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Cheat. I’m serious, you need to cheat.

The best way to do this is with notes. But you must use notes in a very specific way in order to be seen as believable, authentic, and authoritative to your audience.

The reality is that it’s hard word to memorize a presentation. If you are like me, you already have enough hard work in your life, so let’s not add to the list. Don’t waste time memorizing. But we have to come up with a solution that is easy for you, and also helps your audience.

So, for example, you reading a speech word for word is easy for you, but it creates a painful and boring experience for your audience, so that is not a win-win solution. The skillful use of notes can make everyone happy.

Personally, I never give a presentation anywhere without using notes, but I also create the illusion that I never use notes. How is this done? It’s easy if you follow these simple rules:
1.    Limit your notes to a single sheet of paper.
2.    Use print that is so large you can read it from 5 feet away.
3.    Use 1-4 word sentence fragments to jar your memory.
4.    Number your bullet points, don’t use complex indentation and sub sections.
5.    Cut your sheet of paper in half so that it is no longer 8.5 x 11. By making it 4.25 x 11, it becomes even less noticeable.
6.    Never pick up your notes.
7.    Never be seen holding your notes.
8.    Never be seen touching your notes.
Bonus tip: have two or three sets of the same notes in different parts of the room so that you don’t even have to be near any one set for long stretches of time.

Audiences love it when the person presenting to them appears to be speaking right to them and is not beholden to or reading from a script or notes. Think of how often you have read a fawning news article about a political or business figure and the author wrote “and (he/she) spoke for an hour to the mesmerized crowd without using notes.” So audiences do seem to love, respect and admire a presenter who doesn’t use notes because it seems like a courageous act, like walking across a tight rope with using a safety net.

But here’s the thing, audiences don’t really care if you use notes, as long as they don’t notice what you are doing. When I and my clients use notes, we do so using techniques to make our use of notes undetectable. I’ve given you the basic tips above, but here are some other tips you must follow in order to pull this off.
1.    Know what you want to say the first couple of minutes without having to look at your notes.
2.    Place your notes or have your notes placed on a flat surface such as a table or on the keyboard of your computer.
3.    Don’t make sudden head movements to look down at your notes.
4.    Don’t make quick eye darts down to your notes.
5.    Move around the room and look at your notes as a part of natural movement.
6.    Look at your notes when your audience is looking elsewhere, such as the second you show a new slide from a PowerPoint.
7.    Place one set of notes on the table where your water glass or bottle is. Look at your notes when you appear to be just picking up your glass of water.
8.    If a lectern is available, place your notes on the side of it rather than in the normal position. This way you can glance at your notes without ever walking squarely behind the lectern, thus furthering the illusion that you aren’t using notes.
9.    Make sure you have a strong conclusion that you can deliver without have to glace at your notes.