Have you ever told a joke whose great punch line was spoiled when someone else delivered it before you did? No fun at all. Same thing in a presentation: Displaying a message point before the presenter says it is stealing the punch line.

The audience may not notice this gaffe, but the presenter will. All eyes turn away just when he or she is about to deliver the goods. No one likes being upstaged by a computer. And someone who has carefully crafted a message for maximum impact knows that the message loses some of that impact when the screen steps on the best lines.

Good timing is easier said than done. Even a carefully scripted message is seldom delivered word for word, and most of us who provide message support do so for people who work from an outline – and often stray far from even that broad path.

But like poker players, presenters have tells – visual and vocal gestures that tell the careful observer what’s about to happen. If you’ve worked with the same presenter for a while, you probably already know what they are, even if you don’t know you know: maybe it’s grasping both sides of the podium, or facing a particular direction, or shifting to a lower or slower voice.

Pay attention to the tells. When you see one, put your finger on the trigger. Count one when the point is delivered, two to let it set, and then punch the cue: the audience won’t know what hit ’em. Actually, they will, and that’s the whole point.

– Todd Temple, President

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