Write this down!

Download audio here.

One of my pet peeves with speakers is when they treat the audience like children. When they act like they're the only one in the room who knows anything and feel like they have to hold my hand through their presentation.

Case in point: A speaker who says "Write this down!"

When someone says "Write this down," I instinctively refuse to write it down. I think I know enough about myself, my needs and my interests, that I can determine for myself what notes to take during a presentation.

I get that this speaker is trying to make sure he has my attention, just in case I'm drifting off as he gets to one of his main points, but telling me what to do is not the way to get my attention back. If he's lost it, there's a reason, and he might want to explore his other speaking techniques before barking orders at me.

Be very careful with gimmicky approaches like "Write this down," or "How's everybody today? I can't HEAR you!" and similar patronizing remarks. Audiences don't want to be manipulated. They don't want to be yelled at. And they don't want to be treated like five-year-olds.

Treat me like an adult; assume I'm able to make good judgements for myself based on my lifetime of knowledge and experience. Find better ways to get and keep my attention that are relevant and engaging, not artificial and stagey.

Thank you.

____________________________________________________
On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

The slide's the limit

Download audio here.

I worked with a client last week whose slides were packed with text. When I suggested to her that she take the multiple ideas on one slide and expand them out over several slides, she balked. One of the executives who would be attending her presentation was a "ten-slide person." So my client was trying to keep her slideshow with two years' worth of marketing data and product information to ten slides.

Here's my Monday morning reminder: Whether you have ten slides or a hundred, your ideas will take the same amount of time to present.

If you have one slide with six bullets and each bullet takes one minute to talk about, you can just as easily give each bullet its own slide and take one minute to talk about each slide. Do you see what I'm saying?

Here are some benefits of one idea per slide:

1. Multiple ideas or bullets on one slide invite audience members to read ahead, diluting their focus. While you're on bullet #1, they're already thinking about their response to bullet #4.

2. A lot of ideas per slide means a lot of reading per slide. If the audience is reading slides, they're not paying attention to you.

3. Heavily worded slides are missing another aspect of presentation, that of visual stimulation. When you use images on your slides, you give the audience another layer of meaning and a greater ability to retain your message through multiple modalities. Or, to say it another way, people learn better with a multimedia approach as opposed to just viewing text.

It's just not helpful to impose arbitrary rules like "ten slides only" on a business presentation. You may have a time limit for your presentation, which determines what points you discuss and how much depth you go into. But a limit on slides says nothing about the method actually used to design and present the slides.

Always do what's best for your audience. Ten slides packed with a hundred ideas is not that.

____________________________________________________
On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

Cognitive load -- and overload

Getting back into the swing of things today! It's nice to be home.

I want to bring your attention to these slides from a talk by Dr. Chris Atherton from the University of Central Lancashire. She talks about the brain's limits of attention and cognitive load, and how we can work around these limitations to make the greatest impact on audience attention and retention.

In short: Traditional slides loaded with text, bullets and clutter don't work! Yep, more research to back up the need for less text and more images. Yay!

Like any good slide show, these visuals are not meant to stand alone. You can get the gist of the presentation from the slides, so do take a look, below. But then head over to Olivia Mitchell's blog, where she has explained the research more thoroughly with the help of the slides and with Dr. Atherton's comments. This is a presentation I would love to see live!

Here's an excerpt:

"Chris suggests that the sparse slides may minimize extraneous cognitive load by creating fewer competing demands on attention — that is, because we don’t need to spend very long processing the visual elements, we have more attention for what the speaker is saying. She adds:

'Having anything on a screen invites people to look at it, the same way their gaze would keep returning to a TV screen in a pub. Since you can’t control the audience’s visual attention, it’s all about controlling what visual information you make available at any given moment, and minimising what is there so it’s not distracting from the spoken narrative, while also ensuring that it is congruent with what you are actually saying.'"

Chris Atherton at TCUK09

(Thank you for your support over the past week. If you'd like an update on my mom, I wrote about her here.)

____________________________________________________
On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

Images are not fluff

I've heard this several times from clients who've come to me for help with their slide shows: "My boss/conference organizer/client wants me to take all the images out of the PowerPoint. He says they're 'fluff.'"

