“A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.”
Bruce Lee (actor)
2.13 Give handouts at the end, never at the beginning
Ideally your presentation should be clear, not needing additional notes. Almost certainly, nobody will read handouts if you do provide them, unless you give them out at the beginning: a guaranteed way of ensuring the rustle of flipping pages drowns out your first 60 seconds!
There are, of course, exceptions.
On occasion, you may want your audience to refer to detailed data during the presentation. In that case, I would recommend having the data on the slide and handing out prints of that specific slide, so that you don’t have to read aloud every detail they can’t see on the screen.
There is also a good case for making two presentations; the one you personally deliver, and the one you distribute. The one you show should be light on data and detail, but the one you distribute may need to tell a more in-depth story, especially if you are sharing it with management as a reference paper. In that case, you can add the detail in their version, also helping you resist the temptation to throw every word and number into the slides you present.
Naturally creating two versions requires a lot of extra time and for most presentations is unnecessary. However, for the big ones, it’s worth it.
2.14 Finish with a bang
Have you ever been to a concert where there was no encore? The band gets up, plays and walks off, giving the audience no chance to show their appreciation. It leaves you with a sense of unfulfillment, as if something’s not quite complete.