Tips for writing/delivering a good lecture

#MedEd

1. Write the final slide ‘take home messages’ first. Get yourself oriented to what you want to say.
2. Roughly 1 slide = 1 minute

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3. Go back & take 50% words off the slides. Say these words instead. Bare bones of text on slides only. Ppl either listen or read during lectures but don’t do both well at same time

4. Can text be replaced by a pic? Something that illustrates the point you’re making w/the slide?

5. I see some ppl have their hands up but I’ll take questions at the end of this section’ You might have their answer in a later slide. Don’t get bogged down in contemporaneous questions. You will overrun your timeslot.

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6. ‘Sorry, I appreciate this slide is a bit busy, but...’ Delete this slide. Find a better/simpler way of making your point.

7. Don’t use video/animations unless you are sure they can be played at your lecture theatre. Double check ahead of time.

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8. ‘I appreciate this but isn’t very interesting, but...’ Why are you including it then? Don’t *tell* your audience to be bored; this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

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9. Are you comfortable putting your email address on the last slide? This way shy people can ask you a question without putting their hand up. Or you may run out of question time at the end because your talk was just so damned fascinating.

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10. If you’re giving a tried &tested lecture over zoom for the 1st time *you’ll need to slightly edit the lecture*. It’s different. Your well-worn jokes won’t land. There’s no crowd energy coming back at you. Your audience questions go unanswered.The running time will change.
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