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is for XTRA MILE



Give more to your audience than they have any right to expect"

- Tony Robbins




There was once a street corner apple vendor that always placed one xtra apple on top of your purchase as a measure of good will. Any question why he was the most successful in his area? People love getting more than they bargained for and will come back for more.

Handouts can be your xtra apple.

HANDLING HANDOUTS

  • Bring xtra handouts– bring 10% more than you believe you will need.

  • Have handouts available to participants before the program begins.

  • If handouts are given during the presentation, wait until everyone has one before continuing.


ADDITIONAL TIPS

  • In addition to handouts directly related to your presentation (such as a copy of your PowerPoint slides) go the xtra mile and give your audience additional relevant material that they can take home with them. Many professional organizations will gladly send samples of their newsletters or magazines for distribution.
  • Jack Barnard recommends going the xtra mile by using handouts with key words and phrases on them.The audience is encouraged to fill in the blanks as the talk progresses.

  • Fred Pryor seminars advocate and use what is called “structured notes” to take training the xtra mile. Handouts have information relevant to the presentation, but key ideas are left blank for the audience to complete upon instruction to do so. Studies reveal that the audience retention of key ideas increases 23% via structured note taking.

An article in Los Angeles Business Journal recommends:

  • Try leaving blank spaces next to visuals so audience members can jot down their ideas. This way, your handouts become more interactive.

  • Instead of your handouts consisting only of "wall-to-wall words" (all text with narrow margins), try adding graphics, charts and symbols. Visuals will punch up your words and add excitement and creativity.

  • Be sure to include relevant book titles and authors, as well as names, addresses and telephone numbers of associations and organizations. This kind of information increases the value of your handouts, causing audience members to want to keep them.

Mary Ellen Drummond cautions:

  • "All handouts should be professional looking so they reflect your high standard of excellence. Check and recheck for spelling errors and incomplete information."




Enough Handouts for Everyone


“I did a dinner keynote for an aerospace company in the great northwest of the United States. I don’t normally use a handout for a dinner, but they requested that I prepare one, and it certainly never hurts to have an outline which everyone can use to follow along. So I sent the aerospace folks the master, and they had it duplicated at their facility. As we sat down to dinner, I asked my host, ‘Where are the handouts?’.

‘Oh, I put one at each table in case anyone wants one.’

'One?' I thought. 'Why only one? How do I have a whole table use one? Oh well, you must make do.' As I gave the talk, I casually mentioned, 'there is a handout at each table in case anyone wants one.'

On their rating sheets, several people complained about how unprofessional I was not to have supplied them all with handouts." – Lilly Walters










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