This comment always irritates me, but what else should I expect? Long ago, in a land far, far away, someone decided that a presentation could not be taken seriously unless it was accompanied by a PowerPoint chock full of text, bullet points, charts, data and citations. Someone decided that we can't call it "work" unless we wish we were somewhere else.

Because images, colors and visual stimulation are okay for little kids, but once we're grown up, there is too much danger of enjoyment breaking out if we don't follow the rules of serious presentations. And we all know a presentation is no good if we're enjoying ourselves too much.

So let me post again some resources on making your PowerPoint more effective with more images and less text:

New research about PowerPoint titles

Why you can't read slides and listen to a speaker at the same time

Is the font on your PowerPoint big enough?

Jennifer Kammeyer's Comm Comm blog on PowerPoint research

Laura Bergell's post "Slides are not handouts"

Cliff Atkinson's book, Beyond Bullet Points

Garr Reynolds' book, Presentation Zen

And let me remind you that the best way to help your audience retain information is to serve as many learning styles as you can. The more you can do to reach your audience members in the ways they learn best, the more likely they are to remember your message.

Here are some resources on learning styles:

Learning Styles and Preferences

Learning Styles Explained

Learning Styles and Strategies

And for fun, here's a post from Chris Spagnuolo's Edgehopper blog about librarians reading to children at story time, and what you can learn from them.

The way we learn as children is still valid once we're adults. Don't fool yourself into thinking that the more statistic- and text-laden your PowerPoint is, the more effective it will be. Sure, you'll be taken seriously, but your audience will be bored out of their minds. And they'll remember very little.

Others may call it "fluff," but images and other kinds of visual, auditory, verbal and physical stimulation will keep your audience focused on you and your message, not using your presentation for every child's all-time favorite part of school: nap time.

____________________________________________________
On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

Move your audience to stimulate their learning

Following up on last week's post on six ways to improve training, PowerPoint and AutoCAD expert Ellen Finkelstein sent me a link to the videos on the Brain Rules website.

Check out "Exercise -- Brain Rule #1," (no direct link to the video, but they're all listed on the page) for some thoughts on why the typical classroom and work environments are not conducive to learning or productivity and some fun ideas to turn that around.

____________________________________________________
On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

Six ways to improve the training environment

During a session with a client the other day, we talked about the delivery of his company's new employee orientation. He was looking for ways to make his message more clear and to keep his diverse audience's attention through a day-long training.

The orientation is typical in its length, in the fact that there are various untrained speakers involved (sexual harassment, fire safety, benefits, etc.) and employees from a range of departments, and in its attempt to pack an enormous amount of information into one day.

In this kind of training situation you, as a speaker, might be doing everything right, but your audience still seems disengaged. The reason? The environment.

A speaker plays just one part in making a lengthy training work. If the training environment is not conducive to learning, you're going to work twice as hard to make an impact.

New employee orientation is its own special kind of training; you're not just there to fill their heads with information, but -- ideally -- to welcome them and make them feel like they belong.

Being a new employee, especially at a large company, can be overwhelming and disconcerting. You want your new employee to feel successful and part of the culture as soon as possible, and you want to reinforce that they made the right choice in coming to work for your company.

(I learned this the hard way in my first day on the job as training coordinator, when my supervisor decided I didn't need a desk or office, gave me an org chart to memorize, then went on vacation for two weeks. I was highly inspired to create a successful new employee orientation after that!)

Keep in mind that the one-shot 8-hour orientation may not be the best option for your new employees. There are many creative ways of integrating new hires, by connecting them with mentors or by giving them self-directed learning activities, for example.

But in the case of the traditional day-long training, here are some of my favorite ways of making the environment more comfortable, more fun, and more conducive to learning for the participants.

1. Bring toys and candy

According to The Corporation for National and Community Service, toys:

* create a fun and relaxed environment
* stimulate creativity and involvement
* meet the needs of diverse learners
* rechannel doodling habits, and
* serve as rewards, reminders, and incentives

Kinesthetic learners, especially, will appreciate having something to do with their hands.

