Speeches Worldwide Helped By Powerpoint Slides

People say the audience should be listening to you, not reading the slide.
1 But if you regularly speak outside toastmasters to groups of retirees, those at the back with poor hearing and poor concentration - are glad to have visual reminders.
2 Those walking in late are grateful to have some clue as to what is being said.
3 In Singapore the presenter often speaks poor English.
4 Or somebody in the audience causes a distraction. It's very useful to have a slide which tells you what you've missed.
5 Once I arrived late because of traffic problems. I was asked my opinion - the presenter was going around the audience. I looked at the board to find out whether we were doing opening introduction to yourself, table topic, or what? The board gave me my answer which saved embarrassment to me, the presenter, and the rest of the audience.
6 In London we have lots of speakers, and audience members, whose first language is not English. The visuals prevent those situations where the evaluator has to admit, 'maybe it was just me, but - I could not follow the argument'! As an evaluator I love seeing slides. I can write my notes, then look up and catch up on anything I've missed from the bullet points on the slide.