A Presentation "Exception to the Rule" Works Successfully

In most presentation articles, I stress how important it is to neither read nor memorize your presentation. The first can alienate and /or bore the audience, while the second can easily trip you up when you forget a word or phrase.

However, I was recently captivated and enchanted by a presentation given by a successful woman and speaker who read her whole hour and fifteen minute speech. How did she achieve this exception to the rule? What made this technique work for her?

If you are planning to read all, or even part, of your presentation, practice your techniques. I have mentioned before how distracting a presentation can become when the presenter reads to us from PowerPoint slides, overheads and/or a flip chart. The woman with whom I was so delighted was a practiced professional. She made constant eye contact with us, had a great deal of energy in her voice and tone, paused at the right times and places, and when she glanced down to read, read as if she were speaking to us in a natural, conversational way. If I hadn