2. Incorporate breaks and movement

Make sure that your partipants are given breaks no more than 90 minutes apart, to keep them from being distracted by personal needs. Incorporate movement by breaking them up into groups, having them get up and stretch, or using icebreaker or energizer games.

3. Vary the visuals

If you've got several speakers in an 8-hour day of training, break up the visual monotony by interspersing video, image-based slides, props, flip charts and other visual interest.

4. Incorporate interaction

You may feel that fire safety or sexual harassment is a one-way training lesson, but there's always a way to incorporate audience interaction and participation.

Ask questions. Invite participants to share experiences and stories. Break them into groups and pairs and have them create solutions to problems you suggest. There are lots of ways to turn "telling" into "asking." Be creative.

Specific to new employee orientation:

5. Give opportunities for bonding

Offer activities for the participants to get to know each other a little. Recognizing friendly faces in the hallway is comforting to a new employee. Serve lunch onsite so the group can eat together and have some unstructured conversation time.

6. Make orientation a celebration

Why do we have a party when someone leaves, but not when someone arrives? Bring in a cake that welcomes new employees. String up a banner. Blow up balloons. Make new employee orientation a celebration instead of a dreary disciplinary exercise.

What's your favorite way to make a long training more engaging?

____________________________________________________
On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

3 ways to avoid being the center of attention

For people who don't like being the center of attention, I've got an easy trick for you: Make the audience do the work.

Here are three ways to make that happen in a presentation:

1. Ask the audience a lot of questions so they can share their knowledge and expertise and contribute to the learning of the group.

2. Break the audience into pairs or groups for discussion, then have them report back.

3. Break the audience into pairs or groups for activities and exercises, like solving a problem or demonstrating one of your points.

See yourself as a facilitator or guide rather than the one person with all the answers. Guide the audience to finding their own answers by offering them plenty of opportunities to work things out themselves.

As adults, we are responsible for our own learning, and we're going to learn better as audience members if we participate in the process rather than being spoon-fed a lecture.

When you are expected to be the one, the only, the brilliant, the hilarious, the expert, there's a lot of pressure. And a lot of attention focused on you.

But you have the power to change that and make it about your audience. Put the focus on them, and you will feel less pressure to perform and more like a partner with the group.

When the audience does some of the work, it's hard to feel like you're still the center of attention.

____________________________________________________
On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

Make your presentation instantly successful

Here's one way to instantly please your audience: Title your workshop accurately.

When people sign up for your training or your conference session, they have already developed expectations based on the title and description of your presentation.

By not accurately describing what you'll be talking about, you're automatically setting up some audience members for disappointment, and even resentment.

Participants want relevant and applicable information. Make sure your audience can make an informed decision about attending your workshop, so that the material is useful to them and not a waste of their time and money.

____________________________________________________
On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

Gimme a break, part 2

I haven't talked about this for a while, so forgive me if you remember my post from last year about the same subject. It's worth repeating.

A client of mine recently sat on a committee to organize a conference. There were seven speakers scheduled during the 2 1/2-hour conference; each one spoke for ten to 15 minutes, with the keynote speaker last in line and speaking for an hour.

When audience evaluations came back, one of the most common complaints was that there were no breaks.

People need breaks. Yes, I know you want to cram a lot of stuff into your workshop or training, but let me ask you this: How well can you concentrate when you have to pee?

1. Audience members shouldn't have to get up and miss part of a speaker's presentation.

2. Audience members shouldn't have to stay seated with a full bladder, unable to concentrate because they don't want to miss something.

3. Speakers deserve to have a focused, attentive audience.

Your audience has needs. They need to check their e-mail to see what time they're picking up the kids from swimming practice. They need to stretch their stiff backs and legs. They need to smoke a cigarette. They need to pee. These are facts of life.

Respect your audience and build in breaks at least every 90 minutes, closer together if it makes sense in the program (your speakers are each scheduled for an hour, for example).

Remember: it's all about the audience!

____________________________________________________
On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

Tough topics, tough audiences

This seems to be the month to talk about difficult audiences. I came across the topic on two other public speaking blogs, so I decided to post a link to my own two cents.

