By Carly
by Carmel
Is there anybody out there who hasn’t heard something about President Barack Obama and his teleprompter? It’s gotten so famous, the teleprompter even has its own Web site now!
OK, we get it. Our President likes to deliver his speeches by the book; no extemporaneous moments for this guy. Forget the ad-libs or impromptu remarks, please. Or as the teleprompter’s site claims: There is not POTUS (President of the United States) without TOTUS (Teleprompter of the United States).
So what’s the big deal? He’s not the first, and certainly not the last person who will depend on a teleprompter. The device can be quite useful when it comes to delivering those oratorical masterpieces. (We all remember how our last POTUS got ridiculed by the media when he spoke off the cuff, don’t we?) So, if the USA’s most famous speaker needs a little support in the presentation department, so be it.
How does this message translate to those of us in the regular world? Yes, we often use presentation technology in a similar manner and it can be a seductive crutch. It allows us to deliver a presentation without having to learn that much about the subject. It frees us from intensive rehearsals and lets us breeze through a proposal without actually having to think about what we’re saying.
Don’t get me wrong, I am a HUGE™ believer in the effective use of the teleprompter or similar aids. But, like a drug that’s hard to kick, the more you use a prompter, the more you convince yourself you can’t function without one. And the more you rely on it, the more likely you are to come off over-rehearsed and insincere – like the words go in your eyes and out your mouth, without ever filtering through your brain.
So, if you have found yourself depending a little too much on written notes (look up, please), or you put every word you say in a PowerPoint presentation (boring), remember that your audience wants you to communicate with them. Look at them. Speak to them.
Don’t let a prop (aka prompter) come between you and an effective presentation.
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Tags: Barack Obama, PowerPoint, public speaking, teleprompter
About the Author
As Communications Coordinator, Carly is the primary copywriter for the firm, and oversees media relations for many of our clients. When not writing (either at work or at home), she can usually be found hiking, cooking, tweeting or dressing up Bowser and entering him into costume contests.
