Last week we wrote about our fantasy restaurant. But a good restaurant doesn’t just fill up your stomach, it’s also about the experience, enjoying yourself.
What’s the feeling you want to create with your learning content? Welcoming? A bit rebellious? A strong voice of authority? The feeling of your content is about the stories you tell. The metaphors you use. The questions you ask.
It’s about how you address your reader. Are you holding a lecture? Or having a conversation?
It’s about how you inject your personality into your writing. Whether you sound full of enthusiasm, compassionate, or authorative, or all of that.
When I started writing for eLearning a long time ago I thought I should write like a text book.
But how wrong I was.
Yes, supplying facts and meeting learning objectives is important. But connecting with your learners is about intangible matters, too. How do you inspire your learners to take your message on-board? How do you make them feel enhanced?
Think about my fantasy restaurant. The music, the menu, the décor … they all influence the atmosphere. But I’d want you to come because it’s my place.
Because you’d like me to say hello to you and linger at your table for a chat.
The Secret Ingredient in Your Writing
Plenty of learning designers just share facts about the same topics you and I write about. If you just share facts, it’s easy to swap one designer for another.
Or worse … AI could write those facts.
To build a loyal learning audience you need to engage people personally so they come back because they know you, like your style and trust you.
They shake their heads at your strongly worded view.
But they also feel heard because you understand them and you know their problems. They feel your compassion.
The secret ingredient of your training is YOU.
You’re the only one who can make your content really work. By telling a little more about yourself. By sharing your enthusiasm or your doubts.
Learners don’t just read your training because they have to. They come to be inspired, to improve their performance at work, to build their confidence. They come to hear your voice. They enhance their confidence because of you.
Human content wins.