Based on my presentation last month to UCSB's Rape Prevention Education Program's peer educators, I wrote an article for my January newsletter about presenting difficult topics, which often results in difficult audiences, or at least difficult audience members.

We've all faced a difficult audience member at one time or another, but presenting on difficult topics (like domestic violence, or homophobia, or sexual harassment, or other subjects that bring out people's discomfort and defensiveness) raises the possibility of a resistant audience to a whole new level.

Meet them where they are, understand where they're coming from and what their needs are, and they will respond in a positive way.

Most important, never perceive your audience as the enemy or take their responses personally.

Read the article here. (And while you're there, why not subscribe?)

____________________________________________________
On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

Audience participation ideas

Depending on the size of your group, and especially when you're conducting a workshop or longer training, you will want to encourage participation from your audience.

There are always some participants who participate more and some who participate less. It's easy for people who are shy to sit back and wait for the more outgoing members to speak up. How do you keep some people from dominating and help others to break out of their shell?

Here are some ideas that have worked for me:

1. Toss a Koosh ball or beach ball into the group (Koosh is great for small groups, but might be harder to see flying through the air in a larger group).

Ask a question and toss the ball to a participant. When they've answered the question, they will toss it to another participant. Sounds kind of like the "talking stick," I know. :-)

I think it would be really funny to use a balloon for this, because the balloon is hard to direct and hard to catch. I've never tried it, but I can imagine the chaos.

2. Hand out small cards or pieces of paper with words or phrases on them for participants to discuss.

I've started meetings with icebreaker-type questions like, "What's the oldest item of clothing you're wearing?" "What did you eat for breakfast, and who prepared it," and "If you found a dollar on the street, what would you buy with it?"

For wrapping up at the end, you might hand out cards or pieces of paper with one-word concepts on them (I use "fear," "voice," "passion," "rules" and others related to public speaking), and ask participants to share something they've learned or will pursue regarding that concept.

3. Use an anonymous question box.

If your topic is sensitive and you know there are people in the room who are uncomfortable sharing, an anonymous question box is a great way for everyone to be heard. Adults will go to great lengths to avoid embarrassing themselves, so it's important to cultivate trust and a safe environment.

Hand out paper and ask everyone to contribute a question to the box. If someone doesn't have a question, they will still write something on the paper (their shoe size, birthdate, favorite color, whatever), so that people who are writing a question aren't singled out.

Go through the box at the end of the workshop and answer any questions that weren't covered during the day. Or intersperse the questions throughout the day to incorporate some spontaneity.

What are your tricks for encouraging audience participation?

____________________________________________________
On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

What kind of audience member are you?

We talk a lot here about how to be a good speaker and give your audience what they need. But has it ever occurred to you that there are "good" audience members and "bad" audience members?

Seth Godin talks about the skills needed for being a good audience member: eye contact, leaning forward, showing interest. Audience members who exhibit these and other "good" behaviors actually get more from the speaker in terms of energy, attention, and insight. We don't spend much time focusing on the people who appear to be bored or distracted.

Keep in mind, however, that people have different ways of learning, and it's not always possible to know if someone is truly distracted or if they just learn better while writing because their learning style is kinesthetic. It's a good idea to give the audience members the benefit of the doubt and assume they're listening and learning, but in their own way.

____________________________________________________
On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

Gimme a break!

No, really. I mean give me a break. Or two or three.

At the conference I attended this weekend, there were opening remarks by the founders of the organization, four speakers, a fashion show, a State Farm presentation, a panel of incubator members, and an introduction of incubator leaders. There would have been one more speaker, but she was unable to make it.

The official program began at 10:00, with speakers straight through until lunch (which started around 12:20 or so). After lunch was the fashion show and one more speaker, which altogether took about an hour.

This was a day packed with information and fun, and frankly, I needed a break. About halfway through Arianna Huffington's interview, to be exact. And wouldn't you know it? I left my seat to use the restroom, and when I came back I found out that she had made some comments related to public speaking. Darn!

