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Microsoft 365 Life Hacks > Presentations > How to create effective presentation handouts

How to create effective presentation handouts

Whether you create presentations for school, work, or clubs, distributing handouts makes an impression and amplifies your message. The benefits are twofold: putting together a handout prepares you for your speech and allows your audience to retain the information better.

You can put together handouts easily. Learn what to include to ace your next presentation.

A person presenting in a conference room

Why are presentation handouts important?

Creating handouts help you prepare what you want to say . They also set expectations for your audience members and allow them to focus more on your speech because they don’t have to take such thorough notes.

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If you want to create an effective presentation handout, here’s what you should include.

1. List the key points of your presentation

To create a strong presentation handout, list the key facts from your speech. Keep it simple—you don’t need to rewrite your entire presentation. Remember, you’ll discuss a lot of the material in your slides as well. Listing out your presentation’s key points help your listeners reflect on the information later. By reading your presentation’s key points, your audience may also come up with or remember the questions they want to ask you at the end of your talk.

2. Include your sources

Effective presenters back up their information with sources, especially in science and history-related fields. Providing sources encourages your audience do more research on their own time. You can also provide further reading in your handout, like books or article links, if you aren’t able to cover everything in a single lecture.

3. Make your presentation handout professional

A professional-looking presentation handout establishes your credibility and authority with your audience. When presenting for work or an organization, include your logo on your handout.

You don’t have to be a graphic designer to create an attractive presentation handout—explore dozens of free Microsoft Word templates you can use to polish your handout.

4. Include white space

Not everyone comes prepared for a presentation. Leave white space in your handout so your audience can take notes on what you say. They can also use this space to write down questions they want to ask you, so they don’t forget them by the end of the presentation.

5. Include your contact information

Audience members may want to ask you questions about your presentation later. Include information like your name, job title, website, and email so your audience can contact you in the future.

6. Proofread your handout

Before you print out or email your presentation handouts, make sure to thoroughly proofread everything first. Are your sources spelled correctly? Are there any typos in your email address or links? Do the key points correspond with your presentation? Taking the time to review your handout before finalizing it will ensure it’s a quality handout.

Creating a presentation handout will make your presentation stronger and the information easier to digest. Are you feeling nervous about an upcoming presentation? Learn how to calm presentation anxiety .

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Home Blog Design How to Create the Perfect Handouts for a Presentation

How to Create the Perfect Handouts for a Presentation

Cover for handouts for a presentation guide by SlideModel

As we presenters know, aiming for a flawless presentation experience involves not only top-notch presentation skills but also graphics, a well-thought-out presentation structure, and articulating both how to start a presentation and how to conclude a presentation. Yet, very little is said about presentation handouts and their role in large-scale meetings, or their value when securing business deals.

Seasoned presenters acknowledge the impact of a presentation handout, and today we’ll guide you in the process of creating these printed-format assets to make your presentation more memorable.

Table of Contents

What is a Presentation Handout?

The role of presentation handouts, why create handouts for large scale presentations, examples of effective handouts for presentations, how to create presentation handouts in powerpoint, how to create presentation handouts in google slides, best practices for presentation handouts, final words.

A presentation handout is a supplementary document provided to the audience by the presenter or the event’s organization during or before a presentation. The core purpose is to enhance the understanding and retention rate of the information shared or to provide contact points with the presenter via email, LinkedIn, website, or social media profiles.

Typical structure of a presentation handout

Handouts in presentations allow attendees to follow along more easily, take notes on specific parts, and have a further reference – ideal in large corporation events. The talk may not fully cover information, like detailed metrics, supplementary graphs, etc.; thus, they can be featured inside the handout to provide additional background on the presentation topic. In short, think of handouts as deliverable presentation aids .

The utility of handouts for presentations

Picture yourself attending a series of presentations at a large-scale event, like a medical conference. How many research presentations can you retain in your head? 3-4 top, whereas perhaps you attended over 12 in the past 8 hours. Handouts for presentations simplify attendees’ efforts, as they have a palpable reference about the presentations they attended, who delivered the talk, the conference presentation slides , etc. 

Another interesting point of view for handouts is when we position ourselves in the shoes of an attendee with a physical impairment, like lessened hearing capacity. In this situation, we can picture a handout example, as the presenter integrates the audience, even those who cannot fully participate, by delivering information in a physical format.

When covering examples of handouts for presentations, we can position ourselves in generalistic situations as follows.

Helping people with physical impairments

Handouts don’t necessarily have to be printed in text format. Braille handouts can be used to assist people with low visual acuity to understand the missing gaps between the speech and the visuals shown in the slides. Electronic devices with screen readers can assist, as well as an audible format of the handout.

For people with hearing impairments, printed handouts summarizing the presentation’s key points are valid, but another creative method is to insert a QR code in PowerPoint and link to a PDF document with the transcript of the presentation, plus the slides. 

Illustrations and Diagrams

Think about hard-to-understand topics involving a series of charts or graphs to comprehend the disclosed information. Those same graphics can be given to the audience in the format of handouts, with callouts or visual aids that remind the attendees of the importance of those concepts.

Summarize Key Information

Suppose you attended a chef conference, where new technologies, methodologies, or recipes are shared in presentations. You can refer to the handouts for detailed instructions and focus on the training presentation in real time rather than taking notes.

Contact Data

Finally, we can consider a handout format for people who want to get in touch for business partnerships, academic collaborations, etc. Rather than delivering a business card, provide additional information about your work and deliver a handout.

Follow these steps to create handouts in PowerPoint.

Open your presentation in PowerPoint. Go to the View tab and find Handout Master .

Locating Handout Master in PowerPoint

You can customize the appearance of your handout by adding a header, date, logo, contact details, etc. This works exactly the same as Slide Master in PowerPoint , so all changes will be reflected on all pages in your handout.

Handout Master to edit handouts

Now, go to File > Export and select Create Handouts .

Export to Handout in PowerPoint

Click on the Create Handouts button, and you will be prompted with a context menu with the following options:

  • Notes next to slides
  • Blank lines next to slides
  • Notes below slides
  • Blank lines below slides
  • Outline only

Select the option you prefer. We highly recommend selecting Paste to add a tiny version of the slides to your new handouts document.

How to create Handouts in PowerPoint

Once that’s done, a new Microsoft Word document will open with your presentation handouts, which can also be customized from Word.

Handouts in Microsoft Word

For Google Slides, the instructions are much simpler. Select your desired presentation in Google Slides and go to File > Print Preview . All options for how to print slides in Google Slides are now available.

Accessing the Print Preview options in Google Slides

The option we’re interested in is the menu below the top bar that says 1 slide without notes .

Print preferences for handouts in presentations

Open that and select Handout , with the number of slides per page you prefer.

Printing handouts in Google Slides

Then click on Print, and a new PDF document will be generated. Unlike PowerPoint, you have to edit everything beforehand or opt for a PDF editor like Adobe Acrobat.

Handouts should be concise. The idea is to summarize information, not to confuse the audience with an overwhelming amount of data. Although these recommendations are valid for all handouts created with PowerPoint templates and Google Slides, the same rules apply to handouts created in Graphic Design Software (Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, etc.), as it’s tempting to keep adding unnecessary data or complex illustration effects.

Sharing your handout before the presentation starts is advisable, as it’s the moment most attendees will gather and where the expectation about what the talk will be about is at its highest. In our experience, the audience tends to grow restless toward the last 5 minutes of your presentation, with some attendees leaving if they have to attend another conference with a very limited timeframe between both. Distributing a handout during the presentation is distracting and will negatively impact your presentation’s performance.

Finally, as you would do with poster presentations , focus on readability. Avoid using heavily contrasting colors or text that looks too small to read for the sake of adding more data. The handout is a tool to complement your presentation, not to summarize countless words.

Handouts for presentations are not an optional add-in. They are a vital element of effective academic and business presentations. By providing a clear structure to your handout or using digital mediums to help people with impairments, you are taking into account accessibility, one of the best practices you can engage early on in your path to becoming a professional presenter.

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Blog > How to export & print handouts in PowerPoint

How to export & print handouts in PowerPoint

08.09.21   •  #powerpoint #tips.

PowerPoint allows you to easily create handouts to share with the audience after the presentation. You can also export your presentation with slides and notes to Word for further editing and formatting. You can find out how this all works and how you can print out the handouts at the end in this blog post.

