{"id":1215,"date":"2017-09-20T11:22:10","date_gmt":"2017-09-20T11:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/?p=1215"},"modified":"2026-04-03T12:59:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T12:59:04","slug":"dont-look-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-look-back\/","title":{"rendered":"don’t look back"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"don'tDon’t look back at your slides on the screen behind you, everyone else will. Face the audience for as much time as possible. Depending on the setup there may be a “comfort monitor” in front of the stage morroring the projected slides behind (above\/beside) the speaker. Don’t look back at the projector screen as the audience will follow this visual clue. Constant cheching and re-checking is distracting from the message and its delivery. It will also affect pick up from fixed microphones. Don’t look back, look forward.<\/p>\n

Text on slides will force a speaker, and their audience, to look at the slide<\/a>. Use of this as a script or aide memoire will cause the speaker to constantly scan the screen. To do so will involve turning away from the audience, sometimes even craning one’s body into strange contortions if the screen is very high above the presenter. The best presenters never look at the main screen, they may not even appear to look at the comfort monitor. They maintain eye contact as much as possible with the audience.<\/p>\n

Body language cues of a presenter <\/a>looking at the projector screen will signal to the audience that they should also look at the screen. This may be important at certain times but if this becomes continuous the situation will arise, as often seen, of the presnter taking a side position at the front of the room, facing the screen, to allow the audience full view as though the presenter is of lesser value than the slides. This is incorrect, the presenter is the most important part of a presentation.<\/p>\n

The Good Presenter has checked their slide deck before delivery and this should provide all the information required to confirm that each slide will be delivered as required, don’t look back to check; use the comfort monitor. If this is not available try not to be so obvious in this manoeuvre. Taking a position at one side, oblique to the audience and then moving as the slide changes allows a quick confirmatory glance as both the physical movement of the presenter and change of image happen together. Don’t look back.<\/p>\n

