A common question asked when people are making major decisions is “What’s in it for me?” Jerry Weissman, in his book Presenting To Win: The Art of Telling Your Story, introduces WIFFY (an acronym for What’s In It For You). If we can play on the words, and insert the term “you” in the question, the focus shifts from ’me’ to the ’students’ you teach. You are still developing a presentation that will deliver the learning outcomes you anticipate, but asking the WIFFY question invites you to step into the shoes of a student and discern how the presentation will lead them to understand the concept you are presenting.

The WIFFY question has one major goal – to keep you focus on what is most important: persuading students to embrace a concept you are teaching. Therefore, every aspect of your presentation must point to the WIFFY. As you prepare your presentation, there are six questions you can ask about the presentation you are developing:

“This is important to you (the student) because… Why is this topic important? Why is it something students simply must learn (besides state-mandates telling you to teach it)?

“What does this mean to you?” How can you explain this concept in a clear, precise manner?

“Why am I telling you this?” Is it only because you’ve always included this segment? Develop a compelling argument on why this topic needs to be taught.

“Who cares?” Be wary of thinking students are going to automatically assume that what you have to present is of great value. Most likely, they could care less.

“So what?” What elements can you include that will make students sit up and take notice?

“And…”  Here’s the WIFFY… How can you get students to ‘buy’ into what you are teaching?