I don’t believe that writing a presentation and reading it in front of an audience is a good thing.

I am talking about Camtasia videos in the post. But it does apply to other things as well. Many pod casts are read. Here is an example of a blogger who provides both written and spoken posts.

In my case, when I do these videos I am required to produce a transcript. I have no choice. In this situation it makes sense to write them out and read them. I didn’t mention it but we are required to have technical reviews of the videos as well. It is easier to get a script reviewed than it is to redo a video because of a technical error. A technical error would be something like me saying, “XXXXXXX works with any version of Solaris 11 or greater” when it really works with Solaris 10 or greater.

I don’t think that writing or reading a live presentation is a good thing. I certainly don’t do that. On the other hand politicians do it quite often. I think that they want to make certain that they don’t misspeak. They should learn how to read better. Most of them are awful. Their speeches are as exciting as bumps on a pickle.

I have found that learning to read aloud effectively does help me during live presentations. I am much more aware of what my voice is doing and can use it to effectively emphasize key points. It also helps me when I have to read a portion of a document during a class or a presentation. Strangely, I do that quite often.