Why do learners hate PowerPoint?

PowerPoint is a much-reviled tool in training - for good reason.

I remember giving a presentation at a learning technology conference. I turned heads because I was one of the few presenters to just get up there and speak, no slides needed.

Let me say that again - this was at a learning technology conference. If any group of presenters should know better…

But here’s a secret:

PowerPoint isn’t the problem.

You are.

Ninety percent of presentations use PowerPoint completely incorrectly. It’s supposed to be a presentation for the audience. Pretty obvious, right? Except most presenters use them as notes for themselves.

Think about a typical slide. Four to seven bullet points, which the presenter reads through and elaborates on, one at a time.

Do the learners need to see those?

Aren’t they really just prompts for the presenter?

Something to consider.

Something else to consider:

PowerPoint is fine. I once used it to create a self-paced, fun, effective and physically engaging introduction to regular expressions. I wasn’t doing it as a gimmick - PowerPoint really was the perfect tool for the job.

How did I do it?

I focused on the learner, not on me. When you give them what they need (not what you want) it all comes together nicely.

That and I followed the 12 principles of effective course design.

I mean, not all of them. I scored a big, fat zero on the ‘social’ elements. Like I said, it was a self-paced RegEx course - there wasn’t much chance to get learners to connect.

And that’s fine, since I focused on the other 11.

That’s the great thing about these principles. You don’t need to be perfect, you just need to be better.

What are these principles, you ask?

Let me show you.

And if you use my affiliate link, you can learn all 12 (and see them all in action) using a test drive of a vast course library.

Check it out:

https://skl.sh/2yjmCqu