Giving a presentation without notes or an outline can make you a much better speaker. For one thing, it goes a long way toward helping you appear relaxed and natural in front of a group. And when you're relaxed, you connect.

Speaking without notes can also impress an audience greatly, adding to your credibility. Not long ago, for instance, management expert Rosabeth Moss Kanter spoke for an hour on world trade. The audience was astonished! Kanter used no notes! What a brilliant person! Well, she is brilliant. But speaking without notes doesn't take brilliance. You can do it, too. This article offers you one way -- there are many others not covered here.

First, don't memorize a presentation. Speaking without notes doesn't mean you should memorize a presentation. If you get lost in the middle of a memorized presentation, it can be hard (and sometimes impossible) to find your way again. And even if you don't lose your way, a memorized talk has a "canned" quality that diminishes the impact on an audience. They sense they're listening to a recording rather than the inspired thoughts of a living, breathing human being.

Use Memory 'Pegs'
You can learn to speak without notes by creating a series of images you use as memory "pegs," and then hanging your notes or outline upon them. Here's how to do it. Create an image for each of the numbers one through ten. Make it personal. For instance, one is the apple tree in the back yard. Two is the Honda. Three is a favorite mug. And so on. Learn to use these memory pegs by first remembering shopping lists.

Let's say you need a cabbage, bag of coffee, and gallon of milk. Take your first image-the apple tree-and picture it with cabbages hanging from the branches instead of apples. Then think of coffee beans filling the interior of your Honda. Then imagine a gallon of milk teetering precariously on top of your mug. The zanier the picture, the better it will stick in your memory. After you get the hang of the system, use it to remember the main points of a speech.

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