Looking for input on facilitated training materials

Hello Nick,

First off.... welcome to the community and congrats for putting your stuff out there for peer review.

Specific feedback... I have not had a chance to go over all of it, but I have some early feedback for you on the the job aid.  I think you do a good job of trying to keep it simple, not cover too much and organized. However I think you may have two opportunities:

1) Consider going beyond three "bullet lists" and make it more visual somehow.

Perhaps it's as simple as wheel-graphic with the three interconnected tips for improving your critical thinking skills. I'm sure there are lots of other choices. But consider taking the key info and putting it in a visual context to help it stand out and stick.

2) Ask yourself if, for a jobaid, are the Goals the things they are going refer to every day as they perform the task? 

 If not, reframe them into the the How To section or de-emphasize them. You want your Job Aid to be something they WANT to grab everytime because they find it useful as they move through the process.

Hope this helps and I'm sure some of the heroes here will have lots more to offer.

Good job!

Bob

Thanks Bob!

That's very helpful input and definitely gives me a starting point to make some revisions and really think about the content.

I just wanted to give this a bump to see if anybody else might have a few minutes to take a quick look at my PowerPoint.

Thanks for the input so far and I hope to get one more person to look at it, even it for just a few minutes.

Hi, Nick-

Welcome to the forums!  I am new here, too. 

I do have a couple of suggestions for you. 

I like slide 10.  You essentially took something that could have been bullet points and made it less bullet pointy.  Is there a way you could use more graphics throughout the presentation and get rid of some of your bullet points?  I recently worked through Unfolding the Napkin, which is a workbook that helps you to think in a more visual way.  Perhaps you could try to think about how to incorporate more graphics in your presentation?  I am a super visual learner, so I like to see graphics/pictures whenever possible.  For example on slide 4, could you somehow represent a 300% increase in seven years using a large arrow with one of those numbers in it, and the other next to it?  When you talk about it being vital to everyday well being, could you represent that with a picture of what it looks like to be well on a daily basis?

Another example.  Slide 11.  Could you create graphics (even boxes) with the words inside, and physically separate the words true from false?  (Add associated words in the box.  So, biased and false would be in the same box.)

There is a typo on slide 6.  Therefore should have an "E" at the end.  Also on slide 6, if you put a red line through the text, rather than an arrow, it might still be readable to refer back to.  If you desire to refer back to it/have them compare it to the quote in green.

Just an idea.  On slide 13, you could take off some of the text/image.  I envision it with simply a big question mark, or simply the words "Ask Questions" filling the screen.

Slide 15.  You have lots of opportunities to add graphics.  If you wrote Assumptions large and surrounded it with words that coveyed the senses, religion, that could be cool. 

I design for a different audience than you do, but I think that the reflecting of text in the title of each slide is difficult to read.  That is just a stylistic difference. 

A general tip.  People usually can't read and listen effectively at the same time.  So, if you are saying something other than what they are reading on the slide, you might want to give them some time to preview it before starting to speak.

I don't have time to look at every slide right now, but I hope that these few suggestions can help you to think about how you could take what you already have and make it even better.  Let me know if you need more clarification of my suggestions.

Good luck!

Erika 

And by "arrow" on slide 6, I really meant "x" on slide 6!  Time for more coffee.........

One other thing specific to delivering slides via WebEx and other similar online meeting platforms is that things like gradients and fonts with reflection effects etc don't always come through to appear exactly like your original slides.

For example, gradients often show up as banded stripes rather than a nice smoothly transitioning gradient. As the results depend on the platform and the mode you use (upload vs screenshare) you'll probably want to test what they look like to your participants ahead of your actual session.

Font's are another thing that commonly go 'wonky' too. 8-)

Depending on what kind of luck you have your might consider a to avoid those sort of things is to save your slides as images or pdf.

Such wonderful input and so much to think about and revise. You all have given me some things to change and ideas on things to think about and find a way to change for the better.

Thanks for the input everyone, this forum really is a great place and I always admire the community.

Hi Nick,

Here comes the mean lady!

Sorry!

You could use some help with grammar, parallel construction, and active voice.

Maybe you can find a technical writer to review the presentation.

Hi Judith,

Not the mean lady, I asked for input and I appreciate every bit I get. I'm sure you are definitely correct with the grammer, parallel construction, and active voice. I'm accustomed to writing for speaking, I write a lot of voice over scripts so I constantly write for a less formal speaking voice. I attempted to write differently for the spoken portion (notes) and the writing on screen but I will definitely review the writing on screen (and I will most likely be minimizing the text on there also according to other feedback.

Thank you again for the input.