Page 182 - The New Articulate Executive_ Look, Act and Sound Like a Leader

HOW TO READ A PREPARED TEXT LIKE A PRO 173

each sentence (for emphasis and to make sure you don’t dive down for
the next sentence before you’re fi nished speaking).
Imagine you are on a stage looking at an audience. If you are
playing the game correctly, you are looking directly at your listeners
as you speak to them. You are now in what I call the GO ZONE. If
you are looking over their heads, somewhere up in the ether (maybe

because you are not a practiced player and find all eye contact a little
disconcerting), you are in what I call the OZONE. If you are looking
down, or below the level of eye contact, you are in the NO ZONE.
-

Look them right in the eye, and you are in the GO ZONE. The longer
you stay in the GO ZONE, the better your presentation will be.
-

The place to be, obviously, is in the GO ZONE. Stay out of the
OZONE entirely and visit the NO ZONE only when you have to (for
example, to grab a line of text). That’s why, if you must use a prepared
text, you must also know how to deliver it so you remain in the GO
ZONE most of the time and don’t look like you are reading.

OZONE

GO ZONE

NO ZONE