One way to add impact to your next presentation is to dump PowerPoint and use a Flip-Chart. Flip-Charts allow for spontaneity, letting you to draw pictures that illustrate ideas on the fly. They also require that you simplify your ideas, which is always a good thing in a presentation.
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A great example of how to use a flip-chart is actually the UPS Whiteboard Guy, the star of those cool UPS Whiteboard advertisements. While UPS Whiteboard Guy uses a whiteboard and not a flip-chart, it’s the same idea. He starts with a few drawings and then fills in the rest of the diagram as he tells a story. The effect is to keep the audience engaged as they follow the visual story. That’s exactly what the best flip-charters do.
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Seven Keys to Using Flip-Charts Well
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- Create your flip-charts in advance. Don’t expect to be able to write cleanly and clearly on the spot.
- If you use drawings, do the drawings up to a point. Draw the rest of the charts in light pencil so that you can use the lines as a guide when you’re live.
- Leave blank pages between prepared sheets. This allows you to add ideas as you go. Similarly, leave room for more ideas at the bottom of each page.
- Have a conclusion page to summarize ideas.
- Write big. Letters and numbers should be at least three inches high.
- Hand out a summary of all notes made on flip-charts.
- Practice your presentation using your flip-charts.Â
