Honestly, fun is a term rarely used to describe training. I would love to change that! Here are some questions to ask yourself when designing your next training that might help: 1. Make it real and relevant. While this isn't necessarily about making it fun, it is necessary to get them engaged. Fun won't happen if they aren't engaged. 2. Make it clear and challenging. Don't try to include every detail about the topic, just because you can. Make the content just specific enough get the brain juices flowing, but no so complicated they lose the forest because of the trees. 3. Finally, be entertaining. This requires you to take an honest look at yourself. Are you monotone? Do you stand like a statue? Do you crack a little joke every now and then? If you watched yourself (and you should), would you be entertained? You probably read that and thought "Yeah, that's all common sense!" and it is. However, I think it's all it takes to make a training session fun. You can be an entertaining presenter with relevant material, but if the content is too easy your students will not enjoy it. Take the time and provide yourself with some honest feedback to see if you can hit all of these points and watch your students light up a little more than usual!

I grew up with ADDIE, so objectives are part of my religion. Proper writing, structure, verbs, etc…. However, I’ve recently seen some trends where IDs are moving away from them. I personally feel like they matter (I could just be brainwashed), but I would love to hear your opinions/experiences with using them!

Or mental load (it goes by a few names). This is where designers stack content on top of content in a training presentation and expect the learner to learn it all. More smarter it's "the brains effort exerted in working memory to process information and complete a task". So, how do you manage it? Chunking material? Strategic breaks? Remove excess content? What's your go to when you build something and realize this could be a problem?

When I was writing training PowerPoints almost everyday, I found that I stuck to the same general color scheme and font choices. Sometimes I would go crazy and use red or something, but it never felt right. Do you have a default “brand” such that when people view it they can say “Oh, so and so definitely made this!”?

I read these recently and for some reason, I don't feel they are widely known, but certainly should be. When teaching adult learners, there are six assumptions designers should adhere to, according to Malcom Knowles. 1. Need to know - This is the "Whats in it for me?" principle 2. Experience - Learners should have some experience in the subject area being taught 3. Self-Concept - Adults need to have a say in their learning experience 4. Readiness - They should have an immediate problem or other situation that the training helps them solve 5. Problem Orientation - They need to receive training that helps them solve a specific problem, not generic content 6. Intrinsic motivation - They should be internally motivated vs externally motivated. Understanding and implementing these principles is a great way to make sure your training is effective in meeting your goals. What are your experiences in utilizing these principles?