Would Kids Walk Out on Your Lesson if They Could?

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, was giving a keynote recently in Barcelona.  He was also joined on stage with two other technology experts.

It ended up not going very well.  Many people were so bored that they either fell asleep or walked out.  Here's a photo someone took during the session.  That had to be embarrassing.


A few people in the room sent out tweets. 

"The operators and Zuckerberg are talking a lot on stage, but don’t seem to be saying anything."

"Kind of a tame boring keynote from Zuckerberg."

Why were the people falling asleep and walking out?   Look at the Tweets again and you'll see why.

"Talking a lot on stage" (Lecturing)
When you drone on and on, people disengage.  Lecturing is the least effective way of learning.  Instead of lecturing, use active, participatory learning.  Spectators zone out...participators zone in.

"Don't seem to be saying anything" (Irrelevance)
 If you want to keep people's attention, then share information that is relevant to their lives.  Make sure the questions you are answering are the questions people are asking.

"Kind of a tame boring keynote" (Boring)
How you present what you present is vital.  Make sure what you share is served up in a fun, exciting format.

So...what if next weekend...the kids had the option to walk out of your classroom if they got bored?  Would they walk or would they stay?