I am hearing but not listening, I am struggling to keep my focus…my mind doesn’t hesitate to wonder what’s for lunch. I steal a quick glance at my phone…only 15 minutes have passed!
The experience of sitting through an arduous presentation, perhaps feeling disengaged and impatient, is not one that is foreign to me. Growing up, I was the student who couldn’t sit still. I was easily distracted. I was bored. I was eager for the next thing. I was always on the move from one activity to the next. It took me many years to realize that there was nothing inherently wrong with me, that I was simply an unconventional learner; the traditional methods of learning did not suit me well (or in the language of today, it was not vibing).
Today, many of these challenges have been alleviated through learning principles. Understanding learning principles as an adult and a working professional has been a gamechanger, I feel like I have discovered a cheat code. It’s brought awareness to the many avenues of learning, whether it comes to my own learning or facilitating that of others – including presenting knowledge and information.
Regardless of whether you are in an online or in-person setting, presentations are an opportunity for you, as the presenter, to connect with your audience through interaction and understanding, and in doing so, create memorable experiences for the audience and yourself.
Key Message(s)
Have you ever walked away from a presentation feeling overwhelmed with information, or feeling as though you’ve not quite understood the main takeaway of the presentation? A great way to prevent your audience from such an encounter is to focus your presentation. Start by identifying what you want your presentation to achieve. In other words, what are your major objectives? This may take the form of learning outcomes if your presentation is educational in nature. Strategically communicating key points that are align with no more than six major objectives is the first step to a clear and concise presentation.1, 2 A highly effective method for developing purposeful and clear objectives is by using the SMART method – an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. So instead of stating “develop effective learning outcomes”, consider expanding this statement by using the SMART method to “by the end of the presentation, learners will be able to develop learning outcomes using the SMART method.”
After you have identified your objectives, use them as a cornerstone to curate the content for your presentation. Constantly step back to evaluate your content against these objectives. Is your content aligned with the objectives? Do the different elements of your presentation reinforce the objectives?
Audience
Each member of your audience brings varying levels of interest, knowledge, and experience. In preparing for your presentation, understand their motivations and interests, and what information would be most valuable to them.3 Think about how you can customize your content to suit the learning and information needs of your audience. Keep in mind that your audience will likely have very diverse needs and engagement styles, and this can pose a real challenge for any presenter!
Information about your audience can be gained through needs-based assessments, also known as learning needs assessments. This assessment occurs before the presentation and offers insights to customize your content and emphasize key points effectively. Alternatively, real-time assessments can be used to gauge audience comprehension by analyzing their responses during the presentation, allowing you to customize information accordingly. This method has also been proven to effectively reinforce new knowledge.4
Engagement
There are many ways to engage your audience, whether it is through storytelling or interactive activities. Storytelling, in particular, can effectively capture and maintain your audience’s attention by making learning relatable and memorable.5 These may be personal stories from your experiences or that of others, and includes fictional stories such as fables. If you’re out of stories, fret not, humour, anecdotes, metaphors, and quotations also serve a similar purpose!1 Through storytelling, your audience can visualize how knowledge can be directly applied to the real world and this stimulates critical thinking and problem solving. In the words of the author Ursula K. Le Guin, “There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories.”6 Such is the power of storytelling.
In addition to stories, engage your audience through interactive activities that promote their participation. In education, actively involving learners in the learning process is referred to as active learning. This can take the form of questions, brainstorming, group activities, role playing, or scenario-based examples that are aligned with your presentation’s objectives. They are intentional activities interspersed within your presentation that encourage your audience to stop, think, and ponder about what they have learned. Through these activities, the audience partakes in a collaborative and experiential learning process that improves knowledge retention.7 Given that the average adult learner has a focus of approximately 15-20 minutes,8 integrating interactive activities consistently within your presentation will sustain audience engagement.
Interactive activities can also begin prior to a presentation, involving tasks such as reading, taking photographs, or watching videos. This is commonly known as the “flipped classroom” or “flipped learning”. Time is then set aside during the presentation for the audience to share perspectives or practice a skill through an activity related to the pre-presentation task.
Take-home Message
Many presentations typically conclude by summarizing key points and reinforcing main takeaways. These take-home messages are similar to the initial objectives of your presentation. The emphasis on these objectives at the start, end, and throughout your presentation serves to reinforce learning. Additionally, consider including a call for behaviour change. As you conclude your presentation, challenge your audience to commit to a behaviour based on something they have learned.3 This encourages learners to immediately apply their new knowledge to real life through behaviour change.
Here is my call for you to apply yourself with these newfound perspectives, to maximize your opportunity to connect with your audience through interaction and understanding, and to create memorable experiences for both you and your audience.
The world of learning is one that continues to fascinate me, and these presentation tips are only the tip of the iceberg to best learning practices! Their insights have helped me focus, communicate, and learn effectively. As I continue to dive into the world of learning principles, I encourage you to join me in the exploration and application of the cheat codes that work for you!
Joeline Lim
References
[1] Collins, J. (2004). Education techniques for lifelong learning: giving a PowerPoint presentation: the art of communicating effectively. Radiographics, 24(4), 1185-1192. Retrieved March 2024 from https://doi.org/10.1148/rg.244035179
[2] Kennedy, D. (2006). Writing and using learning outcomes: a practical guide. University College Cork. Retrieved March 2024 from https://hdl.handle.net/10468/1613
[3] Mai, C. L., Minehart, R. D., & Pian-Smith, M. C. (2019). Seven tips for giving an engaging and memorable presentation. BJA education, 19(9), 274. Retrieved March 2024 from https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.bjae.2019.05.002
[4] Uhari, M., Renko, M., & Soini, H. (2003). Experiences of using an interactive audience response system in lectures. BMC medical education, 3, 1-6. Retrieved March 2024 from https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-3-12
[5] Kolb, D. A. (2014). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. FT press.
[6] Le Guin, U. K. (1979). The language of the night: essays on fantasy and science fiction. Ultramarine Publishing.
[7] Hackathorn, J., Solomon, E. D., Blankmeyer, K. L., Tennial, R. E., & Garczynski, A. M. (2011). Learning by Doing: An Empirical Study of Active Teaching Techniques. Journal of Effective Teaching, 11(2), 40-54.
[8] Jeffries, W. B. (2014). Teaching large groups. An introduction to medical teaching, 11-26. Retrieved March 2024 from https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9066-6_2
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