Lectures aren’t bad.
But most of them? They suck.
Even when the timing and purpose are right, the delivery often collapses. Why?
Because facilitators lose the thread.
They drift into tangents.
They overpack.
They forget their Learning Outcomes.
I once sat in a workshop in France.
Charismatic speaker. Gorgeous slides. Clever metaphor: “strategy is like a dance.”
He clearly knew his stuff ... full of stories, examples, cases.
And yet, I walked out with… nothing.
He had topics. But no outcomes.
Or maybe one vague one (“strategy is like a dance”)... unsupported, unsharpened, never landing.
This is the trap of experts: knowing too much, sharing too much, and diluting the signal.
The fix?
Start with the sharp outcome. Add only the sub-points that prove it. Cut the rest. Skeleton 101.
You’ll think you’re leaving it too bare. You’re not.
Even the best orators, like Sir Ken Robinson, kept it to three points in 20 minutes.
His prep wasn’t memorizing lines or crafting perfect slides.
It was outlining the arc, the spine of the talk. Just enough structure to stay focused, just enough freedom to adapt to the room.
The real danger is the vicious cycle:
You pack too much.
You panic about time.
So you drop the exercises and stretch the lecture.
You “get through” the content — but no one actually learns.
The takeaway?
Use lectures in small doses.
Constrain them with sharp Learning Outcomes.
Pair them with exercises that bring the lesson to life.
That’s when lecture works.
Otherwise, it’s just noise.
Thank you.
And Free Palestine.