Have you ever had to give a presentation but you worried about forgetting some important points of what you need to say? You may think that using cue cards would reflect badly on you, but in reality, you do look better by using cue cards and remembering everything than by not using them and forgetting. Who would you respect more? The person using cue cards and does a great presentation or the person who forgets information but does not use cue cards?
Cue Cards in Direct Sales (Photo credit: iamvisi)
What to Write
One of the most important aspects of using cue cards is not to depend on them 100%. They are there to help you. Do not write your entire speech on the card – you should only be writing key points. For example, if you are in direct sales or doing some other speech about a product, you may want to write the following types of information:
- Materials Made Of
- Colours or Sizes Available
- Price Point
- Other relevant information – Recycled materials, lifelong warranty, waterproof, etc
- Organization
Chances are you know what order you want to present your points in. You may want to have a card dedicated to your order that you can set aside to keep you on track. Alternatively, it is likely better to number your cards so that you know that they are still in order. It would be a good idea to go through them briefly before your presentation just to guarantee that they are in the correct order.
Readability
A key point to using cards is your ability to read them. While you may not have any issue reading the cards when you are at home, you may find that this becomes more difficult when you are in front of a crowd. For this reason, you will want to take your time writing them out or you may prefer to type and then print them. You can purchase heavier paper to print on and then cut it down into cue card size pages. Of course, some people just use full size pages when giving a presentation.
If you still think that using cue cards to help with your presentation is not professional looking, think about the last few times you have attended a presentation. Is the presenter using cue cards? Even if they are not holding cards, do they have a PowerPoint presentation up on a screen for the attendees to follow or maybe a hand out for everyone in attendance? These are still types of cue cards.
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