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I'm thrilled to share that my bout with COVID is finally over. However, in a twist of fate, the flu decided to step in as its replacement. 8-( It looks like 2024 is determined to start on an “adventurous” note! Thankfully, I've been feeling quite alright, with just one off day in the mix. I'm really thankful for that. But I’m eager to get rid of this pesky cough. I’ve coughed so many times that I'm starting to think it should qualify as an ab workout worthy of six-pack abs.

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📰 News & Notes

Persuasive Storytelling to Motivate Action

Richard Goring highlights an important fact that presentations and learning experiences are not just about sharing information; rather, they are primarily used as persuasion tools to prompt action from the audience. The ultimate goal is to motivate the audience to take action - be it adopting new methods or embracing new ideas. The key takeaways from his Learning 2023 session are aimed at presentations but are equally applicable to learning materials. These takeaways include the importance of crafting a captivating introduction, structuring the content for maximum impact, and concluding in a way that inspires action. (By the way, if you ever get a chance to watch Richard speak take it. He’s one of the best!)

🎯 Take away: Use persuasive storytelling to transform information sharing into a powerful tool for motivating action.

How Verb Tense Shapes Persuasion

A study conducted by Jonah Berger and his team, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, focuses on the impact of our choice of words on our ability to persuade others. Berger, who is also the author of the popular book "Magic Words," emphasizes the power of words. The book contains valuable insights on the subject and is highly recommended. To summarize, the study suggests that using the present tense is more effective in persuasion than using the past tense. For more in-depth information, please refer to the study.

🎯 Take away: To be more persuasive, use present tense verbs instead of past tense verbs.

Should We List the Learning Objectives?

Christy Tucker has a good post about this, which I shared on LinkedIn recently. I’m not a big fan of starting courses with things like “In this course, you will learn…” because it is a snoozefest and puts people off right from the start. Christy shares some relevant research in her article and there is a rich discussion about it happening now over on LinkedIn. What do you think about it?

🎯 Take away:  To list learning objectives or not, that is the question.

🧰 Tech Tools & Tips

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🎧 Podcast

This is the conversation that caught my ear this week. Check out previous episodes in the Friday Finds podcast playlist.

🧳 Where’s Mike?

• ATD ICE, New Orleans May 19-22

• Canadian eLearning Conference, Toronto, June 13-14

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Let's face it: not every training program is impactful. The reason is that many learning experiences overlook how the brain remembers and uses information. Join Matt Gjertsen for an insightful webinar session to go beyond mere knowledge transfer and transform your approach to training design.

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