Format & print handouts without notes

open handout master

Format & print handouts with notes

edit the notes

If you want to make them available to the audience, you can easily print them out. All you have to do is select "Notes page" instead of "Full page slide" in the print settings.

print the notes out

Exporting and editing handouts in Word

export the handout in word

When exporting a PowerPoint presentation to Word, a lot of memory is used. Therefore, this process can also take for a while. If you get the error message "PowerPoint could not write to Microsoft Word", try restarting your computer.

presentation handout sample

Share slides digitally with the audience

presentation handout sample

Printing handouts for every attendee is cumbersome and also not quite environmental friendly. A much better solution is using SlideLizard (a cool software for live audience interaction in PowerPoint) for your presentations. Attendees can join your talk with their smartphone (or Laptop) and see your slide live during the presentation . They can also browse previous slides and as well download the slides directly as a PDF (if you allow it). In addition, participants can take private notes on their own smartphones directly within SlideLizard. These notes remain linked to the slides and at the end of the presentation all participants receive their own notes via email. Moreover, attendees can mark the most important slides with a star to find them more easily later. Live polls & quizzes are also possible with SlideLizard. You can try SlideLizard for free today !

presentation handout sample

How do I create handouts in PowerPoint?

To create handouts in PowerPoint go to "Handout Master" in the "View" tab. You can format your handouts for all pages there.

How do I print handouts from PowerPoint?

To print your handouts you have to go to "Print" in the "File" tab. You can then choose how many slides you want per page under "Full page slides" in the "Handouts" group.

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Miriam Rapberger

Miriam supports SlideLizard in the area of marketing and design. There she uses her creativity for blog posts, among other things.

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Presentation Handout Template

Template preview

AI generated Pitch Deck 🤖

presentation handout sample

When you're looking to create the best presentation you need the best handout template to impact your audience. Customize the presentation handout so that you can create a material for both oral presentations or ppt to be handed out for whom is listening to you, enabling to take notes or write questions.

An Intuitive Presentation Handout Template

Creating the best presentation handout template is an ingenious way of being impactful to your audience. Your presentation handout material eliminates the need to write down questions and take notes regardless of whether it is a PPT or an oral presentation.

Essentially, our presentation handouts will relieve your teams the stress of writing everything about the company on the slides. In addition, we create embeddable presentations that can automatically fit on any device and site you’re loading them. We help you avoid the old presentation habits that may restrain your ideas and limit your capacity to be creative.

Why handouts are important

Handouts have the power to free your mind and improve your slides. With a handout, you can include the main points of your talk by summarizing them in one page, references to further reading material , and your contact details. Meaning, you won’t have to incorporate everything you want to say in your slides. And, should your audience have questions or want more information weeks after the presentation, they can contact you through your contact details.

When creating a handout, you are compelled to write down the main points because you may only need one or two pages for your handout. When you include a key image from your presentation slides or associated graphics, your readers will always remember the presentation whenever they see these images or graphics. Unfortunately, some people make a mistake of handing out slides as handouts to minimize resources.

Take time to write your core messages. You can splash in some important figures, market statistics or unique value propositions. Handouts are usually relevant when given out after a presentation. You can tell your audience to pay attention to the presentation, instead of writing down short notes, because you’ll provide a handout with contact details at the end of the presentation.

Why Our Presentation Handout Template is a Must-Have

Talking about one core message in a handout is important. Instead of showing a lot of facts and numbers, we stick to the amount of information that your audience can soak in at a given time. This is a viable approach to condensing your handout message to make it more memorable. While it may be hard to compress everything into one core message, it is well worth it.

Summarize your core message with an inspiring story. A story is a perfect way to wrap up your core message as it summarizes the main points in your storyline. Moreover, a story will make your presentation handout unforgettable.

Our Presentation Handout Elements

Presentation storyline We keep the presentation storyline consistent throughout the handout without adding new elements. This is very important to avoid confusing readers.

Images Although it is not 100% necessary, we advocate for the use of images to make your handout more appealing and memorable. Remember, the use of images depends on your business’s industry as it might be purely unnecessary to include images in certain specialties. Images boost the readability of the handout.

Further reading Incorporating a lot of information in one handout, makes the presentation look crowded and may put off some readers. Therefore, we encourage the use of a “further reading” section in your presentation handout for readers who want to learn more.

Contact details At the end of the handout, it is important to include contact details. Readers might not be able to associate your handout with a random business card after a presentation. Therefore, it is very crucial to include current, relevant contact details that people can use to contact your business, a few weeks or months later. Contact details such as name, email, webpage, and social media accounts can do.

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How to make presentation handouts

  • Written by: Kieran Chadha
  • Categories: Presentation skills , Visual communication
  • Comments: 1

presentation handout sample

Presentation handouts and leave-behinds are a great resource, giving your audience a tangible reminder of you and the company you represent. The problem is that they’re oft-neglected and oft-ignored. So how can you create presentation handouts that not only accurately represent your content, but look great and don’t take a fortnight to make?

How to make presentation handouts in PowerPoint: Basic method

If all you want to know is how to print your slides and speaker notes together, you came to the right place!

  • Save a new copy of your presentation.
  • Delete any overlapping visuals or anything that won’t print well.
  • Go to File then Export and select PDF .
  • In the window that opens there is an Options button – click it.

presentation handout sample

  • Click OK then Save .

Your PDF will feature an image of each slide with the accompanying speaker notes underneath. Needless to say, make sure your presenter notes are ‘audience safe’ first. You can send the PDF file as an email or print it. The finished result is cheap ‘n’ cheerful – a great option if you’re in a rush.

presentation handout sample

The problem with simply using your slides and notes is that presenter notes often aren’t written with the audience in mind – they’re there to jog the presenter’s memory, not inform the audience. Any materials you leave with your audience should be just as thought-through and polished as your presentation. So, let’s go back to square one and think about what should be in a presentation handout.

What should a presentation handout include?

Begin by pinning down what you want your presentation handout to achieve. Do you want your audience to remember the benefits of choosing you as a supplier? Do you want them to understand a specific process? Do you want to remind them of your pricing options? Or do you want to provide a place for them to make notes whilst you present?

Only the last aim actually calls for a presentation handout. Anything you give to your audience during or before your presentation will inevitably be a distraction; they will read the information, rustle the paper and generally pay less attention to you. Any presentation handout – that is, any material you give out before or during your presentation – should include a simplified version of your slides and plenty of blank space for notes. And that’s it.

However, if you want to provide your audience with a tool to refer back to, to remind them of what makes you unique or how they should carry out a certain process, what you need is a leave-behind.

What is a presentation leave-behind?

A presentation leave-behind can pack a punch, covering less material than the presentation, or more. It’s a piece of content you can either leave behind you when you’ve finished your presentation, or send to your audience a couple of days later to jog their memories. A good way to get started is to think about how you want the piece to be used. Here are a few less traditional leave-behind options to get you thinking:

  • A 1- or 2-page summary of the most critical points

presentation handout sample

  • A one-slide-per-page recap of the content you covered
  • A process diagram

presentation handout sample

  • An in-depth exploration of all the content plus much more
  • A reference guide covering technical specifications, pricing etc.

Once you free yourself from the idea that a presentation handout or leave-behind has to be an exact replica of your slides and notes, the sky is the limit. When you’ve decided on the format for your leave-behind you can start to create it. A cut-and-paste job might not be the best solution; you may well have to rework some of your material to make it accessible for an audience revisiting it a week or two down the line.

How to create effective presentation leave-behinds

If you don’t want to create something from scratch, then a good approach is to use what you can from your slides, and write new notes to accompany them. We all have a dire recall rate when it comes to new information (see Ebbinghaus’ 1885 research for just how bad), and audiences are no different. Don’t overestimate how much they’ll remember; make your hand-out self-explanatory, accessible and informative. Cut out all the extraneous data (e.g. the history of your company) and focus on your key points.

There are two main formats to choose from when you’re ready to share your leave-behind.

Method one: PDF

  • Save a copy of your presentation and create a simplified version of your slides

Be brutal and delete all the slides that don’t contain need-to-know information. Good content to include is your value proposition and main benefit points as these remind your audience of what differentiates you from the competition. You may also want to include any useful technical information or processes.

  • Copy your slides into a word document and add text

In your PowerPoint file, right click on the slide you want to copy and select Copy . Then, in your Word document go to Home , Paste , Paste as Picture .

To create appropriate text pull from your presentation notes but also make use of any other collateral you have, like brochures, your website, promotional videos etc. To avoid overwhelming your audience with too much information add hyperlinks to relevant sections of your website or other resources. If you publish the document as a PDF, your audience will be able to click these hyperlinks and access the information they need.

And finally, it’s a good idea to add a call to action to encourage on-going communication.

