Are Handouts Worth the Effort?

First and foremost, there’s no definitive answer to the question of whether you should or shouldn’t have a handout to share with your audience… especially right out of the speaker gate. Successful handouts are often the result of trial and error.

Your handouts might differ a little depending on whether you speak in-person, online, or both. Regardless of how you deliver them, all handouts have pros, cons, and possibilities to consider when you’re deciding if you want to include them as part of your presentation.

Pros – Handouts provide:

• A brief outline of your presentation people can keep for future reference.
• Reinforcement of your key takeaways.
• An opportunity to include exercises and/or thought-provoking questions.
• An easier solution for sharing data, statistics, charts, etc.
• Summary lists of points you want to emphasize.
• A place to share your contact information, an invitation to continue the conversation, and/or a specific call to action.

Cons – Handouts:

• Take time to create and update.
• Present a challenge with deciding how much content, and what kind of content you want to share with your audience.
• Can distract people from paying attention to you.

If you DO decide to create a handout, here are some guidelines:

• Don’t wait until the last minute to create it! Consider how you want your audience to keep track of the content you’ll be sharing with them while you’re speaking. Do you want them to take notes? Do you want them to listen? Do you want them to do both
• Ensure your handout content follows your presentation. That way, the people in your audience will be able to refer to your handout after the fact and remember why something you shared with them was meaningful/important.
• Make sure your handout branding is consistent with your presentation branding, and includes your contact info.
• Employ the “shorter is sweeter” guideline with content. A handout that’s pages long probably means you’ve shared more content than necessary.
• You could also use a handout to provide BONUS material that will be more helpful to your audience after they listen to your presentation. People love getting something they hadn’t expected for free!

  All these points, thoughts, and ideas apply whether you’re considering handouts for an in-person or digital audience. If you’re strictly digital, you can provide access to your handouts via email, downloads, and/or QR codes. If you decide not to use a handout, either way, keep in mind that you still need to provide your audience with something that shares information about you, what you have to offer, and how to contact you.

  No matter how you look at it, pretty much every audience has expectations about a handout of some kind, regardless of whether you’re speaking in person or online. That means it’s up to you to decide what makes the most sense for you and your content.

  And, as one last BONUS handout tip (because we all love getting an unexpected bonus ), think back to your favorite speakers and/or presentations. What kind of handouts did they give out? What did you like? What did you love? What did you think was a waste of time? Those are questions definitely worth exploring before you start creating your own handouts!