You hold the (cue) cards!

You hold the (cue) cards!

Have you ever experienced, the moment you stood up on stage in front of the crowd, and your mind goes blank?  You just can’t recall the next word you are going to say.  And that could be the start of a disaster!

Are there ways to solve that?

Yes, of course.  Cue cards!  If used properly, these cards would be your best friend the entire presentation or speaking gig.  If using it otherwise, and you’ll just look so amateurish!

Here are 8 tips of using cue cards when speaking.

1)     Number the cards consistently.  This helps you to know which cards go next in your presentation.  Some speakers use small binders to keep the cards intact, but still do number them just in case if the binders give way for some reasons (revisit Murphy’s Law).

2)     Write on ONE SIDE of the card only.  It would be a hassle if you need to flip the card regularly.

3)     Write in CAPs and in your best handwriting.  The lightings in the auditorium sometimes would be so dim that you might not be able to recognise the words if you write them small.

ONLY write trigger words, main 1)     points or key facts, names and quotations that you will be using in your presentations.  Anything more will have your cue cards look like a condensed version of your entire script!2)     The Only time that you write in whole sentences is the Opening and Closing statements because you might need that to remind you to use certain words so you can make an impact in your opening and closings statements.

3)     Use different colours for different key points.  That will grab your own attention. 

4)     Feel!  Look! Deliver!  This is the sequence when you are about deliver your lines.  Feel the word(s) of your key points, look up to the audience (best if you could look them in their eyes!) and deliver your lines in the most honest, possible way.

5)     Practice!  Practice!  Practice!  Nothing can come out good without practices.  The cue cards are just a visual aid in your presentation and not a substitute.  So you still need to practise your delivery and make the cue card be like a natural prop.  Once you are familiar with it, the whole presentation will look natural.

Yours creatively,

Hazriq Idrus
The Speaking Factory Pte  Ltd
www.thespeakingfactory.com