Slow Down Virtual Delivery!
Learners Benefit from Pauses and Speaking Speed!
One of the most frequent questions I am asked focuses on “How to Improve Virtual Teaching”. We all want to avoid losing or even exhausting our online learners.
The most important and easy tip to implement change is:
“Slow Down Your Speed of Virtual Delivery!”
When I am presenting on a Zoom, Teams or Webex session, I talk at about 75% of my normal speed. There is a larger pause between sentences and a slower speed of speaking my words.
Why?
Learners appreciate the ability to track and differentiate each sentence of my presentation.
Learners have more time to process the content and “index” it against what they already know.
Learners have more spaces to trigger the “ask a question” process. They get a moment to think about the format of a question to be posed.
Learners may be in a more distracting environment.
Ironically, most learners never notice the difference - yet you can sense a greater degree of tracking the delivery.
When presenting to a global audience or participants where English is their second language, the slight reduction in speaking speed can be profound.
Don’t worry that you will reduce the amount of content addressed in the session. My experience is the opposite. Honoring the differences of learning virtually results in significantly better learner engagement and comprehension!
Would love to hear your own reactions or comments. Send me a note to emasie@masie.com
Yours in learning,
Elliott Masie