  • Save the document as a PDF

To save a Word document as a PDF go to File , click Export , then Create PDF . A benefit of doing this in word rather than exporting directly from PowerPoint, is that you have more control over the formatting so can keep it on-brand and looking good. If you want to add more design elements, you could also build the leave-behind in PowerPoint. Change the slide size by going to Design > Slide Size > Custom Slide Size .

presentation handout sample

Of course, you could print the document but, putting aside poor print quality and environmental concerns, with paper handouts you have no way to track how many people have looked at the document or whether it has been ignored. However, with a PDF you can…

  • Distribute using an email marketing service

Instead of printing and handing out your material, save the trees and save it as a PDF, then use an Email Marketing System like MailChimp to distribute it. You might not be able to see super detailed analytics, but you’ll still get useful data on who opened your message, and who showed interest in the material – all helpful stuff.

Method two: Video

There’s a sort of unwritten assumption that handouts have to be a document, particularly a document with slides. That’s not the case, and it’s often not the best method of delivery for follow-up content. Paper or a PDF has its advantages – it’s simple, easy to distribute and reasonably effective. However, it is limiting. It is less personal and might be ignored if it’s too dense. A powerful alternative to the conventional paper hand-out is to use PowerPoint to record narration and to output as narrated video. It’s a much more engaging, effective way of refreshing your audience’s memories.

  • Make a simplified version of your PowerPoint deck

Again, you don’t want to send your audience your full twenty-five-minute presentation. Go through your content and trim it down to the essentials. Keep the key visuals and key benefit points.

  • Write a script

A video with you um-ing and ah-ing over your slides isn’t particularly engaging or professional. You need to write a script so you can say precisely what you want to with no irrelevant detail or mistakes.

You audience won’t want to take much time out of their day, so aim for 3 – 5 minutes of content. We have some useful resources for script writing on our blog – start here .

  • Record yourself presenting the new version

Once you’re happy with your script, you need to record yourself presenting the deck. Again, we’ve got a few stellar recourses to help:

  • How to record narration in PowerPoint
  • Recording voiceover for a narrated presentation
  • Preparing for a presentation voiceover
  • Export the video

To save your video go to File > Export > Create a Video . Make sure Use timings and narrations is selected on the drop-down menu.

presentation handout sample

  • Host the video online

Finally, make your video accessible to your audience. The beauty of using a platform like Vimeo is that it sits in the cloud so can easily be updated with new material. Viewing figures can be tracked, there are integration possibilities with other platforms, and reminders can be sent out for those that haven’t yet watched it. Vimeo is one option – but any trackable multimedia platform is a good method for delivering your content.

To see some example of short, narrated videos, visit our YouTube page .

Conclusions

Digital, custom-made leave-behinds are a change. And you’ll want to address this change when your audience sits down, eager to take home a couple of sheets of A4. However, the benefits are great: they get a more engaging, helpful resource, and you can track its reach, easily refresh the content and measure its success.

If you decide to use the good old-fashioned paper method – there’s one thing I’d encourage you to avoid: don’t distribute your presentation hand-out before you start speaking. It’s one of the most common mistakes we see, and it can really negatively impact the audience’s attention level. If you give your audience something to read, they will naturally start to read it. And from that point on, it’s a struggle for even the best presenter to command the room’s full attention.

Hold off until the end of the session but let everyone know that a handout will be available, so they don’t spend the entire session making their own notes. You want them attentive and engaged throughout and a little reassurance at the start goes a long way to help ensure that.

However, choosing a less traditional route can help you stand out from the crowd, so consider ditching the standard presentation handout for something a bit more creative.

Ready to transform your sales presentation too? Read our ultimate guide !

presentation handout sample

Kieran Chadha

Principal consultant; head of brightcarbon academy, related articles, review: glisser online interactive presentations.

  • Presentation skills / Sales presentations / Presentation technology

Glisser is an online platform that allows you to create interactive presentations that can be used for marketing, training or any other type of events. The site has different functions available for presenters, attendees at events and event planners which all focus on allowing for increased presenter-audience interaction. Since creating engaging visual presentations is what we do, I decided to take a closer look at Glisser and see what it’s all about and how the various functionalities work.

presentation handout sample

The ULTIMATE guide to presentation skills

  • Presentation skills
  • Comments: 34

Presentation skills is a daunting area for many, but being a good presenter isn't something you're just born with. Even the most nervous, or clueless of presenters can learn how to present like professionals just by following some key advice.

presentation handout sample

5 ways to make your presentation more visual and effective

  • PowerPoint design / Visual communication

Looking for some quick tips on how to create a more effective presentation? Know you want to make your PowerPoint slides more visual but not sure how?

presentation handout sample

Kieran, surprise surprise, someone’s commenting on a three year old article! I agree with all of your comments in relation to a live presentation but do you think they apply equally to an eLearning presentation (not a webinar)? For instance, I have sometimes used an on-line workbook/journal to encourage audience reflection/journaling/note-taking which some individuals don’t like. It seems that an ‘off-line’ paper version would benefit those who prefer not to leave the current screen or who distrust digital privacy. Do you think this would be distracting or does the fact that the individual could pause (be advised) to pause on-line content whilst writing make the difference?

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Speaking about Presenting

13 Best Practice Tips for Effective Presentation Handouts

by Olivia Mitchell | 75 comments

presentation handout sample

Your presentation handout is the lasting concrete manifestation of your presentation. It’s an important part of the total experience for the audience:

Total presentation experience

But most of us focus on preparing what happens during the presentation, not what happens afterwards . Here are the benefits of having handouts:

Benefits for the presenter

  • They allow you to cut down on the amount of material you cover in your presentation and so not commit information overload .
  • They allow you to stop worrying about forgetting what you want to say .
  • Audience members will have a concrete reminder making your presentation more memorable.
  • Audience members can easily contact you later.

Benefits for audience members

  • They allow audience members to relax about having to note down what you’re saying.
  • If they like taking notes, they’ve got a place to do it.
  • If they’re inspired by your topic, they’ve got more information on it.
  • If they want to refresh themselves later on what you covered they’ve got a place to go.

Tips for Presentation Handouts

1. prepare your handouts in plenty of time.

Don’t leave it till the last moment to create your handout. I’ve been guilty of this. We’re most concerned about the actual presentation and not making a fool of ourselves up on the stage so you work on what you’re going to say and the slides, and then 30 mins before your presentation you realise you should have a handout and hurriedly put something together. Handouts are much too important to be relegated to an afterthought.

2. Don’t just print out your slides

This is lazy and not effective. If your slides are bullet-point slides (not recommended) then they will often be cut-down sentences which will no longer make sense to the reader a week later. And if they are visual slides (recommended) then they’re also unlikely to make sense without additional text. If you’re presenting with visual PowerPoint slides, one of the easiest ways of creating a handout is to type the text of the handout in the “Notes” pane of the PowerPoint edit screen. Then print your slides as “Notes”. You’ll have an effective handout.

3. Ensure your handout reflects your presentation

An audience member should be able to relate the handout to the presentation they’ve just attended. If you use the Notes pane of PowerPoint as I’ve suggested above this will happen naturally as you’ll be guided by the visuals you’re using in the presentation. You handout should have the same title as your presentation and should follow the same structure so that audience members can easily find the information they want.

4. Add more information

Presentations are not a good format for transferring a lot of information . However, they are good for inspiring people to find out more about a topic. That extra information can be in the handout. And if you’re the sort of person who wants to tell the audience everything you know about the topic… you can put it in the handout.

5. Include references

If you’re citing research do include the references in the handout. For most presentations (scientific presentations to a scientific audience would be an exception), don’t clutter up your presentation or your slides with references. But do be able to say: “The reference for this research is in your handout.” Let your audience know where they can find out more: books, websites, blogs etc.

6. Consider creating an action sheet

Handouts are a great place to help people put ideas from your presentation into action. You could either list a series of actions that people can take, or provide a worksheet that people fill in on what actions they will take as a result of your presentation. Have people fill in the action sheet near the end of your presentation.

7. Make your handout stand-alone

The handout may be passed onto people who were not at your presentation. Or an audience member may look at it a year from now when they’ve forgotten most of your presentation. Make sure that it will make sense to them. For people who weren’t present include brief credibility-establishing information about you.

8. Provide white space

Some people like to take notes during a presentation. Provide plenty of white space (or even some blank pages at the back) so that they can take notes on the handout and so keep all the information related to your presentation in one place.

9. Make your handout look professional

The handout is the concrete reminder of your presentation. It may also get passed onto other people who were not at your presentation. So it should enhance the perception people have of you:

  • Have someone proofread it
  • Create a consistent look and feel with your brand (this may include a logo and colors)

10. Consider what additional resources you can provide for your audience

You’re not limited to paper. My bioethics teacher friend who presents at bioethics and education conferences across the globe provides each of her attendees with a DVD with lesson plans and resources.

