Beat the Death by PowerPoint Trap.
True Story
A little while back, one of our content creators was asked to help a family member with their organisation’s training material. The business is very training focused, with regular sessions for both new and long-time employees. However, almost all training had been done face-to-face by experienced and charismatic business leaders. Several factors including time, expense and Covid-19 meant that changes had to be made.
Sadly, Death by PowerPoint ensued. Slides with long voiceovers repeated verbatim in the onscreen text. Many, many bullet points. Confusing graphics. No interactions.
When the SOS to the content creator went out, trainees had resorted to ignoring the onscreen text altogether and playing the audio at double-speed to get through the content. Easy-to-guess quiz questions meant that learners were taking a chance at passing the revision exercises without looking at the content.
You get the picture.
Slides = Content. Learning = ?
We recognise the phrase Death by PowerPoint precisely because it is everywhere! It’s actually been around for nearly 30 years. And while there are vast numbers of articles, recommendations and even comedy routines about how to overcome it, it’s obviously still a problem. We call it PowerPoint but really what it is, is static, non-interactive content, whether that is a slide deck or a pdf.
You’re probably tired of hearing this from us, but presenting content does not equal learning. Effective learning requires more than just information delivery. Modern learners need something different: experiences that engage their attention, require them to think, and allow them to practise decisions in realistic situations.
What’s Wrong with My Content?
In our real-life example above, the first obstacle occurred when there was an attempt to re-use training material from a traditional classroom setting, directly online. The expectation was that trainees would read and/or listen and absorb it as they had in the live classroom.
Unfortunately, this is a recipe for failure. This is passive learning and that leads to low retention. Slide decks and long read documents require very little cognitive effort, not to mention the kind of attention span that is rapidly declining.
Research consistently shows that active engagement significantly improves learning outcomes. When learners must retrieve information, solve problems, or apply knowledge, retention increases dramatically compared with passive exposure.
In contrast, when learners simply read slides or watch presentations, information is quickly forgotten.
There’s nothing wrong with your content, but everything is stacked against the learning outcome.
Slide Deck Limitations
More slides, less learning is the sad reality. Slide decks with no completion controls encourage click-through behaviour. Remember the double-speed playback in the opening story? There was nothing preventing the trainees from going through the material as fast as possible. And nothing to encourage them to focus on key points or test their own learning. Completion had become the goal rather than understanding.
We should remember that PowerPoint and its equivalents were designed as a presentation tool, not a learning environment. It’s a cliché to say that research on e-learning behaviour shows that learners frequently skim or skip content when there is little interaction or accountability built into the course, but it is nevertheless true. The upshot is that without meaningful interaction, the course becomes little more than a digital document with some fancy lights (animations) and a few bells and whistles (voiceovers and soundtracks).
Ordeal by PDF
Long documents are difficult to absorb. We’re so used to relying on having people read policy manuals and procedural documents that it’s a difficult habit to break. The problem is that reading comprehension declines significantly on screens, particularly for long informational texts. According to a 2018 paper by P. Delgado, P, C. Vargas, R. Ackerman, and L. Salmerón:
- Reading comprehension scores were lower for digital texts compared to printed texts.
- The advantage for paper reading was particularly strong for informational or expository texts rather than narrative texts.
- Dense documents place heavy demands on working memory.
As a result, learners may technically complete the reading but fail to internalise the key ideas.
Do and Learn, Watch and Drift
Lack of interaction reduces engagement. Humans learn best by doing, not by watching.
Interactive elements such as decision points, simulations, scenario-based activities, and short quizzes require learners to actively process information and apply it.
Educational research consistently demonstrates that active learning strategies improve performance and understanding across many disciplines.
Without interaction, learners remain passive observers rather than participants in the learning process.
Training Completed, Learning Unknown:
Another major limitation of static training materials is the lack of meaningful measurement.
Traditional content rarely answers important questions such as:
- Did learners understand the material?
- Can they apply it in real situations?
- Are they making better decisions as a result?
Modern digital learning environments allow organisations to measure progress, assess understanding, and identify knowledge gaps — something static documents cannot provide.
From Static Content to Real Learning
Do not be downhearted! The encouraging reality is that most organisations already possess the raw material for effective learning.
Those PowerPoint slides, policy documents, manuals, and workshop notes contain valuable expertise. They simply need to be redesigned into learning experiences.
This transformation often involves shifting from information delivery to learning design.
Content becomes Interaction
Instead of presenting information on slides, key ideas are embedded in activities:
- Scenario-based decision making
- Simulated workplace situations
- Interactive diagrams and hotspots
- Short knowledge checks with feedback
Learners are asked to think, decide, and practise.
Documents become structured learning journeys
Long manuals can be broken into smaller, structured learning modules.
These may include:
- Short microlearning units
- Visual explanations
- Practical examples
- Reflection prompts
- Quick assessments
Breaking content into smaller segments improves focus and supports better retention.
From Slides to Solutions
You already have the knowledge and training materials to build exceptional learning. Now what you need is the learning design expertise to transform that content into engaging digital experiences. It’s worth your while to investigate specialist partners to help you do that.
By combining instructional design, interactive technologies, and learning science, existing materials can be transformed into:
- Interactive e-learning courses
- Scenario-driven training modules
- Practical examples
- Mobile-friendly microlearning
- Structured learning pathways within an LMS
The result is not simply digitised content, but learning that works.
Once training becomes engaging, interactive, and meaningful, the Death by PowerPoint trap snaps open and we escape into a brave, new world! (Well… at least a world with fewer bullet points.)
Dennis Lamberti
Head of Content Development
As a founding member of Media Works, a company that helped educate over 1.5 million adults in South Africa, Dennis has honed his expertise in developing learning programmes for nearly 30 years . His focus is now on learning pedagogy and cognitive load balancing.