When there are no breaks between speakers, it forces audience members to take care of their needs during the speakers' presentations. This is a bad idea for two reasons:

1) The audience misses important or interesting parts of the talk

2) The speaker doesn't get the audience's full attention

When the audience is being distracted and drawn away by "nature," or voice mail messages from children, or the craving for a cigarette, it's important for event organizers to acknowledge those needs and build short breaks into the day.

I understand the desire to pack as much as possible into a one-day conference, but at the same time, I always come back to this: meeting the needs of the audience should be at the top of the list.

Many of my needs were met for information, entertainment, shopping, inspiration and oxytocin (more on this later).

But I really wish I had heard what Arianna Huffington had to say about public speaking.

____________________________________________________
On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

Adult Learning Principles, Part 6: Sensitive Egos

Adult learning principle #5:

Adult learners have sensitive egos

Many of us, over the course of a lifetime, have developed a fear of appearing stupid or incompetent. As children, we were encouraged to explore, ask questions and learn about the world, but somewhere along the way, that was taken away from us. Many adults have mixed feelings about teachers, school, and structured learning.

Some people go to great lengths to hide their inability to read, for example, or their lack of understanding of the duties of their job.

An instructor/speaker must be aware of these issues and build trust by treating learners respectfully, sensitively, and without judgement.

* Allow participants to build confidence by practicing what is learned in small groups before facing the large group

* Use positive reinforcement to encourage participants

* If sensitive issues are to be discussed, create a safe space by enforcing confidentiality and allowing participants to "pass" if there's something they're not comfortable talking about

* Provide activities that are low-risk before moving on to activities featuring higher risk or greater trust

* As mentioned in a previous post, acknowledge participants' previous life experience and knowledge and allow them to voice opinions and share in class leadership

A speaker who believes and acts like s/he knows more than anyone else in the room is asking for trouble, and creating an environment that will discourage learning.

Here are links to the whole series:
https://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles.html
https://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-1.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-2_10.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-3_11.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-4.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-5.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-6.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-7.html

____________________________________________________
On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

Adult Learning Principles, Part 5: Motivations & Barriers

Adult learning principle #4:

Adults are motivated to learn by both external and internal factors

When we were kids, many of us were not motivated to learn by anything other than our parents' and teachers' rewards and punishments.

As adults, we have many reasons for pursuing learning:

* it's a requirement of a job
* we want to make new friends and connections
* for professional development and to advance our careers
* to relieve boredom
* because we're interested in a particular topic and want to learn for fun
* to create a better environment for our children and families

. . . and the list goes on.

As an instructor/speaker, it's important to understand the many reasons why your attendees are in your seminar. They may not be there by choice, for example. Ask them why they've come and what they hope to gain from the experience.

As it is important to understand what motivates your participants to learn, it's also important to understand what might be barriers to their learning:

* worry about finances
* time constraints
* childcare issues
* relationship issues (one partner feels threatened by advancement of the other)
* lack of confidence in ability to learn (some people grew to believe they were not good in school, and they carry that with them forever)
* insecurity about intelligence
* concern about practicality and relevance

. . . and the list goes on!

Understanding the motivations and barriers your participants face can help you as an instructor pinpoint how best to serve them, by increasing their motivation for learning.

Here are links to the whole series:
https://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles.html
https://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-1.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-2_10.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-3_11.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-4.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-5.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-6.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-7.html

____________________________________________________
On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

Adult Learning Principles, Part 4: Relevancy

Adult learning principle #3:

Adults need relevancy in learning.

It's important to adults that they are learning something relevant and applicable to real life, whether it's work-related or personal. Here's how to make learning relevant to your audience.

* Identify learning objectives and ask participants to share their goals.

* Discuss and ask for sharing of real-world applications of your topic.

* Avoid giving a workshop or presentation that's too theoretical.

(Note: In the book "Teacher", Sylvia Ashton-Warner discusses relevancy in her work as a teacher with Maori children. She recalls trying to teach them to read out of European textbooks with images and language which mean nothing to them. When she starts working within their own language, culture and experiences to teach them reading, they blossom.

This book had a profound effect on me working in social services for many years, and I still find relevancy to be one of the major keys to learning for people of all ages. I highly recommend this book.)

