Painless Presentations: The Proven, Stress-Free Way to Successful Public Speaking

Chapter 5

Learning Styles

We all learn through a combination of different learning styles, and over time, we develop our own preferred way of learning. Some of us are visual learners, some of us are auditory learners, and others may prefer a kinesthetic or physical approach to learning. No one style is better than another.

Many people adapt a particular learning style depending on the actual learning situation. How we go about processing information is dictated by this learning style. As a presenter, you need to keep in mind that not all people learn in the same way. Each of the members in your audience may have a different learning style than you do; you need to take these different learning styles into consideration. Although some participants in your audience may prefer to see lots of visual aids, other participants may prefer to just sit back and listen to your presentation. Some participants love to take notes. Others may hate to take notes.

Once you understand your own learning style, you will be able to better prepare your presentations. Since, in most cases, you do not know which preferred learning style your audience uses, you need to consider using as many learning styles during the delivery of your presentation as is feasible.

In this chapter, I discuss the seven most common learning styles:

Seven Learning Styles

1. Visual or spatial

2. Auditory or aural

3. Verbal or linguistic

4. Physical or kinesthetic

5. Logical or mathematical

6. Social or interpersonal

7. Solitary ...