six characteristics of compelling content

PowerPoint Presentation

Musical sting on first slide to kick off?Similarly music at the end?

Someone is considering whether to devote time to your content. Hes thinking

Will it solve a current problem I have? Will it give me a competitive advantage?1

6CHARACTERISTICSofCOMPELLINGCONTENT

Meet Meili. She has been working for three months on a 4-hour e-learning programme that teaches employees how to use her organisations new CRM system. So far the only people who have used the programme are those for whom it was made mandatory. Other employees have gravitated instead to a collection of quick and dirty software demos produced by an enthusiastic user of the system.3

Wooppee! Only another 37 pages before the test

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And heres Paul. He made a video recording of a one-hour presentation he gave at a recent conference and then made it available online. To date, 100 people have accessed the video, but only one has watched it through. Paul suspects that was him. In contrast some 5000 people have read an entertaining account of the presentation, posted by a blogger who was in the audience.5

Hell will freeze over before I have an hour free at work to watch a video

And finally heres Stephanie. She produced a 2-minute animated video that clearly explained a scientific theory that for most people had been impenetrable. The video went viral and Stephanie was elevated to star status.7

Seems simple enough to me - cant understand what all the fuss was about

100 million videos5 million English articles 5 billion web pages14,000 films25 million songs

THE COMPETITION

Image: Bunchcast

Clearly we cant consume more than a tiny fraction of all this. Weve become adept at ignoring content that isnt compelling, in our personal lives and at work.

To get attention your learning content needs to be compelling. This isnt achieved by magic, just focused thinking and hard work.

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COMPELLINGCONTENT

conceptstructuremediacopystorieschallenges

Im designing a course on money laundering how boring is that?Poor you. Im doing one on how to thwart international drug gangs. Cool!

1conceptstructuremediacopystorieschallenges

WIIFM?

Someone is considering whether to devote time to your content. Hes thinking 14

WDIHTDTGI?

What do I have to do to get it?15

50 waystoclose a saleThe top five closing techniques used by the mastersX

Quantitative easing a new13-part seriesQuantitative easing explainedin two minutesX

relevance drives out resistance

Youve got two forces pitched against each other. The draw of the content and the reluctance to spend the time and effort.

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I thought of starting with instructions on how to use the system and a list of terminal learning objectivesCould work I suppose. I was thinking of opening with a car chase and a dramatic shoot up

conceptstructuremediacopystorieschallenges2

Image: Bunchcast

engaging the elephantImage: Dr Andre Murschstart by

Followed by an advance organiser whats coming and how will we be approaching it. Then clear signposting how far gone, how far to go.22

close with a

What am I supposed to do listen or read? Could you please make your mind up?


TEXTPHOTOS&ILLUSTRATIONSDIAGRAMS&CHARTSMUSICSPEECHVIDEOANIMATIONmedia chemistry

Verbal channelVisual channelVoiceStill imagesTextAnimations / video

Multimedia learning theoryRichard MayerUniversity of CaliforniaOne verbal element at a time,one visual element at a time

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As your colleague, I would like to provide you with some feedback regarding your contribution to the recent product launch.Who on earth talks like that?


A shoe was lived in by an old woman there was.What to do was not known, so many children were had by her.Some broth without bread was given to them.They were all whipped soundly and sent to their beds by her.

DUMPthe

(corporate)DRONE

Cathy Moore

31

XX

Writing for learning is not business writing and it is not academic writing - clarity and simplicity are everything 32

Coming to the bar, Sam?

Ill be there in a minute. Im just finishing this course. I need to find out what happens to this person.


Storiesspeaktousashumans Storiesholdourattention Storiesengageusemotionally Storiesprovideuswithgoodandbadexamples of how to do things Storiesprovideuswithinsights Storieshelpustorememberlotsofotherstuff(whenwerecallthestory,werememberlotsofotherdetails) Storiesarelikelytobeshared35

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morethanblended.com/emperor

http://morethanblended.com/nicoleknows

http://morethanblended.com/holmes/

How about you Sandy? You coming?

Sure. Just finishing this learning game. I want to get my score up to 80%.


We like a goal that stretches us but is reachable

We like a challenge that stretches us but is reachable43

Game playing is a classic example. Once hooked we cant stop.44

http://www.worldwarfighter.com/hajikamal/activity/

A scenario and a game guided discovery45

https://life-saver.org.uk

A scenario and a game instruction46

Adding game features to a skill-building app - gamification47

http://morethanblended.com/exploring-learning-media/

Tutorials as a conversation composed of challenges / explorations48

COMPELLINGCONTENT

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COMPELLINGCONTENT

conceptstructuremediacopystorieschallenges

COMPELLINGAPPLICATIONS

videospodcastsslide showsscreencaststextual materials interactive learningfor use in

Digital Learning Design Programme

[email protected]

Series 1000 General, track 1CRASH, JUNK3004.0847eng - CRASH, JUNK - SHORT JUNK CRASH Garbage, Junk, Dumpster & Debris Impacts (Vintage Recording)

six characteristics of compelling content

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