Many subject matter experts and professionals are committed to giving free handouts during their business PowerPoint presentations. In conferences and industry events, handouts of PowerPoint slides are often expected as an unspoken, agreed upon standard.
But is giving a free handout of your PowerPoint presentation the best policy?
As you know from going to conferences and conventions, many people want to attend multiple sessions. It’s easy for attendees to fall into the habit of grab-and-go when it comes to getting to the most number of interesting sessions. Many people avoid sitting in presentations and instead take to trolling the meeting rooms and grabbing handouts of different presentations. If presenters have made this easy by converting their entire PowerPoint message onto a handout, what is the benefit for people to sit and attend the session?
The question remains, should you provide copies of your slides? Or is this common practice the kiss of death to your presentation impact? Top communication experts agree, handouts are in general, a bad idea. They are distracting to your audience. If you pass them out at the beginning of the presentation, you have to fight for attention. Your audience is reading ahead, flipping pages to get to your punch line before you deliver it.
To avoid this sorry fate, you have two choices. First, do not give out handouts until the end of your presentation. Second, provide handouts that give background information and supporting research. Resist the temptation to give free handouts of your entire deck. Protect your business PowerPoint presentation by changing your strategy regarding handouts.
Escape the perils of handouts and you’ll have a much easier time commanding your audience’s attention.
Lead The Eye And The Customer Will Follow
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