They just want to hear you talk, be interesting and conversational. So if you have notes, you can occasionally glance down and it will remind you of what your next story is, your next example, your next fact, even if none of those things are on the slide. So please, I beg you, make life easy. It's not unethical, but use a cheat sheet.
