What is the best way to use notes?
Notes should be a safety net, not a script. The goal is to know your message well enough that notes are rarely needed—but when you do use them, keep them to brief cue words or short phrases, not sentences you'll be tempted to read. The moment you start reading, your eyes drop from the audience to the page, and that break in eye contact weakens the connection you've worked to build.
iSpeak Master Instructor Bill Kreiger recommends using 3x5 index cards instead of notebook paper or printed pages. On each card, write only a few keywords, key statistics, or reminders for a section of your presentation. When you need a prompt, take a quick glance at the card, find your next idea, and immediately return your attention to the audience. Because the cards contain only cues—not full sentences—they help you stay conversational, maintain eye contact, and speak to the audience rather than read at them.
Why it matters: You can't connect with an audience you're not looking at. Reading notes signals low confidence and low preparation to your audience, whether that's fair or not. It also pulls your focus inward, when it should be on them.
Practical Tips
- Reduce notes to single-word triggers. A word like "pivot" or "budget example" is enough to jog your memory. If you need full sentences, that's a rehearsal problem, not a notes problem.
- Use PowerPoint's Presenter View. Your cue notes live in the Speaker Notes section and appear only on your laptop screen — the audience sees your clean slide. This is the most professional way to keep light reference material handy.
- Rehearse out loud at least three times before any high-stakes presentation. You should only glance at notes — never read them. Practice builds the internalization that makes notes unnecessary.
Practice Exercise:
Deliver your next presentation using only a half-sheet of paper with no more than 7 single-word or short-phrase cues. Practice it with the iSpeak AI Coach and receive feedback. Also, notice where you reach for the notes most — those are the sections that need more rehearsal.
Watch this 6 minute YouTube video by Russ Peterson, Jr explaining the importance as well as the process of rehearsing:
Communication Insight
Timeless advice to help you communicate with confidence and impact.
"Perfection is a direction, not a destination."
Russ Peterson, Jr.
"You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere."
Lee Iacocca
"People don't remember what we think is important, they remember what they think is important."
John C. Maxwell
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