• Plan the inputs and activities in the same way as for a workshop or practical. Do not assume that you will be speaking all the time.

• Check your slides or presentation and look at them as if you are a learner. Are they readable from the back, do they have too many distractions (e.g. animations), are they dull?

• Check that your voice projects to the back of the room or wear a microphone.

• Include some audience participation by asking learners to work with their neighbour on something or turn around to discuss a point (see Buzz groups). Try to break up your speaking every ten minutes or so. You could include short films, audio files, pictures – anything to maintain attentiveness.

• Try team teaching – a change of voice is always welcome.

• large groups

• providing a framework.

• Learners will probably expect a lecture to be passive so work in some hands-on activity. (See Buzz groups, demonstrations, Presentations, cephalonian method, Building blocks for other ways to improve a lecture.)

• Lectures can cause anxiety in a teacher – try to remember that the learners are all individuals, and try to speak to one or two of them rather than the whole room. If you build in interactivity, remember that you also need to be able to assert your authority when you want that activity to stop.