A lot of people are reading from their mobile phones when they give presentations these days.
This is not a good idea.
I have observed celebrities, conference speakers and even comedians do this recently.
They have all been quite bad, really bad or downright awful.
Here are three reasons why you should avoid presenting from your phone.
Firstly, we want our presenters to make eye contact with us.
That’s almost impossible when using a mobile phone.
The speaker will spend most of their time staring down at the screen.
So, eye contact will therefore be minimal or non-existent.
Secondly, we want our speakers to project their voices confidently.
This is not necessarily impossible using a mobile phone, but it is far more difficult.
Because the speaker is looking down at the screen, their voice will be projecting downwards, rather than out to the audience.
The sound will not be as good as it could be and the energy drops instantly.
Thirdly, we want to feel the speaker is giving us 100% of their attention.
Not easy when using a mobile phone.
The text is usually very small, so the speaker is staring at the screen.
Not much text can fit on the screen, so the speaker will need to scroll.
This can look like they are checking their messages.
And it can go from bad to worse, if they scroll too far or press the wrong button.
For these reasons (and a few more) I urge you not to do it!
Your notes deserve a larger space – on paper, on cue cards, or on a tablet.
And your audience deserves your full attention.
Effective presenting is about presence – eye contact, confidence and connection.
A phone gets in the way of all three.
Look up, project out, and keep your focus where it belongs: on your audience.
For more presenting tips, why not check out the following article on setting your audience up to engage with confidence…
