Multimedia learning doesn’t happen by chance. It’s not about entertainment and it’s not about “creativity.” It’s about using words and pictures in quite specific ways to ENHANCE cognition and memory.

If you’re going to use slideshows in your virtual meetings and web conferences – and you don’t want to put people directly to sleep – it’s crucial to understand and master the basic principles of multimedia learning.

Jeff Brenman’s 2008 winning Slideshare show, “Thirst,” does a masterful job of demonstrating the key principles of cognitive theory of multimedia learning that Richard Mayer and Ruth Colvin Clark have been researching and writing about for the last two decades.

As you watch Jeff’s show, notice not just what you learn, but how the show itself affects your thinking. It’s truly remarkable and Jeff deserves all the kudos he’s received!

If you’re already persuaded of multimedia learning theory and hungry to put it into practice, you’ll want to grab yourself a copy of my friend Cliff Atkinson’s handbook, “Beyond Bullet Points,” and get busy using the organizers and strategies he offers to enhance the effectiveness of your sales and instructional presentations.

Beyond Bullet Points provides solid background on multimedia learning theory and then goes on to help business and educational speakers start putting it to work right away.

If you’d like to see an example of the Beyond Bullet Points strategy at work, you can also take a look at this little slideshow I made in February, 2008, to support my application for a distance learning position at the college in my new hometown. It’s short and sweet, but the architecture of the show is pure “BBP.” I never intended anyone beyond the hiring committee to look at it, but it was favorited by the CEO of Slideshare a week or so after I hosted it on Slideshare. So now it’s been viewed by several hundred folks. (I hope they’re having a laugh! Maybe they’ve learned something…) The “architecture” of the Beyond Bullet Points thinking is right up at the surface in the show.

Enjoy! And, as always, I’m genuinely interested in your thoughts and comments…