You seem to lose your place when talking and do not know why. You look at your slides and your mind goes blank. You are considering putting many more words on the slides to remind you what you need to cover.

More words on the slide: a smart or not so smart decision?

Not so smart. For most people it is the lack of organization of the content that makes their mind go blank.  Interestingly, this problem frequently starts with the title of the slide!  For example, a heading that says, “Summary” does nothing to trigger your memory.

A heading that says, “40 Projects Completed – On Time and On Budget” will make it easy for you to start talking.  Now you have something to talk about which you know.  Furthermore, it is a lot more interesting for your audience! In addition, more words on a slide will tempt you to simply read the slide which nobody likes to see happen in a presentation.

Task: Go look through your headings and see if they help you remember the point of a chart and all its numbers. Look at slides with lots of words and see if you have the main point in the title.