Content is only one part of effective, engaging, and impactful training.
Good content poorly delivered is minimally effective.
A great story poorly told has limited impact.
The content is only one part of effective, engaging, and impactful training. You, as the trainer / teacher / facilitator / storyteller, play a critical role in the overall learning experience. That is why it is so important to work on your craft, your skills as a speaker, trainer, facilitator, and storyteller.
Some people think that if you just use the content from someone else’s engaging presentation then it will be just as effective for you. Far from it. An effective PowerPoint presentation will be of limited use to anyone else other than the person who created it, unless they spend time with the creator of the content to develop a deep understanding of the material, the intent behind the slides and stories, and how to effectively deliver the presentation. An effective PowerPoint will have a lot of pictures, a few words, some quotes and possibly a video or two. Even if there are speaker’s notes what it will not have is the creator’s experiences, insights, knowledge, training and wisdom. It will not have the creator’s thought process and intent behind every picture, quote, and story. It will not have the creator’s ability to engage the participants with thoughtful questions and the ability to pull-out relevant lessons and insights from their answers.
Knowing a story does not automatically translate into the ability to tell the story in a manner that is meaningful and engaging for an audience. There are nuances to every story that will be relevant to different audiences.
As a trainer do you spend all, or most of your time on building flashy PowerPoint slide decks and neglect spending time working on your delivery skills? Are you intentional about investing the time and energy to continually enhance your presentation, questioning and storytelling skills?
Don’t get me wrong. Quality content that is recent, relevant, well researched and thoughtfully laid out is important. However, great content, poorly delivered will not have the impact it could. Be sure you work on your craft, not just your content.
Take care.
Brian Willis
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