Here are links to the whole series:
https://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles.html
https://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-1.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-2_10.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-3_11.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-4.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-5.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-6.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-7.html

____________________________________________________
On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

Adult Learning Principles, Part 3: Knowledge and Experience

Adult learning principle #2:

Adults have a lifetime of knowledge and experience that informs their learning.

Adult learners can be a valuable resource for you as an instructor/speaker. It's also important for them to connect learning to these previous life experiences. Here's how to make the most of your audience's experience and knowledge.

* Don't assume that your participants are "blank slates" and know nothing about your topic. Nothing is more insulting than a speaker who launches into a lecture without first finding out the needs and knowledge level of the audience. Do your research and ask first to find out what they already know.

* When appropriate, ask your audience to share their experiences, and create activities that call on them to use their experiences, for example, in small group discussions.

* Prepare activities that involve choice, so the learning process can better fit the individual levels of your participants.

Here are links to the whole series:
https://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles.html
https://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-1.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-2_10.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-3_11.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-4.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-5.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-6.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-7.html

____________________________________________________
On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

Adult Learning Principles, Part 2: Autonomy

And now for our first adult learning principle:

Adults are autonomous and self-directed
Adults want to decide for themselves what, when, how and why to learn. Speakers/instructors should allow adults to direct some of their own learning. Here are some ways to facilitate this:

* Ask your participants what they already know about your topic and what they're interested in learning. Find out what their goals are for being there.

* Share your agenda and ask for input. This might lead to switching around the order of your workshop to better serve the group's needs. You might find you spend more time on certain subjects than you had planned, and less on others. Be flexible.

* Act as a facilitator, guiding the group and encouraging them to reach their own conclusions, rather than force-feeding information in a lecture format. Allow them to be responsible for their own learning.

* Do your research on the group and organizational needs beforehand, so you can provide a combination of information that meets their perceived needs and their actual needs.

Here are links to the whole series:
https://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles.html
https://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-1.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-2_10.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-3_11.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-4.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-5.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-6.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-7.html

____________________________________________________
On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

Adult Learning Principles, Part 1: Background

This is part 1 of my series of posts on adult learning principles and how speakers can apply these principles when working with adults. First, a little history.

Malcolm Knowles is considered the "father of adult learning", although the topic had been discussed and researched over a century earlier.

Knowles' assumptions were that adults:

1) move from dependency to self-directedness;
2) draw upon their reservoir of experience for learning;
3) are ready to learn when they assume new roles; and
4) want to solve problems and apply new knowledge immediately.

In his book, The Modern Practice of Adult Education: From Pedagogy to Andragogy, Knowles opposes the view that adults are unable to learn:

"...the rapidly accelerating pace of change in our society has proved this doctrine to be no longer valued. Facts learned in youth have become insufficient and in many instances actually untrue; and skills learned in youth have become outmoded by new technologies."

The term "andragogy" has come to mean self-directed learning for people of all ages, as opposed to the term "pedagogy" which defines teacher-directed learning. In practical terms, it means that when educating or training adults, process comes before content.

Knowles may not have invented these terms or concepts, but he was the first to put them together into an organized theory. The first adult learning principle follows.

Here are links to the whole series:
https://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles.html
https://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-1.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-2_10.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-3_11.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-4.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-5.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-6.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-7.html

____________________________________________________
On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

Adult Learning Principles

Did you know that adults have special needs as learners? When we were kids, we went to school, and we sat through class every day, and our teachers taught everyone pretty much the same way. It didn't really matter if you were a visual learner, or an auditory learner, or a kinesthetic learner. The teacher pretty much did whatever she/he felt most comfortable doing. Times have changed, and teachers are more aware of learning styles now, and other issues that affect children's learning.

But the principles of adult learning are still pretty new to most people. If you're a speaker, and you're doing any kind of education or training with the groups you're speaking to, this applies to you.

Over the next week or so, I'll talk about a different principle each day. I'll be back later with today's post!

Here are links to the whole series:
https://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles.html
https://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-1.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-2_10.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-3_11.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-4.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-5.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-6.html
http://www.speakschmeak.com/2007/01/adult-learning-principles-part-7.html

____________________________________________________
On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!