“Grrr… Grrr….”

I was taken aback by the roaring sound.

It came from inside my classroom.

When I looked closely, I found one of my training participants snoring loudly - right in the middle of my session.

I was new to training. 

Prior to that, I worked in the sales department of the same multinational bank.

The ‘snore’ that day was the tipping point.

No doubt… 'Sarbanes Oxley Accounting Regulations' is not nail biting stuff.

But, for someone to sleep away so ‘violently’ right in the middle of my explanation was personally insulting.

Looking back, I can’t blame the participant too much...

My slide deck looked more like a text book, than a PowerPoint presentation.

No wonder, the audience struggled to keep their eyes open.

But then, I couldn't bear it any more.

I went back to the drawing board for a no holds barred self-analysis.

I was desperate to find out the ‘real reason’ why I wasn’t able to keep my participants’ attention.

You see…

I’m a fairly confident speaker (my success rate with my pitch presentations is proof )

I knew my subject well (my team used to call me ‘the walking product manual’)

So, why was I hearing ‘snores’ instead of ‘thundering claps’ in my classroom?

After days of monk- like introspection… I realized the ‘truth’.

I found my nemesis, and it was my slide deck.

On hind sight I could easily see that…

‘Creating PowerPoint slides for training is very different from creating slides for any other type of presentation’

After all…

1. Many participants attend a training session only because it is ‘mandatory’, rather than any clear desire to learn. So, it’s naturally hard to start a cold engine.

2. Attention level of audience dips significantly after 19 minutes into the presentation ( Research by Gibbs, 1992). Since a typical training program lasts for many hours, audience is mentally tired and withdrawn for most of the session duration

3. Most training subjects are bone dry. Topics like ‘Sarbanes-Oxley Act on Fraudulent Accounting activities’, ‘Stochastic programming in Operations research’ or ‘Clinical aspects of Platelets transfusion therapy’ are not really spellbinding for many

…and if that’s not enough…

As a trainer, you’re expected to develop programs under unrealistic deadlines.

Your audience should not only understand but also recall the facts accurately, so they can ‘pass the test’ at the end of your session.

So, your usual approach to creating PowerPoint slides doesn't work for creating a Training deck

Unfortunately, there’s no course, website or book that seems to take this ‘key difference’ into consideration.

So I made it my life's mission to make training content creative & interesting. 

I drew my lessons from being in the trenches...

Leading a training team in a mullti-national bank

Setting up my own training company that developed training content for companies across industries.

Designing and delivering Train The Trainer programs to 100s of Trainers & Instructional Designers

Creating 2300+ articles & videos across 3 websites on PowerPoint and Presentation Skills ( Presentation-Process.com, All-PPT-Templates.com, PrezoTraining.com) 

And today, I have pulled out some of the key lessons I picked up along the way to put together a fun e-course. 

“How to make your Training Slides Creative & Interesting  
even when your topic is bone dry”.