Dyslexia and Presentation Tips: Speak with Confidence

If you have dyslexia, the thought of giving a presentation can feel overwhelming. You might worry about reading from slides, stumbling over words, or losing your place mid-speech. But with the right preparation and strategies, you can deliver a confident, engaging presentation.

Whether you're a student presenting coursework, a teacher delivering lessons, or a professional pitching ideas at work, dyslexia and presentation tips go hand in hand. The key is understanding your strengths, building in supports, and practising in ways that actually work for your brain.

Organise Your Slides for Easy Reading

Your slides are your safety net. If they're cluttered or hard to read, you'll struggle to stay on track. Here's how to make them work for you:

Use large, simple fonts. Aim for at least 28-point text, and stick to one font throughout. Sans-serif fonts like Arial or Verdana are easier to read than serif fonts. Avoid fancy fonts altogether, as they slow down reading.

Keep text to a minimum. Each slide should have one main idea, ideally in a short phrase or headline rather than a full paragraph. Use bullet points sparingly, and leave plenty of white space. When your slides aren't crammed with text, you won't feel pressured to read every word aloud.

Use colour wisely. Light backgrounds with dark text are easier to read than dark backgrounds. Avoid red and green together, as this combination is hard for many people to distinguish. If you struggle with certain colour combinations, test your slides beforehand.

Add images and diagrams. Visual aids help your audience understand your message and give you natural talking points. They also reduce how much you need to rely on reading from the screen.

Build in Confidence Cues

When you can't rely on reading fluently, you need other ways to stay on track and remember what you want to say. These confidence cues are lifesavers:

Write speaker notes. Create detailed notes with key points, examples, and transitions. Number them and mark where each note matches your slide number. During the presentation, you can glance down and quickly find your place.

Use a checklist. Create a simple checklist of the main points you want to cover on each slide. Tick them off as you go. This gives you a sense of progress and prevents you from blanking on important information.

Mark difficult words. If certain words are hard to pronounce or you tend to stumble on them, write them out phonetically in your notes. This takes the pressure off and means you won't hesitate during the real presentation.

Prepare a strong opening and closing. Memorise your first sentence and your final message. You'll feel calmer once you get started, and ending on a confident note is what people remember.

Practise in a Way That Suits Your Brain

Dyslexic brains often learn better through speaking and doing rather than reading and writing. Adapt your practise routine to match how you actually learn:

Speak your presentation aloud, multiple times. Reading silently doesn't prepare your mouth and brain for speaking. Talk through your slides out loud, as if you're addressing an audience. This builds muscle memory and helps you find your natural rhythm.

Record yourself and listen back. Speaking is one thing, but hearing yourself helps you catch mumbled words, awkward phrasing, and places where you rush. Listen to the recording while following your slides, and note areas to improve.

Practise with a friend or mentor. Having someone listen gives you real-world pressure and feedback. Ask them to note any unclear sections or places where you lose the thread. You might also ask them to interrupt occasionally, as audience questions can throw you off balance during a real presentation.

Time yourself. Know exactly how long your presentation takes. This prevents you from either rushing through important points or running over time. Practise at a comfortable pace, not race speed.

Use text-to-speech tools during prep. Tools like Dyslexly can read your notes and slides aloud, helping you hear how they sound and internalise the rhythm of what you want to say.

Manage Presentation Anxiety

Anxiety is a real barrier for many dyslexic presenters. Recognising and managing it makes a measurable difference:

Identify your specific worry. Are you afraid of forgetting words, losing your place, or being judged? Name it clearly. Often, once you know exactly what worries you, it feels less overwhelming and you can plan for it.

Plan a backup for your biggest fear. If you worry about losing your place, keep a printed copy of your slides on the desk beside you. If you stumble on certain words, practice them with exaggerated pronunciation until they feel automatic. If you're afraid of forgetting a key statistic, write it on a cue card in large print. Having a backup plan reduces anxiety significantly.

Practise grounding techniques. Before you present, take slow, deep breaths. Place your feet firmly on the ground. These simple actions calm your nervous system and help you think more clearly.

Remind yourself of your message. Your job isn't to perform flawlessly. Your job is to communicate your ideas to your audience. If you stumble on a word, your audience won't care. They care about what you're saying, not how perfectly you say it.

Use Accessibility Features and Tools

Modern presentation software and accessibility tools exist for good reason. Use them without guilt:

Presenter view. In PowerPoint or Google Slides, use presenter view on your laptop while your slides display on the main screen. You see your notes, the current slide, and the next slide, so you're never caught off guard by what's coming next.

Speaker notes and timing. Build these into your presentation file so they're always available during your talk.

Text-to-speech and overlays. If you find yourself re-reading your own notes and struggling, accessibility tools that highlight text as it's read can speed up your prep and reduce cognitive load. Dyslexly offers these features specifically to help with reading on screen, which can be especially useful when reviewing your presentation materials.

Larger display settings. If your presentation software feels cramped, zoom in. You don't need to see the whole slide to work on it, and a larger view is much easier on your eyes and brain.

Communicate Your Needs

If you're presenting in a school, workplace, or formal setting, you have the right to request support:

Tell the organiser you have dyslexia. You don't need to share details, but a simple statement like "I have dyslexia and will be using speaker notes" normalises your approach.

Ask for what you need. This might be presenting to a smaller group first, having notes available on the lectern, standing rather than sitting, or having water nearby. Clear requests help others support you.

Practise your requests. If you've asked for the lights to be dimmed or the screen positioned differently, do a quick test run with those conditions before you present for real.

Remember, many successful presenters have dyslexia. Your different way of thinking often makes your presentations more engaging and memorable, not less.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I memorise my entire presentation? No. Memorising puts enormous pressure on your brain and creates anxiety when you inevitably forget a line. Instead, know your key points cold, practise saying them in your own words, and use notes as a safety net. This feels much more natural and sounds less robotic than a fully memorised speech.

What should I do if I lose my place during a live presentation? Stop, take a breath, and glance at your notes or speaker view. It's fine to pause for 2-3 seconds. Your audience won't mind, and they probably won't even notice. If you're really stuck, you can say something like "Let me find my place" and keep moving forward. Most people lose their place occasionally, whether they have dyslexia or not.

Can I read my presentation word-for-word from a script? It's possible, but not ideal. Reading word-for-word often sounds stilted and disengages your audience. A better approach is to write a script, read it aloud multiple times until you internalise it, then deliver it from notes using your own words. This sounds natural while still being supported.

How long should I spend practising a presentation? There's no fixed rule, but aim for at least 3-5 full run-throughs where you speak it aloud from beginning to end. Spread these over several days if possible. Your brain needs time to absorb the material and build confidence, which rushing cramming cannot provide.

Is it acceptable to use visual aids instead of reading lots of text? Absolutely. In fact, presentations with strong visuals and minimal text are considered best practice for all audiences. Using images, diagrams, and videos actually makes your presentation better, not a workaround for dyslexia. Your slides should support your speech, not replace it.