I have a background teaching Technical Writing, and this is a sample of one of the lessons I taught to my students.

Background

Using the class textbook, Strategies for Technical Communication in the Workplace, by Laura J. Gurak and John M. Lannon, I discussed technical style—specifically, editing for conciseness. Conciseness is one of my favorite communication topics to both learn about and teach.

Process

First, I thoroughly read the chapter on editing for conciseness. The chapter is broken down into actionable subsections, which I used to help me decide what to present in my slide deck. I chose to present on Clean Out Clutter Words and Delete Needless Qualifiers.

After selecting subtopics from the chapter on technical style, I took notes in my own words on the content. Ironically, taking notes on removing clutter words and unnecessary qualifiers helped me catch instances where I had used them in my own copy.

The next step was to design a brief activity to help students synthesize the material presented in class. I chose to include a make-believe worksheet on clutter words and needless qualifiers for students to work through in groups and then discuss at the end of class.

When it was time to assemble the presentation, I opened by asking students a question they could relate to: “Have you ever read a sentence so wordy that it made no sense?​” I phrased it this way to simplify the topic as something everyone has experienced in their life. This question would be intended as a discussion to begin class, not to exceed five minutes.

I also focused on using minimal text on each slide. People can’t listen and read effectively at the same time; they can generally do one very well, or do both ineffectively. Therefore, when slides have too much text, people are often challenged to also listen to the speaker, who is generally the main focus of the presentation. I designed the slides to support me as a speaker, rather than compete with me.

Finally, I added a visual progress bar at the bottom of each slide so that students could gauge their progress in the lecture. This was a personal decision, as I find it much easier to pay attention to a presentation when I know “where” the speaker is in the presentation. Though I know not everyone cares, it was a small touch added to empathize with the students.

Please see my final presentation below.