How much content do you need?

Just how much content do you really need?

I regularly get asked “How much content do I need for a course? How much should I put in there?”

So this week we’re talking about length of content, or how much you should have in there.

This is a little hard to answer, I mean, how long is a piece of string.

So let’s look at an example instead.

Last week I was working with a client, who is building content for a face to face workshop that she wants to run.

She had a list of things she wanted to cover, and the key things that she needed to mention.

“Great, we’ve got enough content there for a one day workshop” I say with a smile.

“What??!” she says as her jaw hits the floor.

You see, she thought she had enough content for a couple of hours… at most.

I know that by the time you’ve got that content, room for engagement, time for activities, you’ve got a lunch break and morning tea break, and time for people to do what people do… she had a really great days workshop.

So what I really want you to think about, is how long will it take your students to absorb that information. Not just read it, hear it or look at it, but actually learn it and engage with it.

So if you are running a workshop, it’s not about how long it will take you to read the bullet points from the slides (because that won’t take very long), but it’s all the extra time. The time for you to go “right, now that means…” and then get them to talk about it and to do an activity around it.

It’s the same for an online course. You might not be there to guide the conversation, but you want the same sort of things to happen. It’s not just about giving them a sort module on a Monday morning, because you want them to read something.
Ask yourself “How else can I get them to engage with the content?” You want them to use it and learn it.
So rather than just give them a PDF that takes 3 mins to read, is much more than just 3 mins. You want them to download it, you want them to read it, you want them to do something with it, write on it, fill in answers, and you want them to come back to the group and talk about it.

So, how much content do you need? Well, the answer really does depend, but it’s probably less than you think.

You are much better off to have tiny bits of content that they actually engage with and use, than to provide a huge amount of content that they don’t use.

This applies to your social media and your blog posts as well. Long form posts and content are great, but not much help if people don’t actually implement or learn anything from them.

So, how are you breaking your content down into tiny little chunks? Are you using this in your courses, your blogs and your social media?