In this article, we will analyze the diverse type of learners, their styles, and how they impact presentations. What’s important is to start realizing the diverse ways in which your audience might need to grasp information from you. In other words, we will go over diverse mechanisms to keep your audience engaged. To no fault of your own or theirs, not taking learning styles into account for presentations could be a detrimental practice to your business in the short and long run, so we hope you stick through this and let us know what you think, as well.
Type of Learners
There isn’t a single way for all to learn. Fortunately, science has compensated over the years all those memories of inadequacy when we just wouldn’t learn the way a teacher wanted in our middle or elementary school years. Maybe it wasn’t us struggling to do the math or read all the literature, but we certainly can all relate to the struggles someone in our class faced in trying to learn with presentations where the point was just not coming across.
THE AMOUNT OF LEARNING STYLES
Let’s start by getting it out of the way that you can find diverse labelings of learning styles depending on the model and methodology you look up, and on which currents of thought those are based.
LEARNING METHODS AND INTELLIGENCE
Before we move on any further, however, we need to stress out just how important it is to comprehend that the type of learning someone exercises best has nothing to do with intelligence. Thus, grasping certain pieces of information that have been presented one way quicker than another is no reflection of the receiver’s IQ, but of their ideal learning methods. Keep that into account; it will be crucial for how you approach presentations.
Related read: How to make better presentations
THE VARK MODEL
Most commonly, the theory will coincide in at least 4 basic learning styles, which are casually those pertaining to what is named the VARK model. Better conceived as an inventory, the title is truly an acronym that stands for the following styles:
- Visual
- Auditory
- Reading/Writing
- Kinesthetic
Born under Neil Fleming back in 1987, this model of student learning has gone on to be part of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) models.
WHAT THERE IS TO GAIN
Before we move further, it is best we comprehend just what we actually gain by looking into learning modality preferences for presentations. In that sense and quite simply, better awareness of people’s learning styles can help presenters enhance an audience’s levels of comprehension, metacognition, and motivation. The more your audience can follow you, the better rapport you are able to create not only with you but your brand, business, product, idea and/or service. It’s an overall win-win.
So let’s get to specifics on what each learning style represents for presenters.
FOR VISUAL GRASPERS
All the time spent creating charts and diagrams is aimed at keeping your visual learners attuned. With Slidebean, the factor of time spent creating just about any slide is significantly reduced with our Artificial Intelligence, but we know maps, diagrams, charts, graphs, arrows and all these visual resources for referencing information are the ones helping people understand in ways that deviate from words.
If a concept is key in your presentation and it can best be presented alongside a visual reference or aid, such as a spider diagram or a flow chart, make sure to keep it alongside your notes and other readable data. It will help the visual people in your audience.
Also, make the best of your visuals. Steve Jobs used to show a picture of a phone rather than show a long list of features. While an image keeps visual learners happy, your point is made much quicker and more easily.
AUDITORY GAIN THROUGH PRESENTATIONS
Fortunately, this one is almost a given when you consider how you deliver presentations for auditory people all the time!
People who learn best under this category, have a knack for teachings that are meant to be heard or are simply spoken. Quite the catch to be giving a presentation to those who learn best at lectures, group discussions, by the information they have listened to on the radio or maybe even through a conversation via cellphone! Normally, you’ll be able to follow up on a conversation with an auditory person and have that chat be the way in which they best grasp what you’re trying to convey. The same goes for a video call or any way in which you can just talk or discuss matters at hand.
THE POWER OF OLD-FASHIONED READING
And writing! Though reading and writing go hand in hand in this learning method, for the sake of presentations, this category refers best to the text you display in slides. Following up with a report or essay might be what reading fellows need best to fully comprehend what you were trying to present. We know manuals to be useful in this category, as well, yet always also consider the practicality of the content you are delivering.
MAXIMIZING KINESTHETIC LEARNING
If you ever wondered what kind of learners are typically in an audience, the good news here is that the majority of the people in the seats as you present are likely to be kinesthetic learners.
Though one tends to relate kinesthetic learning with having people move and jump around the room, the preference these folks have towards learning through experience and practice, whether that be real or simulated, is best achieved in presentations when you speak through examples, simulations and demos. This is a big reason why quick videos tend to go a long way with most of the people in your audience.
Under this category, we should also consider case studies, movies and putting practice to work through a means of application amidst your listeners. Much harder to do for Demo Day — almost inconceivable, truly, but a good note to jot in regards to ways in which kinesthetic learners absorb information best.
CONCLUSIONS TO TYPES OF LEARNING
Though other methods beyond the VARK Model deal with linguistic, naturalist, musical, logical/mathematical and intra/interpersonal learning, our focus today with the VARK method has to do with the most common types of learners in presentation audiences, and how to maximize what we know about their preferred style of learning to crank our presentations up to include the most diverse amount of resources through which to sell our products, idea or business to diverse types of people. From investors to potential buyers, everyone you see on that seat in an auditorium or small office falls into a category of the diverse methods of learning. Take it into account as you put your presentations together and remember to spare up on time with our formatting AI tool! It just makes sense.
Thanks for sticking around, we hope this has been of help!
