Provide takeaways

I was once told that the hallmark of a great seminar is a good lunch and an impressive manual. I didn't believe it then or now, although there is a smidgin of truth in it.
How many manuals have you collected and stored in a bookshelf somewhere, never to be consulted again? I am certain that some participants expect that the information contained in them will somehow penetrate our consciousness through osmosis - provided, of course, that they are stored exactly the right distance from our head.

On the other hand, a well designed handout can serve as a valuable prompt to help participants take the message home.

I generally use interactive handouts - ones which the participants complete during the presentation. This has the additional advantage of involving the sense of touch during the seminar or speech.

Ways that handouts can be made interactive include:

• Providing outlines of diagrams used in slide presentations - leave in the graphics, but leave out the words;

• Printing the first letters of an acronym which is the framework on the presentation;

• Using a 'Good Ideas Doggy Bag." This is a handout that I have developed which I ask participants to write out the one idea from the presentation that they intend to use first. I ask them to seal it in an envelope that I provide and then I promise to send it to them one month later.

The advantage of this process is that when they do return home, other more pressing issues may dilute the impact of the seminar.

By delivering a reminder, in their own words and hand-writing, when their recollection may be faltering, I reinforce the commitment that they made to themselves.

· Another form of takeaway is a prompt that can be displayed on their desk. I use index card size summaries that fold into a tent. I also give away good quality pens with my name and contact details on them. I find a far better call back rate from these than from business cards.

Fridge magnets are not a good idea, as if these are brought into contact with recording media, such as tapes or computer disks, including the hard drive on a computer, the information on the tape or disc is erased.

Never distribute copies of your speech to be read by the audience as you deliver it. Do you really want them to get ahead of you? Do you really want them to know that you skipped a paragraph because of time constraints? The only person in the room who should know what you are going to say next is you.

Some conferences ask for a paper to be submitted in advance and this is then circulated to the participants. Fine. What I say in the paper is consistent with what I say from the platform, but I speak to the paper, rather than read it.

I have three speeches on any subject: The one I intend to give - which is printed in the papers, the one I do give, which is often available on cassette and the one I wish I had given, which is available to those who ring me afterwards to discuss a point that I made.

As a handout, I prefer to give an outline of the main points, and often include some of the anecdotes under the heading "Tales Trainers Tell."

At other times I restrict handouts to a single point, and give them out one page at a time. This has increased flexibility if the level of knowledge is not what I had expected. I can withhold some notes, and give out others to suit the reaction that I am getting.

The quality of the handouts is important. Clear photocopies are no more expensive than shoddy ones. Plenty of white space improves readability immensely. I always have contact details on each page so that people can follow through if they wish to.