Developing and delivering presentations and education sessions
Think about the below points when developing or delivering education. Not all points may apply to your education program.
Developing your presentation or education
- Have you involved your target audience and other stakeholders in development? This will make sure the information covered is useful, relevant and easy to understand. Read more
- E.g. write down the take home messages you want people to remember after they leave your education session. Ask stakeholders, to write down what they would like to get out of the session. See if your messages match their needs and design education around shared goals
- Ask a group of people that have done existing training in this topic to come together and tell you what worked and what didn’t. Use their feedback to improve your education session design.
- Host an entire co-design workshop, starting from scratch and having consumers and health professionals developing education content and delivery methods together.
- Have you looked at the partnering with consumers page for inspiration and advice on how to engage consumers?
Content
Look
- Use short sentences or bullet points
- Put minimal information on each slide – do not read slide verbatim
- Keep text large
- Use correct branding for your organisation
Language
- Use plain language – no jargon!
- Use active voice
- Your PowerPoint should be a supplement, not a crutch. Use it to guide you and the conversation.
Support learning
- Make clear what you are going to be learning in the session
- Summarise actions you want the audience to take
- Include multiple ways of learning (e.g. videos, images, case studies, interactive quizzes, props, demonstrations, activities, task practice, group work etc.)
Participant understanding
Before the session
- Have you sent a reminder for people to attend a live session?
- If online, have you offered a chance to practice connecting virtually before the session?
- Have you got feedback from your target audience that the content and the way you present it is easy to understand and act on?
During the session
Building knowledge and skills
- Is there an opportunity for people to ask questions?
- Have you actively encouraged people to ask or write down questions?
- Is there opportunity for the participants to talk about their current understanding/practices relating to the topic (or their actions taken after the previous education session if applicable)?
- Have you related the topic to the participant’s experiences?
- Can the participants discuss as a group current barriers to the desired behaviors and how they may overcome them?
Assessing understanding
- Is there a way you can use Teach-back to see if people have understood the information presented?
- Is there opportunity for participants to practice techniques or apply content during the education session?
- Is there opportunity for the group to reflect together on what they have learnt and how they will implement it?
After the session
- Is there a plan for follow up with group participants to clarify information relevant to them?
- Have you assessed whether participants’ knowledge and behaviour changes after attending your education session?
- Have you assessed whether patient outcomes are changing after participants attend your education session?
- Have you provided information for people to refer back to after the education session?
Delivery
- Do you cover an appropriate amount of content in one session (i.e. not too many topics or not too long a session)? The appropriate amount depends on the content. Don’t overcrowd the agenda. If you are using a lecture style, break it up every 10-15 mins with some kind of activity/question.
- Do you know what learning methodology you are using? Have you applied the principles of that methodology?
- Where there is a live audience, is there opportunity for the audience to engage (e.g. facilitated discussion, questions to the audience, break out groups)?
- Do you have a plan for how you will deliver the content and how you will tie it all together?
- Have you got feedback (or a plan to get feedback) on your delivery?
- Have you reflected on your own delivery?
Basic delivery principles
Administration
Keep records of these things for quality control
- Development approval
- Development process and background research
- Relevant clinical policy numbers
- Stakeholder advice/feedback
- Record of changes made to program
- Evaluation plan and outcomes
Want some inspiration?
TED talks are a great way to learn new information and see great presenters in action
Northern NSW Health Literacy Project acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands across our region and pays respect to the Elders past, present and emerging. We recognise these lands were never ceded and acknowledge the continuation of culture and connection to land, sky and sea. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as Australia’s First Peoples and honour the rich diversity of the world’s oldest living cultures.