Powerpoint Slides are not Participant Guides

The content and design of a participant guide is critical to its effective use by the learner. Too often, reproductions of PowerPoint slides are considered participant guides. There is absolutely no point in providing participants a reproduction of what they are already looking at. A slide is simply a visual representation of a concept or a reminder of content - it is more for the faciltiator than the participant.

Perhaps the idea of slide-as-participant-guide is the reason participant materials are so often  ineffective  and therefore often are not provided at all.

Participant guides should include, at a minimum:

• The purpose and objectives of the course. Why am I here? What is the point of this training?

• The must-have, need-to-know concepts, so you can ensure the learners left the training with the essentials (facts, rules, procedures)

• Instructions for any activities they will participate in during class (Note: instructions should include both technical ( you will have 30 minutes to work with a group of 4) as well as instructional (your task is to identify three ways we use XYZ in our business and how that differentiates us from our competitors)

• Instructions for any exercises you may want them to complete post-training or instructions for how to begin to implement their new knowledge and skills back on the job (e.g. In the next 2 weeks you should X, Y and Z and report your results to your team lead)

• Any resources they may need on the job like links to web pages (internal or external), reports, books, contact information, etc.

• The participant guide should be just that, a GUIDE for the learning process; not a picture book of what you are presenting in class.