11. Consider creating a webpage

Cliff Atkinson suggests creating a “home page” for your presentation in his book The Backchannel . If you don’t have a website, you could create a squidoo lens or a Facebook Fan page . Or if you’d like to do more than that, create a wiki website (try pbworks or wikispaces ) or use blog software. Both of these can be done for free and just a little technical courage (techphobics shouldn’t try this). All of these options allow readers to comment on what you’ve written, so it’s a great way of continuing the conversation with audience members. For instance, audience members can ask you questions they weren’t able to ask at the time.

If you decide to go the web way, you can cut down the hard copy handout to one page with the most important points from your presentation, your contact details and the web address.

12. Distribute the handout at the beginning of your presentation

This is a perennial topic of debate amongst presenters. Some people are concerned that if they distribute the handout first, people will stop listening and start leafing through it. The problem here is not the handout, it’s that your presentation is not engaging enough.

Not distributing it till after the presentation suggests that you think you know best how people should pay attention to your information. Let your audience decide for themselves.

Recent research suggests that providing handouts to university students before the lecture does not harm their learning.

Update: In the comments to this post, Cathy Moore , Mike Slater and Adam Lawrence have identified three good reasons for distributing your handout after your presentation. I’ve highlighted these reasons in a new post: Three good reasons to distribute your handout after your presentation .

13. Do tell people if it’s not in the handout

Finally, if you go off on a tangent in reply to a question, do let them know that the answer is not in the handout.

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How to Create a Quick & Easy PowerPoint Handout

5 second powerpoint handouts, instructions.

So… you’ve created an awesome presentation, you’ve practiced your delivery, and the presentation date is just around the corner. If the last thing on your checklist is to create a PowerPoint Presentation Handout , this post is for you! If you find yourself always scratching your head when it comes to creating handouts, bookmark this page right now. Trust us, you will be using it often.

How to create am amazing presentation handouts is one of the most frequently asked questions for the Presentation Geeks. Although Microsoft PowerPoint has an easy way to create a handout, many people make these so infrequently that it’s easy to forget what buttons to click and what options to select.

Before we jump into the 4 easy steps to create and print a PowerPoint handout , let’s talk about why a presenter might want to create a handout, what layout options are available for your slides, and finally, how many slides is optimal for your PowerPoint handouts.

Why would a presenter want to create a PowerPoint Handout?

Too much text.

When a presenter is given the opportunity to deliver a PowerPoint presentation, the time that they are awarded is valuable. The average attention span is only 17 minutes. This means that the presenter only has a limited amount of time to click through their slides and deliver their information before their audience loses interest . 17 minutes translates into a limited number of slides. The average presenter can deliver between 10 to 15 slides within this amount of time. Often, this limits the amount of text you can deliver and expect the audience to retain. In this case, a presenter might opt to print a handout that contains additional content so that the audience can take the handout and read through the additional text at a later date. Audiences like this approach because it allows them to focus on the presenter for a more engaging presentation.

Concepts versus Facts

If your presentation slides are filled with charts and data, it may be unrealistic to expect that the audience will retain this information. People generally remember concepts rather than facts. Audiences like when stories are included in presentations as they are often the most memorable parts of a presentation . Concepts are easy to understand because they don’t require additional context. One example of this is that your audience would sooner remember that a human foot contains many bones (concept) before they remember the number of bones in a human foot (it’s 26 just in case you were wondering). For a presentation that contains a number of facts, whether they are charts, tables, stats, or graphs, these are best included in PowerPoint handouts. It doesn’t mean that you can’t include a stat in your presentation, but you should follow them up in your handouts.

Educational Presentations

If you are delivering an educational presentation , you might want to include a handout that includes enough room for notes. Notes are an important way for people to recall information, and Microsoft PowerPoint includes layout options that contain notes. When printed, this may cause the slides on the handout to be smaller and a little tougher to view, and this should be considered when you select your text font size for your slides. The use of PowerPoint handouts in an educational presentation should strongly be considered when planning your presentation.

Microsoft PowerPoint offers multiple different layout options for your handouts. They include:

Additional options included adding speaker notes, or choosing an outline view to try to condense the PowerPoint slides.

Which Layout should I use for my PowerPoint Handout?

How do you know which layout option to select? it would depend on a few factors.

  • Is there a lot of text on your slides? If so, you might want to select 3 or fewer slides per page so that the audience can view each slide without having to squint.
  • are you slides full color? If your presentation is full of big beautiful pictures that span across the entire width of your slides, you may want to print 4 or more slides per page to avoid the additional expense when. it comes time to print.
  • If you are presenting an educational presentation, the experts at Presentation Geeks recommend choosing. the 3 per page layout to allow your audience room to take notes.

HOT TIP: If you want to go for more of a custom handout, print the first slide as a full-page, and print the remaining slides as multiple per page.

Enough background.. let's find out how to use microsoft powerpoint to create a handout., step 1 - file > print.

POwerPoint Handout INstructions SCreen Shot

To access the handout menu, click the File dropdown, and then use the Print option to begin creating your handout. This is the first step needed to create your presentation handout.

Step 2 - Click Show Details

POwerPoint Handout INstructions SCreen Shot

What makes creating a presentation handouts tricky for most people, is remembering to click the “Show Details” button. Click the Show Details button in. order to unlock a bunch of cool new options you can use, including creating handouts. When you don’t click this button it can seem as though the handout option isn’t available, but using these steps will help you make creating a handout simple and easy.

Step 3 - Layout > Slides

POwerPoint Handout INstructions SCreen Shot

The next step is to choose how many slides you would like on each page. We typically choose 3 slides per page allowing for room for notes, but as mentioned above, not all presentations require the audience to take notes. Click the dropdown menu to view all of the layout options. Using the preview on the left-hand side you may want to click through a few different options in order to find out slide size makes the text clear enough to read.

Step 4 - Save as PDF

PowerPoint Handout Instructions Screen Shot

The final step in your journey is to click the PDF button, and then select or click Save as PDF.

A Few Final Words

And that’s it! With a click here and there, you can use this article to create a PowerPoint Handout in 5 seconds. Hopefully, this helps you remember the steps required to create a handout the next time you have a big presentation coming up.

If you need a little help or require further customization, such as a personalized cover, full-page charts, or a customized infographic, please don’t hesitate to enquire about our Powerpoint Presentation services.

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Creating a Handout to Support and Enhance Your Presentation!

Got a  presentation coming up and need to create a useful handout to complement it? Great idea – but how do you go about it? Many people think handouts are just used in college, but in the business world they can be really useful to reinforce the content of your presentation.

Whether it’s a business meeting or a training course, a handout will underscore your points and support your presentation when done right.  It can be tricky, though, to decide on what to include, the format, how to structure a handout and at what point of the presentation to distribute it.

Before starting to create your handout, you need to think about such things as structure, content and timing . This blog covers everything you need to know!

What is a Handout?

As the name suggests, a handout is any type of document that a speaker hands out to participants during a lecture, presentation, conference or meeting. It allows your audience to get a clear overview of the main points, or to sum up what they have heard afterwards.

A handout isn’t just a summary of slide titles; it can be much more detailed, summing up each individual topic and serving as a reference for core concepts and central insights.

What is a Handout actually for?

Your handout must provide added value . It contains information either covered or referred to in your presentation, allowing you to expand upon what might have only been touched on, and free your slides from clutter.

It can not only summarise your arguments, but can relieve pressure on your slides:  dense facts and figures can be sidelined to the handout, allowing your PowerPoint presentation to be slick and professional.

Handouts offer three main advantages to your audience, depending on when they’re given out:

  • The audience can follow what is said during the presentation
  • The audience can make their own notes to supplement or clarify for themselves what you have presented
  • It consists of an overview of what you have presented, which can then be read by interested parties

Handout in PowerPoint

A handout not only means that you can create a clean and uncluttered presentation, but allows your audience to understand your points better and remember them afterwards .  It’s also very useful for conveying your arguments to anyone who may have missed the actual presentation.

Tip: So why not just Start with the Handout?

There are obvious advantages both to your audience and yourself to having of a clearly structured handout. Once you know what to do, they can be relatively straightforward to produce.  Of course, this still takes time, and you need to allow for this.

Cobbling together a handout at the last moment is not only stressful, it can be counterproductive, as it undermines your professionalism and never goes unnoticed.

TIP: For a change, why not start your presentation with a handout ? By getting the essentials out of the way first, you can then develop your presentation step by step using the handout as a basis.

The great advantage here is that you not only end up with a detailed handout, but you find a s trong common thread , allowing you to  create an equally “crisp” presentation and navigate your way through it.

Creating a Handout: How to Structure it

As with most things concerning design, the motto “ less is more ” applies very effectively to handouts. In concrete terms, this means: do without whole sentences and make use of key points, abbreviations, arrows and symbols. Ideally, your handout should not consist of more than two A4 pages.

