Tips and tricks on creating training presentations that are engaging and deliver key messages concisely and consistently.

Keep PowerPoint Slides Concise

One of the consistent mistakes made by inexperienced presenters is that they feel the need to pack in as much text as possible into a slide. PowerPoint slides are meant to be talked to and provide a brief overview of what will be presented. Slides are a great a tool to keep the presentation and audience on track and provide a flow of information in an organized, consistent way. If too much information is presented in the slide, the audience will start reading the slides and stop listening to what is being said in the presentation.

Use the Notes Feature

The notes feature is found on the bottom of each slide when “view” and then “normal” is selected from the top menu bar. The notes section provides the ideal spot for the elaboration on the points above. The notes section is not visible when the slides are presented in slide show mode. To print the notes section, select: File, Print, Print What: Notes Pages. The presentation will now print with a copy of the slide at the top of the page and the notes from the notes selection below.

Repeat Key Points Three Times and in Three Ways

One way to make sure that the key points are retained by the audience is to repeat them three times throughout the presentation using three methods of delivery. Typically five key points are made in a workshop that is two hours in length. When presenting, introduce them early in the presentation, provide an interactive activity in the middle of the presentation to help illustrate the points and then bring them up again in a final quiz or exercise meant to review the workshop material. Supplemental reading and resource materials on the key points provide a fourth option for delivery.

Provide Supplementary Handouts

Handouts that help illustrate your points, or engage the learning by aiding an exercise, can increase retention of the key points and provide the additional information that cannot be covered in the limited time frame. Choose handouts that give examples, go into more detail on one aspect of the learning or provide reference materials for further study.

Handouts can be provided in hard copy and can also be uploaded to a web page, creating a virtual library for the audience to refer to after the presentation. The advantages of online posting of the handouts is that the links to web pages can be live links and multiple documents can be uploaded to the site e.g. reading lists, class lists (if appropriate), a copy of the PowerPoint presentation and so on. If possible, create a discussion forum online around the topic to allow for a continued discussion of the key points raised in the training.

Give them a Reading List

Providing a list of web sites, books or articles giving the audience more detailed information helps when information overload is a potential problem. The reading could be on one key point, one side of an argument or a more general approach to the topic.

End with a Review Quiz

End a presentation with some sort of simple quiz to make sure that the key messages are being retained. This quiz would count for one of the three exposures to the key points. The quiz could be multiple choice, fill in the blank, true or false or could take the form of an exercise where they are to determine what is incorrect given a bad example or case study that went sideways.

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Copyright © 2007 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.