When preparing a slide presentation for an OM lecture, we’re not always thinking about the most compelling way to deliver it, says Harvard’s Faculty Lounge (Sept. 13, 2022). We load up our slides, and then sometimes read them aloud to our students.
But no one—especially a student—is wired to engage with bullet points on a slide. They’re wired for story, a narrative that has a theme, attention-grabbing moments, and a satisfying conclusion. On their own, presentation programs like PowerPoint or Google Slides are not storytelling tools. So we need to be the inspiring narrators.
Understanding the difference between presenting and storytelling is critical to our ability to engage students and stir their excitement. Here are 4 strategies to help grab your students’ attention and ensure they are retaining what you’re teaching.
1. Craft a narrative that brings the topic to life. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with using PowerPoints for classroom learning, but slides shouldn’t be designed to replace the instructor—the storyteller. The narrative must come first, and slides should complement the story. First identify a story that brings the topic to life and then create or select the slides. It can be a consulting experience, a blog from this site, a WSJ article, or a case study.
2. Animate your story with pictures or videos. Students recall only 10% of the content they hear. But if you add a picture, they’ll retain 65%. So use one of our 50+videos, a YouTube clip, graphics, or photos to help bring the stories to life.
3. Add a few surprises. Some PowerPoints are boring because they’re predictable. Your students know what comes next—another slide of bullet points, followed by another. A good story, however, has the element of surprise. The human brain pays attention to novelty—twists and turns and unexpected events. This means your students will perk up when they detect something that breaks a pattern.
4. Rehearse the story before sharing with your class. A great lecture should inform, inspire, engage, and entertain, and should therefore be rehearsed–out loud. While it’s not realistic or necessary to practice every minute of a 1-hour lecture, at least rehearse the opening, conclusion, and stories you plan to share. Students won’t recall every piece of information they heard in class, but they’ll remember the moments you choose to spotlight.
We all strive make our OM course topics compelling–and we are lucky that ours is a field that allows us to bring teaching to life.