In addition to important information from your presentation, a handout needs to include the following :

  • Basic information, probably in the upper left corner of the handout, such as the location of the presentation and the speaker’s name and title
  • The date, probably in the upper right corner
  • A concise heading – preferably the title of your presentation – centered
  • Page numbers in the footer
  • A clear structure, based on the individual headings of the presentation
  • A consistent page layout using standard, unembellished fonts such as Arial or Times New Roman

How a handout can look like

The structure of your handout should follow the structure of your presentation, especially if you give out the handout during your presentation. It is best to limit your points to those which support your main argument. Keep the sub-items on the handout as simple as possible and don’t go into too much detail.

To make your handout visually appealing, it helps to think about the font. In addition to using clear, standard fonts , as mentioned above, try to keep the font size in the headers and footers uniform and smaller than in the main part.

TIP: Create an area for the audience to make their own notes on your handout. Either make the right margin wider or leave a few lines of space under your last point.

Handout Content – Short and to the Point

You’ve decided the layout of your handout, entered the key points and created a rough outline. Now it’s time to expand on individual points and create the main content of your handout.

Before doing so, focus on your target audience : how much background knowledge can you assume they have on the topic of your presentation?  Keeping your audience in mind means you tailor the handout to their level, avoiding technical terms where they would distract from your point, including them when you are faced with an audience knowledgeable in a particular discipline. 

It is very important to condense the core statements of your presentation into key points, rather than including a distracting stream of text. This way, you retain your audience’s full attention.

TIP: To arouse your audience’s curiosity right at the beginning of your presentation, you could include an upbeat quote, a proverb or a question. Choose a slightly provocative question to get your audience thinking from the start. You can repeat this verbatim on your presentation handout.

Although the main thing about handouts is that they should be short and concise , they should still be understandable when read outside the context of your presentation.  If this is forgotten, they can’t act as an aid to your audience’s memory afterwards.

Nice-to-have: Additional Information on Your Handout

The main elements of a handout, as covered above, can be supplemented by additional information as you choose. This can even include pictures or graphics. Depending on the topic, a visual element can really clarify and supplement your main argument and tie things together.

As a rule, however, it pays to keep pictures and graphics on your presentation slides because they take up too much space on the handout. The costs and benefits need to be weighed up in each individual case.

It is also a good idea to include contact information on the handout; an e-mail address is the minimum. Depending on the type and purpose of the presentation, you can also provide your business address and telephone number.

If your handout consists of several pages, it helps to put your contact details in the header so that they appear on every page. It can be useful to include a short bibliography in your handout if you’re using quotes or information from other sources. This way you can also link to relevant websites or further reading on your topic that may be interesting for your audience.

How a handout can look like

TIP : At the end of your handouts you can include questions or food for thought to stimulate discussion. This is particularly useful if you wish to conduct a question and answer session after your presentation.

Tutorial: Creating a Handout with PowerPoint

When time is of the essence, PowerPoint has a feature that allows you to create a handout in minutes. Using the “Create handout” function, you can transfer a PowerPoint presentation to Microsoft Word, adapt it there and optimize it for printing.

With just a few clicks you can choose which presentation slides should appear on the handout. The number of slides can also be easily adjusted and you can cut text or expand it as necessary. You can also decide whether the handout should include a note margin, a header and/or a footer.

Your PowerPoint presentation remains untouched during this whole process. In addition to the option of printing the handout, you can also save it directly in Word as a Word or PDF document – a simple way to make the handout digitally available to your audience.

  • Open your presentation in PowerPoint.
  • To find the handout master, open the View tab in the top taskbar.

Handout in PPT

3. In the Master Views submenu you will find, among other things, the Handout Master.

The practical thing about this is that with just a few clicks, you can choose slides from your presentation to form a basis for your handout. It’s also easy to customize headers and footers – to insert your contact details or page numbers, for example.

Handout in PPT

It’s really easy to choose the size, number and design of your pages here; and PowerPoint also offers the option of exporting the handout you have just created to Microsoft Word. This makes it simple to print out or offer to your audience as a file.

  • To do this, click on “File” in the upper task bar and then on “Export” .

Handout in PPT

2. Select Create handout .

3. In the context menu that opens, you can decide whether your handout should have a margin for adding notes, for example, or other useful options.

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When is the Best Time to Distribute Your Handout?

There is no such thing as the perfect time. To help you decide the timing for your particular presentation, it helps to understand how timings influence your audience:

  • Handout before presentation : In this case, you have to expect at least some of your audience to have leafed through the handout and read ahead, meaning that at any point they know what’s next. This can sometimes mean that your audience’s concentration is divided, so you need to consider carefully whether this option is appropriate.
  • Handout during presentation : Distribute your handout at the point when it is useful as support, either in terms of visual illustration or as a means to emphasize your argument.

Content5 EN Handout

Our tip: Share your handout prior to the presentation . It is often the same arguments that are used when it comes to giving out the handout before the presentation: ‘Too restless, the audience rustles with the papers and does not concentrate on the lecture’ and many more. You probably know the arguments.

Nevertheless, our 25 years of experience with PowerPoint shows that these arguments should not be believed. Experience shows that it does not negatively affect the concentration of the audience, but even has positive effects for many to know that they do not have to take notes and that a protocol is available so that they can fully concentrate on the presentation.

In addition, listeners can add other relevant notes directly to the handout. If you withhold the handout until the end of the presentation, you also run the risk of having carried out a kind of unspoken “disciplinary action.”

Conclusion: Don’t go without a handout!

Whichever timing you decide upon, a well-prepared handout can be an effective tool to support your presentation , acting as a guide and memory aid for both you and your audience. Used properly, they can increase the interest and attention of your audience, and allow you to give a clear and professional presentation.

Need help with creating a presentation and a great handout to go with it? We have years of experience in the field of PowerPoint presentations. Just get in touch, and our team can help you create exactly what you need ► presentation agency

If you have any further questions about handouts, or anything to do with PowerPoint, feel free to get in touch at [email protected] . We’re always happy to help!

You might also be interested in the following articles:

  • PowerPoint Presenter View
  • Insert Notes in PowerPoint

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Make Your Handouts Look Great Without a Graphic Designer

Make your presentation handouts look professional without a graphic designer.

Design and Style Great Handouts

Step #1: Use a Canva Template to Create a Great Presentation Handout.

Canva ( https://www.canva.com ) is one of those online resources where the more that you use it, the more that you can’t do without it. It is graphic design software, similar to Photoshop, but made for the amateur designer. The software is so easy to use, that you can be designing and editing professional graphics in minutes. The major difference between Canva and Photoshop though, (other than being really easy to operate) is that it is loaded with thousands of templates for just about anything that you want to create.

I was first introduced to Canva when I was looking for a way to create eye-catching social media images. I knew that if I wanted to post images that would get the attention of the casual Facebook or Twitter reader, that I had to create my own. (Stock photos just wouldn’t do.) I had invested in Photoshop, but since I didn’t have a lot of experience with it, the software was very frustrating. Then I was listening to a podcast by Michael Stelzner and Social Media Marketing, and they mentioned Canva. I tried it out for about 15 minutes, and I was hooked. In fact, most of the images that you see on my websites and social media accounts are created using Canva, now.

Create Your Background from Scratch or Start with a Template.

Because I’ve been using Canva for a while, I now publish most of my backgrounds from scratch. But when I first started using the website, I often used the pre-installed templates. If you decide to use a template, for a handout background, you might want to start with the “Letterhead” templates. Most of these letterhead templates have white backgrounds and really nice and colored borders, so they are ideal if you will be adding a lot of text. The great thing about the software is that if you find a design that you like, but you need to customize the colors, just click on the template, and it will load onto your design. Next just select the border or shape item that you want to alter, and a colored square will pop up in the top-left corner of the toolbar. Click the square, and you can change the color to any that you like.

If you decide to create the background from scratch, just click the “Use Custom Dimensions” button in the top-right corner of the Canva homepage, and enter 8.5 in X 11 in. You’ll start with a blank white page, but you can quickly add shapes, colors, images, and icons at will. You are only limited by your creativity. When I create a custom template or background, I usually use either a custom border or a half-page image.

3-Point-Talk Evidence Handout Example

For a small monthly fee, Canva will allow you to use royalty-free images that are fantastic. If however, you want to kick your images up a notch…

Download Professional Stock Photos on a Budget.

