Find the objective of your lesson. You'll find teaching less content will in fact teach them more!

1. When less is more! Recently, I sat through a session where an instructor jammed packed it with so much stuff, if I could have retained a quarter of it, I would be a rocket scientist by now. But the fact is this, and I see it all the time, where instructors get so bogged down in the list of what they want to cover they lose sight of what their true objective is, which is to make sure their students learn something. This also reminds me of a conversation I had with a colleague recently about an upcoming training session we were going to present. My colleague made a list of things we should include; it was quite impressive I might add. After I heard the list, I asked this question: What is the objective of the session? Is it to cover the list or is it to have our audience feel comfortable and actually learn something? Because if you want me to cover everything on the list, I can do that blind folded, I can spew out information all day long. But if you want my audience to actually retain information and learn something and actually be engaged in the learning process, then that requires a different strategy. I realize that sometimes we get stuck in a situation where we need to cover X,Y, and Z, and it needs to be covered in a specific time frame, but if you do have an option of the content you can deliver, consider these wise words: “Sometimes, less is more!”. I find myself more and more looking at what is my true objective, and it usually boils down to getting my class to learn. And just because I can spew out data, facts and other stuff all day long (and man I can do this without batting an eye), I have to look at what is my true objective, and whenever possible, I find myself teaching less content so my students can learn more.