Engaging Presentation Formats Beyond Slides

Like it or not, the way we're learning is changing. The motivation to learn just because? It's dwindling. Research by MIT shows that as people age, their brains find it harder to stay motivated to learn, especially if it’s just another task on their to-do list. In this post-pandemic world, we're all tired of the screen. We're bored. We need something more. We need to be entertained. We need connection. Engagement. Edutainment helps bridge this gap by making learning both relevant and enjoyable, leading to better engagement and long-term retention of information. Studies show edutainment helps learners retain up to 93.5% of the information compared to just 79% for passive methods like lectures and readings. Here are a few examples of how you can spice things up. #1 OLD WAY: Hour-long Lectures Long, monotonous video lectures or webinars often lead to fatigue and low retention. Learners tend to zone out if they're watching a lengthy, non-interactive session. EDUTAIN IT: Microlearning Videos with Engaging Visuals Create short, fun videos packed with visuals, infographics, and animated characters to make content enjoyable and easy to absorb. Use tools like Canva or Biteable to make the content more visually appealing. #2 OLD WAY: Lengthy Written Manuals Don’t rely on heavy reading materials that take too much time to process. Long, written documents can be overwhelming and are less likely to be completed. EDUTAIN IT: Podcasts for On-the-Go Learning Create short, engaging podcasts that employees can listen to during commutes or breaks. This allows learning to fit into busy schedules and makes it feel less like formal training. #3 OLD WAY: Traditional Slide Deck with Bullet Points Avoid boring, static presentations that don’t engage learners. Reading through slides with endless text disengages employees, reducing retention and motivation to learn. EDUTAIN IT: Interactive Scenario-Based Learning Use real-life scenarios where learners make choices and experience different outcomes. This keeps employees engaged by allowing them to see the direct impact of their decisions in a fun, gamified environment. Bottom line: Learning doesn't have to be boring. Adding just a little flavor can keep employees engaged while delivering the important lessons they need. #EdTech #LearningAndDevelopment #EmployeeEngagement #CorporateTraining #Gamification #Microlearning #ContinuousLearning #WorkplaceLearning #InstructionalDesign #FutureOfWork

If you’re like me, you have pretty vivid memories of this day five year ago. The Pandemic changed everything. One of the changes that affected the business world big time was the necessity of virtual presentations. Very quickly, some very smart people came to realize that presenting virtually was very different from presenting face to face. What continues to amaze me is that a large percentage of sellers today - five years later - still present virtually the same way they do in person. Folks, it doesn’t work. So, here is a reminder of what just some of the research found: 1. Ditch your standard opening slides where you have an agenda, and show a bunch of slides about your company - ostensibly to credential yourself. Instead, have a hot opening that surprises your audience and lets them know this will be an experience they will enjoy and benefit from. 2. Presenting virtually requires much more “movement." This means you need to do more than show slides. You need to have your slides build so your audience is focused on what you’re talking about. That also means you need to gray out the parts of your slide that you don’t want your audience to focus on. My friend, Dr. Carmen Simon, has run many neuroscience tests and has found that if your slide has a lot of information on it, the attention of your audience is darting from one part of the slide to another, and not in concert with your talk track. 3. A more advanced version of the above is to leave parts of your slide blank and annotate what you would normally show as part of a prebuilt slide. This means you may need to update your technology. It's so worth it. 4. The most advanced, and proven to be the most effective across a variety of dimensions; credibility, persuasiveness, uniqueness, and memorability to name a few, way is to ditch the slides whenever possible, and draw what my colleagues at Corporate Visions call a “big picture." The recent research shows that this is still more effective than standard slides, even those that build as mentioned above. Once again, you need to have technology to support this. Or, place a flip chart off your shoulder and go old school, drawing on the flip chart. 5. Also in the spirit of #4, ask your audience to draw along with you. You don’t ask them if they are ready, you just proceed as if they are following along. The data is compelling: - Your audience is 14% more likely to view your presentation as unique - They are 12% more confident they can re-tell it to others - There is a 21% improvement in overall memorability compared to a group who doesn’t draw along While for many of you I’m sure this is old news, I’ve attended enough virtual presentations in the last couple of months to realize that many presenters are still treating virtual audiences the same as they do in-person audiences. Treat them differently and separate yourself from the masses in a positive way. DM me if you’d like to learn more.

🚫📊 does the corporate world need a Slides Deaddiction Program in the AI age? 😇📢 Let’s face it 🤷♂️ too many meetings, especially sales calls, still hinge too much on slide decks. In an AI world I’ve been wondering why “slides" feel like stone tablets. To me most of the time, they mask lazy thinking, devour schedules, and ironically do little to build genuine trust. I've had a 👼 👿 relationship with slides, maybe you have too. Sure, consulting firms live and die by decks. But does EVERY team, in EVERY industry, need to subject customers and colleagues to slide after slide before delivering value? I’d argue NO. Today, with AI tools at our fingertips, we can communicate in ways that are less rote, less bullet-y, more dynamic, multimodal, and two-way. Here are 5 ideas if you’re thinking of moving beyond slides to more dynamic approaches: 💡 Tell a personal story. Eye to eye. Connect first 💡 Write a great letter, memo, or essay instead and let everyone absorb it. Let’s sweat a bit 💡 Use AI multimodal tools instead of usual suspect presentation tools Alex Shevelenko and RELAYTO AI have great resources. There’s a lot of innovation happening in this space 💡 Think "film strip" with a hero's narrative, not “slides” in a presentation 💡 Demo a working app in the first 5 minutes. Seeing is believing. What’s your excuse to generating a prototype with synthetic data? Well-adjusted slides may feel comforting and not rock the boat 🛶 , but they can also be code for “We haven’t evolved at all around here.” Let’s think and act differently. It’s time to change 💡#SlidesDeaddiction #AIReady #RethinkMeetings