Ken Blanchard spent many years working to improve leadership, training people tactics and habits gleaned from successful leaders. His philosophy is tell them, show them, let them, correct or redirect or praise them, and repeat (Be, Know, Do. Blanchard). In an earlier training article, I discussed whys to improve knowledge transfer in the telling stage using checks on learning. This article focuses on the show them stage. Having more methods to teach people ensures you connect with as many learners in your class as possible. If you only tell them things, visual and kinetic learns are left behind. There are several ways to show people. This article discusses three methods of showing; pictures, videos, and demonstrations.

Slides are a common classroom method of sharing information. Text based slides are telling, not showing. Slides with nice pictures for the sake of having pictures are also telling, not showing. Picture based slides showing stances, methods, screen shots, and other action are showing. Pictures may contain text for the purpose of showing finer points. You may want to add an arrow for direction of action, or to show points of attention. The image shows how and what to do saving thousands of spoken and written words.

I discussed finding lots of high quality low and no cost photos and images in an earlier blog. Check out the information at this link: https://christopherstcyr.wordpress.com/2017/10/31/one-thousand-words/. There is generally no requirement to use images as they were taken or created. Using image manipulation software allows you to edit the image to meet your needs. Photoshop is a high end answer. GIMP, short for GNU Image Manipulation Program, is a free, open-source graphics editing program. With such software, you can create the image you wish you had by cropping, tweaking colors, making something black and white, with a single color for emphasis, creating a new background, deleting ugly utility poles, or anything else that make the image tell the story you want to tell. Learning to use graphics editing software seems intimidating, however YouTube has lots of videos showing how to do anything you want to with GIMP and other graphics software.

A great way to show how to do something is with videos. If you create a video, do not simply transfer the classroom lecture to the screen. Use video showing someone doing the skill you are teaching. Sound is not required. You can narrate the action for the class. Consider inserting pauses in the video allowing discussion.

Editing video is not as easy as editing pictures. PC World picked Shotcut as the best free video editing software for 2018. Shotcut offers several tutorial videos. Like GIMP, YouTube offers plenty of additional tutorial videos. As with GIMP, you can use Shotcut to customize an open source or public domain video from the web, or create your own content.

Use caution when using videos from others. Copyright law offers protection for using small amount of video (or any other copy righted material) for educational purposes. If you use a whole video produced for the purpose of education and requires a fee for classroom use you may receive legal process. Copyright laws are intended to protect intellectual property, but they allow fair use. Richard Neil has good information about copyright and fair use on his website: http://www.leotrainer.com/copyright.html.

Videos supplement your lesson. Videos do NOT replace you. You may have videos that show in exacting detail how to rebuild a carburetor, but you are the expert in the room. Impart the little tricks and secrets you know from your years of completing the tasks you train. If you show nothing but videos, your students figure they could watch them from home or their work location online. Anyone can push the play button. Be the expert and add to the information shown in videos you select for your training.

Demonstrations allow students to see a task executed first hand. Whether you are milking a cow, or creating a bench hook, watching someone do it helps learners understand the task better. Ideally the instructor should conduct the demonstration. Sometimes instructors team up; one talks about the task while the other executes. If you select the two person demonstration, coordinate with the other person. You both need to practice the demonstration ensuring the narration matches the action. A firearms instructor trainer I know cautions student instructors to practice drills they plan on teaching their students. If the instructor cannot execute the task accurately and correctly 99.999% of the time, he looses his expert power. Students walk away from the demonstration convinced the instructor is a wind bag because he cannot be execute the task. If you cannot complete the task in a training environment, how are students going to execute the task in the real world? Practice your demonstrations and drills so you appear to be the expert you are.

Repeat your demonstration more than once. Change the way you stand so everyone in the class in able to see what you are doing. Tell the class you will be moving so they can see the finer points of the demonstration from all angles. Repeated demonstrations are especially important in larger classes. Move to a different part of the training area. Use live streaming video for work on small tasks such as setting coupler height on a model railroad car, or showing the angle of a file while sharpening a saw. Unlike the magician who only shows a trick once to prevent others from learning how he did the trick, your goal is for students to leave your training knowing the tricks and how to perform them. Repetition ensures your students understand and improves their skill.

Showing students how do accomplish a new skill is an important in any high quality training. Showing turns knowledge into action. Three common methods to show others are use of photographs or drawings, showing the skill performed using videos, and live demonstrations by an instructor or skilled assistant. Each has advantages and drawbacks. Pictures are easy to put together. They are static. After a few slides students become bored, however stills may show better as a series of images. Videos provide action. Videos are abundant on the internet but may not show exactly what you want shown. It is more difficult to create original video content than static slides. Demonstrations seem like the perfect solution. They provide action, allow the instructor to narrate and point out fine details, but the demonstrator must be skilled to ensure flawless execution. Some tasks are difficult to demonstrate to a group such as how to land an airplane, or the proper application of explosives to safely collapse a snow drift to avoid an avalanche. Learn to use each method at the right time for the right audience. Showing turns ideas into action and improves retention. It is the second step in teaching new skills. Add a few shows to your next lesson. Your students will walk away smarter.

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Additional Resources

Ken Blanchard Companies:  https://www.kenblanchard.com/

GIMP Official Website:  https://www.gimp.org/

ShotCut Official Website:  https://shotcut.org/

Use official websites of open source software to avoid potential unwanted software and malware.  Carefully read the installation windows.

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References not incorporated in the article

PCWorld article: https://www.pcworld.com/article/3240982/software/the-best-free-video-editing-software.html

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Photo Credits

Light Show – pxhere.com  CC Zero license

Next Slide — Author

Antique Projector — pxhere.com

Magician — pxhere.com