Learning In Style

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

How to turn on a projector without turning off the audience

PowerPoint has a bad name among training session attenders, and it doesn’t deserve to. But I was reminded of how it got that bad name when a team I was working with came up with this slide.
The learning outcomes are well thought out and well expressed. But should they be shown as a slide?
My answer is no, although I expect many may disagree. I say "no" because the right place for them is in the seminar promotional material, the early pages of the participant's workbook and firmly etched in the trainer's mind.
To me, it is not important to announce them at the start of the seminar, or even to show them in full at the end when it's time to confirm that the trainees have what they came for.
If you disagree, however, then there are better ways of producing the slide without sacrificing any information.

In this slide, I have conveyed exactly the same information in 27 words rather than 95. The first slide almost demands that I read it, or allow them to read it in full. The second slide gives prompts for a conversation with the group, about their expectations and the way that we are going to meet them.
Same information, just a different approach. Which would you prefer that the trainer used?
Perhaps, more importantly, which are you using now? Which will you be using in the future?
Please comment on this post, as I am keen to hear of your reaction.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home