The Sessions Session 1

Death by PowerPoint?

Why most slides work against learning, and how to fix yours.

Before the session

Think about

“Think of a teacher you still remember. What did they do?”

Hands-on from the first minute. We’ll look at what makes teaching memorable, test our own memories, then use the science of how memory works to redesign a real slide, twice.

Over the three sessions you’ll rebuild one teaching session, step by step, on a one-page design canvas. Here it is if you’d like your own copy. Today: the slides.

The design canvas (A4)design-canvas.pdf · PDF · 42 KB · 1 page↓ Download

The redesign is on paper: a kit of pieces to cut, choose and arrange. If you’re comfortable with PowerPoint, you can do it on a laptop instead; the computer task sheet has the steps.

By the end you will have

  1. Redesigned one slide to cut the clutter, swapping words-plus-voice for picture-plus-voice.
  2. Checked and corrected that slide for the back row: size, contrast, nothing relying on colour alone.
  3. Explained to a partner what you cut, and who each remaining element is for.
  4. Written a plan to redesign one or two more slides before next week.

Bring

If you can, bring a slide you think is bad: one of your own, or one you've sat through.

No slide? No problem. We'll find one in the room. You won't need a computer.

After the session Your task before Session 2
“Before next week I will identify and redesign one or two slides (my own, or an example I find) and bring them.”
  1. Pick one or two slides: from a session you teach, or one you've sat through (the intranet, a lecture, a training day).
  2. Redesign them with today's ideas: cut the noise, use a picture with your voice, design for the back row.
  3. Bring them next week: printed, on your phone, or sketched on paper.

No computer needed: sketching your redesign on paper counts.

Using a computer and getting stuck? Tell your facilitator: we'll pair you up.

Step-by-step computer help (printable) →
After the session The key ideas Looking for the slides? Everything in them is here, with more in the Theory Library.
Working memory is tiny. Cut the noise. We hold about four things at once. Put everything on a slide and you rest your memory and tax theirs. Some effort belongs to the topic; the clutter is the part you control.
Image and voice beat text and voice. Words on the slide compete with your pictures for learners' eyes. A picture and your voice work together.
Design for the back row. 24pt or bigger, strong contrast, nothing important at the bottom of the screen, and never colour alone: about 1 in 12 men see colour differently.
Ask who the slide is for. If it's there so you don't forget, it's a security blanket. Every slide should serve what your learners need to do.

Where this fits in your canvas

Activities, part 1: your slides. You redesigned one slide from a session you teach (or would like to teach). It's the first piece of the canvas you'll complete by Session 3.

Running this session? The facilitator blueprint →