I have been attending university lectures for almost four and a half years now, and while sitting through a lecture this morning, it hit me – why haven’t I written an article on what makes a good lecture?

Sure, I have technically never lectured before. What the heck do I know? Well, as someone who has to watch these lectures, I know there are lectures that I have loved and lectures that I have absolutely hated. I know what aspects made me enjoy the lecture and what I didn’t.

The more enjoyable the lecture experience is for students, the more they are likely to listen, and thus, the more they are likely to learn – and isn’t that what we want?

Simply spewing the facts and content isn’t the whole thing, although sometimes it feels that way with some lecturers – your approach to the lecture is going to significantly affect not just what students absorb today from your lecture, but also their attitudes to future lectures and future learning.

So, what makes a good lecture?

1. Attitude

Sometimes being a lecturer is simply a “requirement” for professors who want to do research at the university. If you approach it like that, then of course you’re not going to put forth your best effort. We all know what it’s like when we are forced to do a task just because it’s “part of the job”.

Simply put, you have to give a damn about giving a good lecture. You have to care that students are getting something out of the lecture. You have to want students to enjoy your lecture.

If you don’t care, and you don’t have positive attitude and approach to lecturing, it is going to be obvious and will come through the way you deliver it. You’re not going to enjoy the experience and the students won’t either.

2. Training and Practice

Do lecturers ever get some training or a course on lecturing? I have no idea, but for some reason, I assume there isn’t much training. I think there should be if there isn’t already. I have been to a few ridiculously absurd lectures where there’s no way a university could (or perhaps rather, should) be okay with what was delivered.

Teachers have to go through training, so why not lecturers? There is clearly an art to lecturing, and factors relating to clarity, volume, speed of speech, style, appearance of visual aids, etc. are all things that can be practiced and supported by training.

3. Everything About Speech

I sort of alluded to this in the previous section, but it’s important to go over speech in a bit more detail.

Clarity: Basically, this is about speaking clearly and the audience understanding what you’re saying. If you have a strong accent, it can be challenging to make yourself clear, and it might be something to work on. But just realize that if people don’t understand what you’re saying, then the reality is that no one will get anything out of the lecture. I remember one class I took in undergrad where the lecturer had such a strong accent that no one could understand what she was saying, and more than half the class just skipped lecture (myself included) because, well, there was no point sitting through something you could not understand.

Volume: Usually there should be a microphone, but if the class is small or the microphone is not working, you need to be able to speak up sometimes. Just keep that in mind!

Speed: My advice? A medium pace. Don’t go too fast, and don’t drag. I have sat through lectures were the speaker was going at a hundred miles an hour, as if they were trying to go for a Guinness world record for most words spoken in an hour. If you’re rushing, no one can keep up with what you’re saying, especially if we aren’t experts in the field like you are – we need time to process what you’re saying, and take notes if need be. And please don’t drag and go too slow – you’re going to lose the attention of your audience. A medium pace is best.

4. Slides that Make Sense

I don’t believe that students should be constantly writing and breaking their hands during a lecture. I believe that the lecture slides / notes should have enough concise information where it would basically make sense if read on its own, but there is good room for students to add their own notes during the lecture. One day, if you haven’t already, you will come across a class where the slides are all diagrams with no explanation and your hand is hurting by the end of the lecture getting down only half the information you need on paper.

My basic point is that it’s impossible to constantly listen and write at the same time for hours straight – and even if it is for some people, it’s painful as heck. It doesn’t make sense for lecturers to make you write down everything that could just have been provided on the lecture notes. The point of the lecture isn’t to test your note-taking skills, at least I hope that’s not the point.

So make good notes/slides for students to use, so they can spend more time trying to process and understand your explanations instead of stressing about forgetting half the things you have said.

5. Add a Bit of Entertainment Value

I guess this is more optional than anything, but it can be very easy for a lecture on very specific material to be quite dry. It’s sometimes nice to spice up your lecture, and sort of “lighten up” the situation.

One great way to do this is to add humour. Some lecturers do this by just being naturally funny and adding their own humour randomly to the talk. Others prepare by throwing in some random funny/entertaining slides. And I have even had professors who are not naturally funny, but have taken the time to actually look up some good jokes to just throw in randomly when they sense the class is getting bored.

I can say with complete confidence that the lectures that are the most entertaining/enjoyable, are also the ones I have learned the most from because the lecturer has your attention, and the additional entertaining moments makes the lecture (and a lot of the information in it) more memorable.

6. Be Conscious of Time

To be fair, this is not an issue for most lecturers. As long as you are reasonable with the amount of information you want to deliver, then usually you can adjust your lecture fine on the go to make sure you finish on time. However, I have had a few lectures that went way over time, most likely because the lecturer just didn’t take the time to figure out that you can only cover so many slides in on hour, for example. Just take the time to make sure your content amount is reasonable – it is not enjoyable watching a lecturer try and fly through the second half of a lecture in the last five minutes.

7. Be Open to Feedback

The one last point I will add, which is relevant to absolutely any type of activity, is to be open to receiving feedback. If you care about how well you’re delivering lecture, then you’re going to care about how improve yourself as an educator.

All of the things I mentioned above are probably things one would learn about if you spend the time asking for feedback and being open and honest. Care about the way you educate, and students will care about learning!