The slide deck is supportive media (p2) The presentation is not based upon this but added to by it. The Good Presenter should speak to the audience and not to the screen. Don’t look back, the audience are listening to you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don’t look back at your slides on the screen behind you, everyone else will. Face the audience for as much time as possible. Depending on the setup there may be a “comfort monitor” in front of the stage morroring the projected slides behind (above\/beside) the speaker. Don’t look back at the projector screen as the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[301],"class_list":["post-1215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-p3","tag-screen"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nDon't look back. The slide deck is supportive media (p2) The Good Presenter should speak to the audience and not to the screen.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The slide deck is supportive media (p2) The Good Presenter should speak to the audience and not to the screen. Don't look back.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-look-back\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Don't look back. The slide deck is supportive media (p2) The Good Presenter should speak to the audience and not to the screen.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The slide deck is supportive media (p2) The Good Presenter should speak to the audience and not to the screen. Don't look back.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-look-back\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"p cubed presentations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-20T11:22:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-03T12:59:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/screen-staring.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"448\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"336\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ffolliet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ffolliet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ffolliet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ffolliet\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-look-back\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-look-back\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ffolliet\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79a90ae46194ce42b3eb9cc53dc61b56\"},\"headline\":\"don’t look back\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-20T11:22:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-03T12:59:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-look-back\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":410,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79a90ae46194ce42b3eb9cc53dc61b56\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-look-back\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/screen-staring.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"screen\"],\"articleSection\":[\"p3\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-look-back\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-look-back\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-look-back\\\/\",\"name\":\"Don't look back. The slide deck is supportive media (p2) The Good Presenter should speak to the audience and not to the screen.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-look-back\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-look-back\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/screen-staring.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-20T11:22:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-03T12:59:04+00:00\",\"description\":\"The slide deck is supportive media (p2) The Good Presenter should speak to the audience and not to the screen. Don't look back.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-look-back\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-look-back\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-look-back\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/screen-staring.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/screen-staring.jpg\",\"width\":448,\"height\":336,\"caption\":\"don't look back\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-look-back\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"don’t look back\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/\",\"name\":\"p cubed presentations\",\"description\":\"every great presentation is the product of its message (p1), the supportive media (p2) and the delivery of that (p3).\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79a90ae46194ce42b3eb9cc53dc61b56\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79a90ae46194ce42b3eb9cc53dc61b56\",\"name\":\"ffolliet\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/cropped-p-cubed-logo.webp\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/cropped-p-cubed-logo.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/cropped-p-cubed-logo.webp\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"ffolliet\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/cropped-p-cubed-logo.webp\"},\"description\":\"At work I'm a Consultant Paediatric Surgeon. That involves Surgical Oncology, Neonatal Surgery and Trauma. There's also a lot of teaching and mentoring. None of this actually makes me particularly clever. I'm pretty heavily into improving presentations and long for the world to lay down the weapon of bulletpoints and embrace creative and engaging presentations. I lead presentation workshops and am currently working up a book on presentations. I did a wee thing at TEDx Stuttgart in 2014 of which I'm quite proud https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/watch?v=qFza3W87eDg Outside all of that I struggle to keep fit, cycle a bit and the odd triathlon. I'm a father, singer, laugher, learner, sharer, blogger, thinker, strummer and much more.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/ffolliet\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/author\\\/ffolli5_wp\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Don't look back. The slide deck is supportive media (p2) The Good Presenter should speak to the audience and not to the screen.","description":"The slide deck is supportive media (p2) The Good Presenter should speak to the audience and not to the screen. Don't look back.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-look-back\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Don't look back. The slide deck is supportive media (p2) The Good Presenter should speak to the audience and not to the screen.","og_description":"The slide deck is supportive media (p2) The Good Presenter should speak to the audience and not to the screen. Don't look back.","og_url":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-look-back\/","og_site_name":"p cubed presentations","article_published_time":"2017-09-20T11:22:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-03T12:59:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":448,"height":336,"url":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/screen-staring.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"ffolliet","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ffolliet","twitter_site":"@ffolliet","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ffolliet","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-look-back\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-look-back\/"},"author":{"name":"ffolliet","@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/79a90ae46194ce42b3eb9cc53dc61b56"},"headline":"don’t look back","datePublished":"2017-09-20T11:22:10+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-03T12:59:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-look-back\/"},"wordCount":410,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/79a90ae46194ce42b3eb9cc53dc61b56"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-look-back\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/screen-staring.jpg","keywords":["screen"],"articleSection":["p3"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-look-back\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-look-back\/","url":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-look-back\/","name":"Don't look back. The slide deck is supportive media (p2) The Good Presenter should speak to the audience and not to the screen.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-look-back\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-look-back\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/screen-staring.jpg","datePublished":"2017-09-20T11:22:10+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-03T12:59:04+00:00","description":"The slide deck is supportive media (p2) The Good Presenter should speak to the audience and not to the screen. Don't look back.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-look-back\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-look-back\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-look-back\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/screen-staring.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/screen-staring.jpg","width":448,"height":336,"caption":"don't look back"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-look-back\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"don’t look back"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/","name":"p cubed presentations","description":"every great presentation is the product of its message (p1), the supportive media (p2) and the delivery of that (p3).","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/79a90ae46194ce42b3eb9cc53dc61b56"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/79a90ae46194ce42b3eb9cc53dc61b56","name":"ffolliet","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cropped-p-cubed-logo.webp","url":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cropped-p-cubed-logo.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cropped-p-cubed-logo.webp","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"ffolliet"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cropped-p-cubed-logo.webp"},"description":"At work I'm a Consultant Paediatric Surgeon. That involves Surgical Oncology, Neonatal Surgery and Trauma. There's also a lot of teaching and mentoring. None of this actually makes me particularly clever. I'm pretty heavily into improving presentations and long for the world to lay down the weapon of bulletpoints and embrace creative and engaging presentations. I lead presentation workshops and am currently working up a book on presentations. I did a wee thing at TEDx Stuttgart in 2014 of which I'm quite proud https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qFza3W87eDg Outside all of that I struggle to keep fit, cycle a bit and the odd triathlon. I'm a father, singer, laugher, learner, sharer, blogger, thinker, strummer and much more.","sameAs":["https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging","https:\/\/x.com\/ffolliet"],"url":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/author\/ffolli5_wp\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1215"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3545,"href":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1215\/revisions\/3545"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}