They allow you to provide more detailed information than you would put on a slide. They give your audience something to take away from your presentation, to review later. They are one more way for your listeners to be reminded of you and your key messages.

Handouts are especially useful if your presentation is highly technical or complex. They can further explain important information. For example, you may want to include in your handout supporting data that you chose not to include in your presentation, such as contact information, case studies, references, marketing literature, or other collateral materials.

Your handout also can serve as a summary of your key points. In any case, your handout can include more detailed information than you may have had time to cover in your presentation, or which — for your own good reasons — you’ve chosen not to include in your presentation.

Before or after? => http://bit.ly/rCqnC9

Mitch Joel makes a great case against something that has irked me for a long time – handing out nothing but the slides from your presentation….

“Can I have your slides?” is probably the most common question a presenter gets asked. Here’s why you should never give them out…

If there is one rule of presenting that I constantly see broken, it’s the one where a presenter gives out their slides whenever they are asked. There are two very valid reasons why this is a bad idea: