Comments on: Three good reasons to distribute your handout after the presentation

By: Minimise “blur” (FiRST framework – part 1M) | Remote Possibilities

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 15:31:47 +0000

[...] helps structure any notes that people write. (For a thought-provoking debate about handouts, see Olivia Mitchell’s 2 posts on this subject, including people’s comments at the [...]

By: Olivia Mitchell

Olivia Mitchell — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 06:03:48 +0000

Hi Dave
Whatever you can do in a job interview situation to help you stand out is a good idea, so do go ahead with having a well-laid out and presented handout. I suggest that you hand it out afterwards but let them know at the beginning that you will be distributing a handout.. My reasoning is that in the a job interview it’s critical that they do have their eyes on you, and are not distracted by anything else.
Go well with your interview.
Olivia

By: Dave Carro

Dave Carro — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 11:48:22 +0000

Hi,

I’m not sure if this is still open for discussion, but I have to give a presentation to a 12-member Executive Management Team at a not-for-profit health care company as part of the second round of job interviews (I am the job seeker). I am presenting a real topic (Enhancing Internal Communications). Obviously, they want to see if I can speak well and engage an audience, as well as glean some tips they can use even if I don’t get the job.

My presentation has no real ‘surprises,’ but it does reveal bullet items individually. I am debating whether or not to distribute handouts before or tell them they are available after (which I’ve never done). I know people love to review things before/during a presentation as I do (and it would keep some of the eyes off me!), but I don’t know what I should do for this specific situation.

Do you think it is expected that I hand them out before? Do they care that much if it’s a job interview? Will they think ill of me if I don’t?

Any insights are appreciated! Thanks.

Dave

By: Handouts for Presentation: Before or After? « EduClaytion

Handouts for Presentation: Before or After? « EduClaytion — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 11:10:10 +0000

[...] But just when she has me along for the ride I see she’s added an update about three people who dissented in the comments section. These observations led her to craft a follow up called Three good reasons to distribute your handout after the presentation. [...]

By: Olivia Mitchell

Olivia Mitchell — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 20:21:31 +0000

Hi Jim
Welcome to my blog – and thanks for adding the system you use for handouts. Sounds like you’ve got it well sorted!
Olivia

By: Jim Taylor, CPE, CPMM

Jim Taylor, CPE, CPMM — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 13:01:53 +0000

Hi,

This is a late post but I just found the blog. (How’s that for on-going value?).

I say it depends. For a course I give out slide copies for note taking. But for public presentations (conferences, trade shows), I don’t.

At the end of the presentation, I’ll ask that anyone who wants a copy, to please leave their business card with me. Then I’ll make up a detailed handout to send to them.

That way they get the information, they also get a reminder of the presentation, and I get their contact information. Then I send them an email asking for permission to add them to my mailing list.

By: Olivia Mitchell

Olivia Mitchell — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 23:33:41 +0000

Hi Kristin
I initially used word “handout” as being anything the audience gets whether it’s distributed before, during or after the presentation. Then the discussion got focused on whether it should be handed out before or after. Another way of framing the discussion would be “Should you give your audience a handout or a takeaway?”

I totally agree with you that the handout/takeaway should be different to the slides. That’s lazy and usually unhelpful!
Olivia

By: Kristin Arnold

Kristin Arnold — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:03:07 +0000

I have read, and re-read this thread with interest, and have to wonder about our definition of “handout.” If you are really lazy, it is simply a printout of your slides. If you want to keep the suspense, surprise and extraneous noise that some slides offer, as well as add any additional information the participants might want to have “after the fact”, then create a separate document as the “handout” to well, em, hand out at the beginning or sometime during the presentation. If you hand this document or other symbolic summary of the presentation out at the end, that would be a “takeaway”. Either way you look at it, your handout or takeaway should be different from your slideshow!

By: Olivia Mitchell

Olivia Mitchell — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 09:43:35 +0000

Thanks Gitta for adding that,
Olivia

By: Olivia Mitchell

Olivia Mitchell — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 09:40:31 +0000

Hi Mike
I think sending the handout later is a great idea – particularly if it can then reflect the content discussed during the presentation.

This debate has also caused me to be a lot more conscious about handouts!

And for other readers here’s a link to Mike’s excellent post on the issue: http://occhygiene.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/when-to-distribute-handouts/

Thanks
Olivia