Guess what? You can’t hold the attention of your audience, at least not for long. How long? It depends on the situation, your message, your delivery and distractions.
You can grab attention and hold it for short periods of time. Those moments might be minutes or even seconds. At some point the mind of your listener wanders elsewhere especially when they have their phone handy or are looking at their computer.
Even without those devices you have strong competition from the distracting thoughts in their minds. They can think much faster than you can speak. That doesn’t mean you should speak faster because that would simply annoy them.
It means that you need to grab their attention again and again during your presentation. Think of it as sprinkling spice throughout the presentation. A little here, a little bit there to keep them engaged with your message.
One effective way is to learn from the movies, TV shows and sporting events. Notice how a program keeps your attention when they insert changes in sound, visual and emotional experience.
Sprinkle the spice of changes throughout your presentation.
Vary your voice. Speak in a higher pitch to express excitement and deeper tone to express importance.
Change the pace. Speak faster to make transitions and slower with critical information.
Add a musical cadence to a key phrase that you want them to remember and repeat. Listen to radio commercials for ideas.
Change your body position by shifting your stance or taking a couple steps.
Gesture with your hands to reinforce a key point.
Change your facial expression, especially from that Zoom zombie look. A smile, a raised eyebrow, a curious look, even a frown can change up the look.
Shift focus with a change in visual – a photo, chart or prop.
Pose a rhetorical question. Ask a direct question.
Display a short video to change the scene.
Alter their emotional state with a sad or funny story.
Pause and allow them to think. Say something profound before the pause.
Surprise them with a bold and surprising statement that is counterintuitive.
An audience that is not engaged is not listening. If you want them to listen engage them by sprinkling the spice of changes throughout your presentation.
Grab the list of 20+ techniques to engage the audience at www.TorokTips.com