I attended a conference last week for language teachers in Japan, and a presentation about introducing your country and culture caught my attention. The presenter gave three main things to consider when crafting a presentation for the classroom, and I’m sharing them with you today because they are good reminders of basic considerations for professional writers as well.
Make it relevant to your audience.
When you are creating a deliverable, whether it be through PowerPoint, a website, or a technical report, you have to consider your audience. In fact, your audience will likely influence which medium you use to deliver your content. Think about the interests of your audience and the standards (design, writing style, etc.) with which they are familiar. You have to engage your audience or risk losing them. That holds true whether you are teaching elementary students or communicating with professionals.
Make it visually appealing.
Your content can be well written, but if you package it in a way that is boring or just poorly designed, your message can be lost. This goes hand in hand with knowing your audience. Case in point: Just because you are presenting to a group of teachers does not mean you should use flashing, spinning clip art for every slide or Comic Sans for every handout.
Give people something to do.
People like to take action. When giving a presentation, factor in time for a Q&A discussion or a breakout session. When writing for the web, provide an opportunity to comment on and share the information. Give your audience a chance to engage with your content and make it easy for them to do more with it. Just don’t make it feel like homework.
Tags: audience, visual design