This is intended to be a summary of the presentation as it is given. I'll break down my understanding of, approach to, and general thoughts for presentation design, with a noticeable emphasis on safety training.
When I had first arrived at my current place of employment, I used whatever I could lay my hands on for training. I found several CDs at the site with a bunch of presentations on them, and went to town. Don't misunderstand me—purchased training presentations can be a good starting point. But once I got past the initial rush, I began to create my own site-specific training.
In my personal protective equipment (PPE) training for example, I used a football equipment analogy to get the employees to "buy into" my plan to change and upgrade their PPE. So I showed them a visual history of football helmets. Much like football helmets had changed over the years, our PPE would also be changing. I had to overcome the "if it's not broken, don't fix it" syndrome. (Not that that doesn't happen anywhere else, of course.)
Now, besides being site-specific, another benefit was realized. The employees knew I was putting in the time to create the training, and thus, the training had greater value to them. After all, perception is often reality, when it comes to effective training.
Of course, I'm not the first person to realize that good training can be made better with a well-designed presentation. There are lots of books on the subject, so I'll only mention three of them here.