There are a lot of stock photo companies out there, and many are really good, but my favorite is ShutterStock . The reason I like this service so much is that the images are very economical, and they have just about any type of image that you’d ever want. In the past, I was using stock images so much for social media and my blogs that I had a monthly plan where I could download up to 50 different images per month for just $100. Now, though, I purchase five images for $49, and I have an entire year to choose which five images that I want to download. So, the images are only $9.80 each. Once you purchase the license for the picture, you can use it (and re-download it if needed) forever. This is a fantastic deal compared to companies like Getty that charge $500 per image, and you have to buy different licenses for each type of use.

ShutterStock actually has a built-in editor that you can use before you download the image. However, I have never been able to use it effectively. However, once you find the perfect image that you want to use, download it, and then upload it to Canva. You can then insert it into your half-page photo background, or you can edit it and alter it as needed. For examples of what you can do when you combine Canva and Shutterstock, go to my Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/leadersinstitute/ .

Once you have the background just like you like it, you can either download it as a PNG from Canva, or you can save your Canva background, copy it, and create your handout right in Canva itself.

If You Are Not Technical, Here is a Tip After Downloading Your Background.

To download your background from Canva, just click the Download button and select PNG. An image will be saved on your computer in your download folder. Open up Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or any other word processor. Insert the PNG that you created. Click the image and drag the corners to the edge of the page, so that the image takes up the whole page. In the top toolbar, you will see a new option called Format. Click that button, and select Wrap Text. Now, select the option to Send Behind Text. One last thing. Right-click the image, and select Size and Position. Select Position. De-select Move Object with Text and Select Lock Anchor Position. These little technical tricks will push the image to the background of the page so that you can type whatever you want on top of the photo without moving it. If you don’t do this, when you start typing your content for your handout, the image will move around and look strange. If you need a second page for your handout, just click anywhere on the image and Copy. Then on the new page, hit Paste. Viola, a professional handout without any technical or graphic design skills needed!

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All you need to know about Presentation Handouts

Hitiksha jain.

  • Body Language & Delivery

presentation handouts

What is a Presentation Handout?

A presentation handout or a handout is a piece of printed information which is handed over to the audience after a presentation, meeting, or a conference. It’s an integral part of the total experience of your audience. A well-thought handout may be your best tool towards ensuring your message is effectively communicated.

It allows your audience to focus more on what you said during the presentation, and serves as a tangible reminder of your content afterwards. 

Let’s assume you’ve been asked to give a speech, and you’re excited to give the best presentation possible. You put in all kinds of preparations– from creating an amazing presentation, probing for perfect examples, to infusing memorable anecdotes, terrific insights, great visuals and even a wry joke here or there. You’ve covered all the possible angles to make your presentation or speech impactful and effective– or have you?

An effective presentation is a combination of not only your PowerPoint Presentation, but also the other forms of communication- writing, reporting, handouts to persuade, convince, inform, and enlighten your audience.

As a brand or a speaker, you would want your message to have a long lasting impact over your audience for which you need concrete manifestations like handouts, as most of us focus on preparing what will happen during the presentation, not what happens afterwards .

You need to convince people of why you are doing something rather than explaining what you are doing .

“ People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do. “ Simon Sinek

Golden circle by Simon Sinek and its connection to presentation handouts

Benefits of providing a handout:

1. helps you avoid information overload.

It allows you to cut down the amount of information that you cover in your presentation and combines the most important aspects from it in a handy text form.

By adding the essential and worth-knowing content about your brand will help you make your speech more memorable. 

Chunky paragraphs make your audience apathetic towards reading your handout as the essence is lost.

2. Lays emphasis on your message

Your key message should permeate through all of your business materials- brochures, website, or handouts. You need to provide supporting data around that one message to lay emphasis on it. 

If there is one thing that should be crystal clear in your handout, it is your key message. As it sets you apart from your competition and describes your brand as a whole.

3. Acts as a concrete reminder

Chances are, your audience won’t remember the details of your presentation a year later. With a handout, they have all the important information you covered as well as a reminder of you and your brand. 

As it is a takeaway material, whenever the audience member looks at it, it’ll help them recall all what you spoke.

4. Allows you to add supporting data

Your handout can be supplemented with additional information along with the main elements from your presentation. This can even be visuals, graphics, or references, as it can really clarify and supplement your main argument and tie things together.

It is a good idea to provide your contact information and email. Depending on the type and purpose of the presentation, you can also provide your business address and telephone number.

5. Provides a synopsis of your speech

The information in your handout is short and to the point. Before expanding on individual and main points from your presentation, you need to focus on your target audience.

By doing this, you tailor the handout to their level, avoiding technical terms where they would get distracted from your point. It is very important to condense the core statements of your presentation into key points, rather than including a distracting stream of text. This way, you retain your audience’s full attention.

Pro Tip- To arouse your audience’s curiosity right at the beginning of your handout, you could include an upbeat quote, a proverb or a question.

6. Personal Branding

Personal branding is the practice of marketing people and their careers as brands. It is an ongoing process of developing and maintaining a reputation and impression of an individual, group, or organization.

Your personal brand is more than the brand statement you use as your elevator pitch or to market yourself in your digital, and online marketing communications.

Handouts allow you to define your personal brand. It is the combination of your personal attributes, values, drivers, strengths, passions, and contact details that differentiates your unique promise of value from your peers.

Considering the above points, it’s obvious, then, that a handout can be very useful for your audience, your presentation and yourself. Once you know what to do, they can be relatively straightforward to produce.

Ways on how you can make your handouts intriguing:

1. it is a reflection of your presentation.

Imagine watching FRIENDS from any random episode where you seldom know the character sketch of a Chandler who is witty and full of one liners, or a Joey who is cute but a little slow, or a Monica who is obsessed with cleaning.

In such a situation, you are bound to feel unconnected because you haven’t watched the 1st season and the episode you are watching is nowhere a reflection of it.

In the same way, your handout is a summary of what you’ve spoken in your presentation, so it automatically becomes a reflection of it. The audience should be able to resonate your handout with your presentation that they’ve just attended.

Ideally, your handout should have the same title as your presentation and should follow the same structure, so that audience members can easily find the information they want.

2. Remember, it is not a copy of your presentation

Printing your entire presentation on the handouts is lazy and least effective. It is supposed to have key points from your entire speech.

You need not limit your handout only to the topics covered in your presentation. It’s okay to include related information that further supports your speech.

While you were preparing your presentation, you were selecting the most essential information, offered concisely, that supported your messages. With your handout, you’re free to expand on bullet points and graphics to allow a more complete explanation. Just don’t go overboard. Although you’re offering more information, you must still keep it well organized and to the point.

3. Take proper time to prepare your handouts

As stated earlier, we focus and give time to prepare our presentation and what happens during that in order to not make a fool of ourselves upon the stage. And before your presentation it strikes you that you need to have handouts, so you make it hurriedly- giving it less importance.

Cobbling together a handout at the last moment is not only stressful, it can be counterproductive, as it undermines your professionalism and never goes unnoticed.

Remember, your handouts require the same amount of focus and time as your presentation. In fact it is something your audience will take along with them, so I’m sure you would want your handout to have all the essential information regarding your brand along with CTA. 

4. Professionalism is the key

Make your handouts look attractive and appealing to the eye. Here are certain ways to make it look professional:

  • Avoid cluttering of data.
  • Avoid putting a lot of data that your handout begins to look like a textbook.
  • Use a simple and readable font.
  • Use the same graphical elements and the same colours.
  • Don’t clutter up your handout with data without sacrificing the essential content.

The handout is a concrete reminder of your presentation. It may also get passed onto other people who were not at your presentation. So make sure it enhances the perception people have of you.

5. It should have more essential information

Presentations are supposed to have a lot of visual content; however, they are unlikely to make sense without the additional text. Going overboard with text in your presentation is not a good idea. They are mainly used for inspiring people to find out more about a topic or your brand. 

Add the extra information in the handout.

As said earlier, your handout is a takeaway your audience will take to review later or maybe pass it to someone else who didn’t attend your presentation. Therefore, it is very important to add essential and supporting data- contact information, case studies, references, marketing literature, or other collateral materials.

6. Add references (if any)

Sometimes it can be confusing to know when and how to cite sources during a speech, especially while using a visual-aid PowerPoint Presentation. 

If you’re citing research, references become an inevitable part of it.

But the question is where to add these references?

Well, it is better if you don’t clutter your slides with references. So the best option is you can add it in your handouts. This will not only make your presentation neat and organized but also make your handouts insightful. 

However, you need to inform your audience that you’ve cited sources for this XYZ research in your handout. Also, try providing information about related blogs, websites, and books (if any).

7. Make your handout a stand-alone

Your handout may be passed onto people who were not present at your presentation. Or an audience member may look at it a year from now when they’ve forgotten most of your speech.

Make sure your handout helps them recall it and something that will make sense to them. For people who weren’t present for your presentation, include a brief credibility-establishing information about you.

