Giving materials for repetition and Child Development in Montessori Education Introduction

Explain how to use handouts
Lesson Transcript
Instructor: Jennifer Lombardo
Jennifer Lombardo received both her undergraduate degree and MBA in marketing from Rowan University. She spent ten years in consumer marketing for companies such as Nielsen Marketing Research, The Dial Corporation and Mattel Toys. She is currently an adjunct professor of marketing at Rowan University and a social media marketing consultant.
Cite this lesson
When designing presentations, the use of effective handouts can further support the message with relevant information for the audience. Learn the benefits of handouts and explore expert tips for using handouts in a presentation. Updated: 10/20/2021

Handouts

It is 11 p.m. at night, and you have just completed creating a key business presentation for your job. Before you head to bed, it is important to also prepare handouts for the meeting. Handouts are paper with relevant information dispersed to an audience at a lecture, presentation, convention, etc.
There are many benefits to preparing handouts for a business presentation. In this lesson, we will also cover tips for using effective handouts in a presentation. Before I was a professor, I spent over ten years in marketing for large companies that specialized in presentations. Here are some insider tips.


 Save
Autoplay
NormalSpeed

• 
   Video
  

• 
   Quiz
  

• 
   Course
  

12K views

Benefits of Handouts

It is expected for a presentation to have a handout for audience members to reference later. There are numerous benefits to utilizing handouts for a business presentation.
1. Avoid information overload
Presenters should avoid dumping a huge amount of information on their audience. This will result in information overload, and the audience will feel overwhelmed. The point of a presentation is for the viewer to learn, appreciate and maintain the information.
Many presentations I have attended have been one huge information landfill. In one instance, the slide show contained 234 slides, and each one was bursting with information. Everyone in the room lost immediate interest in the presentation and started planning their escape. Handouts are a great solution to provide additional details to your audience without holding them hostage for ten hours straight.
2. Keep presentation on track
Handouts can also benefit the presenter by providing a road map for the presentation. Many presenters follow their own handout as a guide to stay on message and not digress. Outlines also give the audience an idea of the length of a presentation.
3. Remind audience of message
Audience members usually can't remember most of what a presenter has said an hour after the presentation has finished. Handouts provide instant reminders and a great source of information follow-up. Many times during the presentations that I attended, the presenter spoke too quickly or not loud enough, and I missed important information. It was reassuring to have the handouts to reference later in the day.
4. Allows follow-up
Audience members can later reach out to the presenter with any questions if contact information is on the handout. By providing a phone or email, you can be assured that their questions will be answered.
5. Retains attention
If handouts are provided, audience members can focus on the presentation material without having to worry about note taking. There is always one audience attendee who feels the need to write down every single thing the presenter has said during the lecture. There is no way that they can comprehend any of the information. Providing handouts allows the audience members to relax, focus and enjoy the presentation, knowing that they have follow-up notes to refer to later.