How to create great lectures?

In order to capture the attention of the learners, it is imperative that the lectures you create are of great quality. But the question is: what goes into creating a great lecture?

In this article we will give some tips on how to:

1. Create great presentations/slides
2. Use different types of content (Images, handwritten notes, Charts) to effectively capture learners’ attention and make your lecture enriching
3. Avoid basic errors like errors of formatting, grammar and style

How to create better presentations/slides: Fonts & Style Guide:

In order to create great quality presentations/slides please keep in mind these tips on style:

1. Avoid using inconsistent colour, font style, font size, slide background etc. Inconsistency in colour, font etcetera is jarring for the user and distracts him from focussing on the content. Also, it makes your content look unprofessional. 
2. Do not use too many colours or font styles. Always stick to a maximum of 3 colours in any slide in which one should be the primary colour and the other two should be supporting colours.
3. Always use a font size that makes content easily readable. It should not be too big or too small. You should also use different font sizes for headings, subheadings and main content.
4. You should use appropriate and formal fonts. Some of the great fonts that you can use are: Calibri, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica etc. Do not use garish fonts like Comic Sans. Also, sans-serif fonts have better readability. 
5. Throughout your presentation be thematically consistent. Do not abruptly change thematic elements because it distracts the reader. 
6. You do not need to do all the work yourself. You can use pre created templates from MS Office, Google Slides etc. as well to make your presentations appealing.

How to create better presentations/slides: Content Presentation:

In order to make your content visually appealing, please keep in mind these tips.

1. Break long sentences into Keywords/Phrases to aid in readability. Long sentences are difficult to comprehend as well as distracting. When you write in the form of keywords, you convey the main idea much more effectively.
2. You can also use contrasting colours to add emphasis to important ideas.
3. Avoid writing too much on a single slide. When you write too much on a single slide, the learner has a tendency to to read from the slide and not listen to your explanation. Also, as a presenter, you are more likely to read from the slide if you write too much. That will hamper your ability to provide crisp explanations.
4. Use bold, italics and highlight features to focus the attention of the learner to important ideas.
5. Use numbered lists and bullets if you need to present your information in the form of a list.
6. Use proper formatting i.e proper capitalisation, use of Title Case in case of titles, sentence case in case of other content etc.

Use of Different Types of Content in your lectures:

You can use a lot of different types of content in your lectures to make your lectures enriching and to aid in better understanding and retention.

1. Use Images, Maps, Charts, Infographics etc in your slides and notes. By using different types of content you can present information accurately and crisply. 
2. You can use handwritten notes as well to complement your notes. 
3. If you decide to use handwritten notes, please make sure to write in a neat & legible handwriting with proper spacing. It is better to avoid using handwritten notes if you don’t have a great handwriting. 
4. Use handwritten notes to compliment other notes/slides. Do not use them in the whole of your presentation. These notes should not be a substitute for typed content.

Use of Tools & Hardware:

1. You can use various free tools like Camscanner (to scan handwritten notes), Canva (to create images), Onenote (to annotate), MS Powerpoint/Google Slides (to create presentations), Pixabay (for free images) etc. There can be many other tools which you can use that are not mentioned here.
2. Use a good quality microphone while recording. It will help you in minimising the ambient noise and will greatly improve the quality of your lectures. 
3. If you can, use a writing tablet like Wacom to annotate on your slides. This is a great way of explaining concepts especially mathematical or technical subjects.
4. Ensure proper lighting & no background noise. Make sure that you are not in a noisy, dimly lit room because that can totally hamper the lecture delivery and experience. Make sure that you avoid speaking directly into the microphone or breathing too hard in it.

These were some tips to create great lectures. Don't forget to check out some great tips on how to engage students and on steps to create an engaging course. And if you're still unsure as to how to create your first course on Study24x7, check out this article.