When is the best time to distribute your Handout, before or after?

Imagine that you’ve spent weeks preparing your presentation wherein you’ve got wonderful persuasive material as well as a concise handout summarizing and supporting your arguments.

The only one thing that you didn’t plan was when to distribute the handouts. Maybe at the beginning? At the end? In the middle? Or does the timing even matter?

Rule of thumb: Distribute your handouts at the end.

It’s generally to your advantage to distribute handouts at the end of your presentation.

Benefits of distributing your Handouts before your presentation:

  • You make it clear that the handout is meant to be taken away. There’s no guarantee that your handout doesn’t end up in the recycling bin, but your aim is to give it a chance to survive as long as possible, carrying your message with it.
  • If you plan to hand it out at the end, it can be sued as a summary document (as opposed to making it a less useful transcript of your presentation)
  • Your audience will not be distracted reading it during your presentation, when you need their eyes and attention with you
  • The surprises, suspense, and case studies won’t be disclosed (which might otherwise be hinted at or spoiled by the handout)
  • It is symbolic of giving a gift to the audience to thank them for their attention
  • There will be less rustling of papers to distract both you and your audience.

However, there are a number of caveats wherein you will have to distribute it before your presentation:

  • When your speech is highly technical and detail-oriented, it is better to put those words in the hands of the audience
  • When your content is far too dense, you can’t expect your audience to absorb such voluminous data. So to handle this: you can provide them the material and draw their attention.
  • Also, in case of coaches and trainees you will have to handout workbooks for your presentations at the start, as the audience may need to read along, do exercises, etc. in the workbook itself.

Clear and Concise: How to structure a Handout

The motto “less is more” applies very effectively to handouts. In concrete terms, this means: do without whole sentences and make sure you use key points, abbreviations, arrows and symbols. Ideally, your handout should not consist of more than two A4 pages.

In addition to important information from your presentation, a handout needs to include the following:

  • Basic information, probably in the upper left corner of the handout, such as the location of the presentation, title, name of the speaker (optional)
  • The date, probably in the upper right corner
  • Heading– preferably the title of your presentation and it should be centered
  • A clear structure, based on the individual headings of the presentation
  • An aesthetic page layout with a standard font type and colour– preferably same as your presentation.

The structure of your handout should follow the structure of your presentation. It is best to limit your points to those which support your main argument. Keep the sub-items on the handout as simple as possible and don’t go into too much detail.

To make your handout visually appealing, work on your fonts and colours. In addition to using clear, standard fonts, try to keep the font size in the headers and footers uniform and smaller than in the main part.

Pro Tip- Create an area for your audience to make their own notes on your handout. Either make the right margin wider or leave a few lines of space under your last point.

Here’s an example,

Structure of a presentation handout

  • Overboarding of information will make your handout look very cluttered leading them to lose interest
  • Distributing your handouts at the start of your presentation will lead to distraction amid the audience
  • It shouldn’t be complex to understand when read by someone who wasn’t present at the time of your presentation
  • Do not copy paste your entire presentation as it is. You need to include additional information (along with the one in your presentation)

How to make a Presentation Handout?

The easiest and the simplest way to make your handouts is via Microsoft Word. You can follow these simple steps in order to create one:

  • Click on the ‘Create handout’ option and transfer your presentation to Microsoft Word
  • After that, choose which presentation slides should appear on your handout
  • You can easily adjust your text, graphics, content and decide whether you want to include a note margin, a header, or a footer
  •  In addition to the option of printing the handout, you can also save it directly in Word as a Word or PDF document – a simple way to make the handout digitally which is available to your audience.

Voilà! Here you go.

For more help, check this video out,

Types of Handouts:

1. gapped handouts.

As the name suggests, this handout consists of gaps that the audience is required to fill in. It may also include complex graphics or charts or tables of statistics which the members are expected to complete and they can only do that if they heard you well.

You can also outline the main points and leave gaps for key words to be inserted.

For example, 

a) P_ _ _ _ _ t_ _ _ _n/ _ a _ _ _ _t_ (Presentation Handouts)

b) _a_ _ed/ H_ _ _o_ _ _  (Gapped Handouts)

2. Skeletal Handouts

It provides a bare outline of the presentation structure with some key statements and main references. This can be useful to aid members to make notes and follow a structure.

It is a great tool to maintain the audience engagement and focus throughout your presentation.

3. Worksheets

A worksheet is a sheet of paper on which problems are worked out or solved and answers are recorded.

This is mainly used in the classroom scenario in order to encourage students to remember what they learnt. It can motivate them to work without any assistance.

4. Information Sheets

It is also called a short information document. This sheet provides you a brief summary of a subject and its aims.

It may be necessary to draft more than one information sheet if you need to cater to the participants with different needs.

It is mainly used in the areas of education, for example, information on courses provided by an institution.

Template for information presentation handout

Also check- How to give motivational speech to students.

Examples of Handouts:

A handout is a useful tool for helping your audience learn important concepts from a meeting, presentation or other business event. When making a handout, it’s important to summarize the key points instead of just printing out the notes you used during the presentation. Include material that goes beyond the information you covered to help your audience better understand the concepts. Here are some examples:

Templates for presentation handouts

In the above example, they have summarized the main concepts, given information about their brand and pointed out the reasons why you should choose them.

However, one thing that they didn’t focus on is leaving space to add notes. This is important because it allows the audience member to pen down the essentials points in their own words. It fosters the way people learn and understand information. 

Templates for presentation handouts

The above example is used when you have to lay down the program of an event. Now in such a scenario, you will need to hand it over to the audience beforehand.

So when you look at it, it is filled with a lot of text with no infographics or visuals. Therefore, the audience somewhere might lose interest looking at a handout only filled with text.

Check these examples out for inspiration:

Templates for presentation handouts

Final Thoughts

A well-prepared handout can be an effective tool to support your presentation, acting as a guide and memory aid for both you and your audience. Used properly, they can increase the interest and attention of your audience, and allow you to give a clear and professional presentation.

Do not forget to add a CTA (Call to action) in your handout, encouraging them to change or act on something in relation with your talk.

Your handout is going to remain with your audience, so make sure you provide all the necessary information in less words. Basically, a summary of your presentation in minimum words.

Let us know if you end up implementing any of these tips in the comments below.

Hitiksha Jain

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presentation handout sample

presentation handout sample

Create or change a presentation’s handout

You can use the Handout Master tab to edit the appearance of presentation handouts, including the layout, headers and footers, and background. Changes made to the handout master appear on all pages of the printed handout.

To see the handout options, click the View tab, and then click Handout Master in the Master Views group.

Shows View Handout master in PowerPoint

This opens the Handout Master view.

Shows the handout master ribbon in PowerPoint

Change the layout

In the Page Setup group, you can specify the number and layout of slides to print on each page, change the orientation of handouts, and set the slide size. You can use settings on all three menus— Handout Orientation , Slide Size , and Slides Per Page —to customize your layout exactly how you want it.

Page Setup group

Set the slides per page

Click Slides Per Page .

Slides Per Page options

Choose a layout option from the thumbnail images.

Tip:  The 3 Slides option includes lines that your audience can use to take notes.

Set the orientation

Click Handout Orientation , and then choose Portrait or Landscape .

Handout Orientation menu

Set the slide size

Click Slide Size (or, in PowerPoint 2010, Slide Orientation ), and then choose one of the options.

presentation handout sample

When PowerPoint is unable to automatically scale your content, it will prompt you with a message. Select Maximize to increase the size of your slide content when you are scaling to a larger slide size. (Choosing this option could result in your content not fitting on the slide. ) Select Ensure Fit to decrease the size of your content. (This could make your content appear smaller, but you’ll be able to see all content on your slide.)

Slide size scaling message

To set a custom size, including width, height, slide numbering, and orientation of slides and notes, click Custom Slide Size on the Slide Size menu.

To make sure your slides will print the way you want, preview your handouts before printing.

Change headers and footers

You can adjust headers and footers in the Placeholders group. By default, the placeholders appear in the top and bottom corners of the Handout Master page.

Shows the PowerPoint Handout Master

Click in a text placeholder (Header, Footer, Date, or Page Number) to make changes to it. You can do things like:

Edit or add content in the text placeholders : In addition to text changes, you can use commands on the Insert tab to add graphics or other content types.

Format text shape and appearance : Select the text and use the options on the Format tab to make changes.

Change text placeholders : Drag a text placeholder to move it, and use the text box sizing handles to change its size.

Turn placeholders on or off : Clear the check box of the placeholder (Header, Date, Footer, or Page Number) that you want to turn off.

