Article: If you’re giving a presentation, always include something physical for your participants to work with. Presentation handouts should summarize what you’ll be saying in your presentation and include additional figures or visuals. Include additional resources in handouts that aren’t in the presentation. For example, if your presentation was about fire safety, include a list of numbers that employees can call to report safety violations. Whether your training program is a manual, a presentation, or another medium, tell participants the goal of the program. That way, they can see how the information they’re about to receive builds up to the ultimate goal of the training. Put this goal on one of the first pages of a manual or handout.  Use an explicit statement like, “By the end of this program, you will know how to do … “ If there are multiple goals, break them up into A, B, and C for further clarity. Inform participants of the training plan so they know what to expect. If you’re giving a presentation, put a schedule on the projector or in the handouts you provide. If you’re writing a manual or module, make one of the first pages a table of contents. For long presentations, always schedule a break time. Your participants will zone out in meetings that last several hours. If you have to cover a lot of material, consider multiple sessions over a few days to hold your participants’ attention. If your training program includes multiple goals, keep those goals separate so participants can focus on one skill at a time. If you try to cover different skills in the same section, your program will be messy and hard to follow. Look at all your training goals and if necessary, break them into small sections. This will make your program much easier for participants. Organize different sections logically. For example, don’t make the first section “Interacting with Customers” and the second section “Answering the Phone.” This doesn’t make sense because “Answering the Phone” should come first. Build up to each skill by using an effective order of events. Training materials should be easy to read and refer back to. If you’re putting together a manual, explain everything as simply and quickly as you can. The same goes for handouts. Use bullet points instead of paragraphs wherever possible.  If you write in complete sentences, don’t use long paragraphs or blocks of text. Skip a line every few sentences. Breaking up the text will allow the participants to skim the information more easily. If you aren’t good at writing short, simple instructions, consider hiring a professional writer who is. Your training program will be much better and easier to follow. This advice can also apply to presentations. Don’t put large blocks of text on the projector. Use very short, readable sentences and bullet points to keep your audience’s attention. No matter what medium you use for your training materials, use visuals like charts, figures, and diagrams to help guide the participants along. It will make the information easier to follow, but more importantly, people often learn better when they see a visual representation. For a guide explaining how to use the office computers, for instance, include screenshots of each page and circle areas where employees should click. This conveys the point much better than explaining the location of each button.
What is a summary of what this article is about?
Include handouts for all presentations. State the training goals clearly from the start. Draw up a table of contents or schedule. Dedicate separate sections to different learning goals. Use bullet points and short sentences for a manual and handouts. Include visuals in as many places as possible.