You want them to learn WHAT?

Yes.

What do you want people who show up for your event, sign up for your training or watch your webinar to learn?

That’s my first question when I write content or work with you to help you write your content. Always.

Why?

Because when you write content for a course, workshop, or presentation constantly focused on what you want your participants to learn...aah, magic happens.  

And frankly - you get so laser focused you stop second guessing what you are going to talk about.

Many people, who are very skilled in their profession, start creating a course by deciding on their topic then choosing which particulars about that topic they are going to teach.
They add interesting examples and stories and usually organize their material from big idea to small concepts or vice versa.

But here’s the thing, are your participants learning what you promised in your copy? Are they going to learn what you intended? How do you know?

Asking, What do I want my audience to learn? What learning journey do I want to take them on? causes you to pause and really consider what is helpful or just added material to fill space because you can’t make up your mind if it’s useful or not.

The change in focus is subtle.
The intention is purposeful.
The effect powerful.

It’s the difference between good teaching and great teaching.

The difference between okay referrals and “Oh my! You have to sign up for this. She’s such a great presenter.”

Seriously. Great teachers get that all the time.

Because they made the shift.

This shift causes them to:

Ask themselves purposeful questions while writing their content.
Include meaningful stories to help people make connections.
Know how to sequence their content so people learn the material.
Plan their questions, and if at a live event, anticipate a variety of answers.

Asking, what do I want my audience to learn? opens the door for two of my favorite content writing strategies - Backwards Planning and the Ladder of Comprehension (teaser alert for future blogposts).

Using backwards planning, the Ladder of comprehension and my go-to question, what do I want my audience to learn, is like having a golden ticket to great teaching.

So - what’s in your content? And, is it what you want your participants to learn?