Change the background

You can change the background of your handouts (but not the background of your slides) in the Background group. You can also quickly change the font for all for your handout text at once, and you can apply special borders and visual effects.

Background options

Colors : Choose a color theme for your handout background. You may have to click Background Styles and choose an option to see it applied.

Background Styles : Choose a style option from the list. The colors displayed depend on your choice in the Colors list.

Tip:  Click Format Background at the bottom of the Background Styles list to open the Format pane and choose from more background options, such as advanced fill settings, artistic effects, and color and image settings.

Fonts : Choose a font from the list to quickly apply it to all headers and footers.

Effects : Choose an effect from the list to apply a theme effects, with features including shadows, reflections, lines, fills, and more.

Preview your handouts

To preview the way your handout will look when printed:

Click File > Print .

Go to Settings > Full Page Slides , and then under Handouts , select the layout you want and look at the preview pane. Click the File tab again to return to your previous view.

For more information about working with PowerPoint handouts, see:

Work with handout masters

Print your handouts, notes, or slides

Create your own theme in PowerPoint

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We are constantly working on ourselves and most of all we respect the opinion of our users. It is for you TheGoodocs makes such an abundance of various templates for a handout and other needs. If you would like a more relevant template, you can always ask us for it. To do this, there is a "Request" button on the main page. There, each of our users can leave a request to add templates to the category, and we promise to read it and take into account the wishes.

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In the era of digital marketing, it may seem that printing handout templates have no place. In fact, this is not the case. You can always use handouts to attract new customers in smaller towns where the infrastructure is not as developed. Moreover, you can use this option as an additional way to advertise products and your social media. This will lead to even greater attention from your customers. In any case, we give you free access to these templates. How best to use this opportunity is up to you.

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  1. How to Create the Perfect Presentation Handout

    Presentation Handout Example #1: Just Use Slide Notes in PowerPoint as a Presentation Handout. I have to admit, this technique is just a small step above the "printing out your slide-deck" option. However, sometimes, time is short, and you want to make sure that your audience has a good takeaway.

  2. Effective Presentation Handouts: A Step-by-Step Guide

    A professional handout sample for presentation should: Deliver the main message without unnecessary details mentioned; Steer clear of tech-savvy language and slang and preserve an accessible tone; Present essential data through lists and bullet points; Professional handout sample for presentation.

  3. How to create effective presentation handouts

    If you want to create an effective presentation handout, here's what you should include. 1. List the key points of your presentation. To create a strong presentation handout, list the key facts from your speech. Keep it simple—you don't need to rewrite your entire presentation. Remember, you'll discuss a lot of the material in your ...

  4. Handout Essentials: A Guide To Creating Memorable Presentation Handouts

    Here are strategies to make handouts more memorable: 1. Visual Design: Consistent Theme: A cohesive theme reinforces the brand and aids in recognition. Ensure that fonts, colors, and imagery align with the overall aesthetic of the presentation, creating a seamless visual experience for the audience.

  5. How to Create the Perfect Handouts for a Presentation

    Follow these steps to create handouts in PowerPoint. Open your presentation in PowerPoint. Go to the View tab and find Handout Master. Accessing Handout Master in PowerPoint. You can customize the appearance of your handout by adding a header, date, logo, contact details, etc. This works exactly the same as Slide Master in PowerPoint, so all ...

  6. How to create effective presentation handouts for class lectures

    Two PowerPoint features to avoid when creating a presentation handout. These are both features in PowerPoint that you will probably come across, so I knew I had to talk about them. 😬. 1. I don't recommend the "handout master" feature in PowerPoint. The first is called the handout master in PowerPoint.

  7. Create handouts for PowerPoint Presentations (2022)

    If you would prefer to edit your handouts in Word, you must go to "File", select "Export" and then "Create Handouts". A dialogue box will appear where you can select the desired page layout, then click on "Ok". A new Word file opens automatically, which you can edit and format as you like. When exporting a PowerPoint presentation to Word, a lot ...

  8. Presentation Handout Template [Customizable]

    An Intuitive Presentation Handout Template. Creating the best presentation handout template is an ingenious way of being impactful to your audience. Your presentation handout material eliminates the need to write down questions and take notes regardless of whether it is a PPT or an oral presentation. Essentially, our presentation handouts will ...

  9. How to Create and Print PowerPoint Presentation Handout Notes

    Here, select which layout you want to use for your handout notes. You can also configure a slew of other printing options. As you can see from the screenshot below, you can choose the number of copies you want to make and set your paper size. The most important setting here is under PowerPoint > Layout.

  10. How to make presentation handouts

    Recording voiceover for a narrated presentation. Preparing for a presentation voiceover. Export the video. To save your video go to File > Export > Create a Video. Make sure Use timings and narrations is selected on the drop-down menu. Host the video online. Finally, make your video accessible to your audience.

  11. Presentation Handouts

    If you're presenting with visual PowerPoint slides, one of the easiest ways of creating a handout is to type the text of the handout in the "Notes" pane of the PowerPoint edit screen. Then print your slides as "Notes". You'll have an effective handout. 3. Ensure your handout reflects your presentation.

  12. How to Create Engaging Presentation Handouts

    What I'm here to do is to give you the best tips and tricks to transform your ordinary handouts into something your audience will find exciting and inspiring. Creating engaging handouts is more than just picking a font and any old text to fill up the page. It's about strategizing what content to include and how to make it visually appealing.

  13. Quick & Easy PowerPoint Handouts

    Step 2 - Click Show Details. What makes creating a presentation handouts tricky for most people, is remembering to click the "Show Details" button. Click the Show Details button in. order to unlock a bunch of cool new options you can use, including creating handouts. When you don't click this button it can seem as though the handout ...

  14. Creating a Handout to Support and Enhance Your Presentation!

    This makes it simple to print out or offer to your audience as a file. To do this, click on "File" in the upper task bar and then on "Export". 2. Select Create handout. 3. In the context menu that opens, you can decide whether your handout should have a margin for adding notes, for example, or other useful options.

  15. Make Your Presentation Handouts Look Professional w/o a Graphic Designer

    Step #1: Use a Canva Template to Create a Great Presentation Handout. Canva ( https://www.canva.com) is one of those online resources where the more that you use it, the more that you can't do without it. It is graphic design software, similar to Photoshop, but made for the amateur designer. The software is so easy to use, that you can be ...

  16. All you need to know about Presentation Handouts

    Depending on the type and purpose of the presentation, you can also provide your business address and telephone number. 5. Provides a synopsis of your speech. The information in your handout is short and to the point. Before expanding on individual and main points from your presentation, you need to focus on your target audience.

  17. Presentation Handouts

    Adds value to your presentation. Presentation handouts must be relevant to your audience. (This relevance should be clearly stated and true, not simply an assumption of what you believe to be relevant.) Ideally, your audience will want to keep hold of the document and refer back to it, easily remembering the key parts of your presentation.

  18. PDF Oral Presentations

    Use transitions between sections of your presentation (introduction, body, and conclusion) as well as between points in your main body section. The Writing Studio's handout on Roadmaps provides a great explanation of how to create clear signals and "signposts" that will guide the audience through your presentation.

  19. How To Make a Good Presentation [A Complete Guide]

    Apply the 10-20-30 rule. Apply the 10-20-30 presentation rule and keep it short, sweet and impactful! Stick to ten slides, deliver your presentation within 20 minutes and use a 30-point font to ensure clarity and focus. Less is more, and your audience will thank you for it! 9. Implement the 5-5-5 rule. Simplicity is key.

  20. Create or change a presentation's handout

    You can use the Handout Master tab to edit the appearance of presentation handouts, including the layout, headers and footers, and background. Changes made to the handout master appear on all pages of the printed handout. To see the handout options, click the View tab, and then click Handout Master in the Master Views group.. This opens the Handout Master view.

  21. Free and engaging presentation templates to customize

    Make it simple and hassle-free with a collection of well-designed and easy-to-use presentation templates from Canva. To captivate your target audience, you need the proper presentation template design that suits your subject. After all, a pleasing visual, coupled with helpful and relevant content, can go a long way in creating a solid presentation.

  22. Free Handout Templates In Google Docs, Google Sheets

    It is for you TheGoodocs makes such an abundance of various templates for a handout and other needs. If you would like a more relevant template, you can always ask us for it. To do this, there is a "Request" button on the main page. There, each of our users can leave a request to add templates to the category, and we promise to read it and take ...

  23. Free Online Handout Templates

    With PosterMyWall's handout templates, you have the freedom to select from a vast array of free design templates, tailoring them to your unique vision. Our drag-and-drop design editor makes it easy for anyone to create professional designs in minutes. Creating handout templates on PosterMyWall is free. Add images, videos, audio and effects to ...