As we’re seeing, the challenge of grabbing and retaining attendees’ attention is becoming increasingly complex. People are consuming shorter and shorter content (from Twitter to TikTok), they are more likely to be distracted or tired… On top of that, you have a very powerful competitor in your assistant’s pocket that knows how they work, play, Window to life. social life. How to compete with it? What solutions will attract and retain attention? We remind you of a few tips (besides the nuclear button: remove the assistant’s phone).
Incredible speaker who doesn’t need any mechanisms or tricks to manage attention
We give you this because we can’t honestly tell you that a long conversation will never happen. If Barack Obama comes… or even Mario Alonso Puig comes, don’t give him 15 minutes; these gentlemen hold people’s attention longer. But since you probably don’t have these in your campaign, let’s look at other key points.
short meeting
There are a thousand theories about attention span (they talk about 20 minutes, 18 minutes, 10 minutes… even 2 minutes), but they are all ridiculous: without duration people fall asleep. On some topics, people stay for hours (Binge watching on Netflix) and others, for a few minutes (your childhood math teacher…). But obviously, people can’t hold on to it for too long, and it will become less and less, so an obvious principle is that meetings are shorter, but well thought out and worked on at a content level. Speakers are asked to define their message in detail, remove all unnecessary content, and rehearse before the event. In a 20-minute rehearsal, they will be able to convey a very clear and powerful message. We can’t thank TED enough for this new format, which is short, precise to the millimeter, and well-rehearsed.
narrative
Humans love stories, if not, remember the stories you heard as a child. Storytelling is about telling the stories of customers who have faced such problems, the stories of citizens affected by our activities, the stories of employees who have come to your company and grown, stories of challenges, difficulties…even imaginary stories of characters. All of this grabs attention more than any rational message. In fact, TED understands this. Be careful: it’s not easy. Storytelling requires effort (preferably in a team), imagination, and knowing how to construct and develop a certain kind of “drama.” But it’s very powerful.
multiple formats
Humans respond to change, to surprise. Do you have to present something that takes 45 minutes? Break it up into shorter moments: a verbal introduction, then a short interview with an expert, then a video, then asking people to share their thoughts with others… Every additional minute, the same format, the same Stimulus (or lack thereof) ). Stimulus…) is an attack on public attention.
Super organized message
As an attendee, there’s nothing worse than being in a presentation and feeling like you don’t know where the presentation is going, what message it’s trying to convey, what you’ve seen and what you still need to see. Every part of every presentation must have a very clear message/conclusion, this agenda (agenda) can even be announced or followed throughout the presentation and can be remembered at the end to clarify the learning content.
silence
As a speaker, if you don’t have your audience’s attention, stop speaking and watch. You can do this in a more or less dramatic way (a small pause in your presentation will already attract attention… but a noticeable pause, looking intently at the entire audience, will have an impact Power, I guarantee you people will listen to what you say next). Silence is an incredible resource.
Shhh…
If you want to regain attention when people are talking, stop tapping the microphone or saying “please.” Saying “shhh” into the microphone, increasing the volume, and holding on for a little while (10-15 seconds) is completely effective. The only competing solution is to “stick” with cups and spoons… but let’s leave that to weddings.
No moments of fake interaction
The Q&A session was a disaster, a fake interaction where someone who wanted more attention than the person who actually had a question ended up asking the question. Any speaker wants to be asked questions, but people often don’t. In this case, asking questions from a mobile device allows you to do the necessary filtering and avoid useless or endless questions.
Group reflection (or individual reflection)
The speaker’s message must be digested, and to do this, you must include moments when people stop and think. Asking people to reflect on the information in meetings and share with their neighbors what they plan to implement based on what was presented is a way of “digesting” the content. Please note: You must carefully consider your requests and make it easy for attendees to draw out specific reflections and learnings.
How the public connects with speakers
A large auditorium or darkened audience is the best way to make people feel disconnected from the speaker. As a result, they become distracted and the speaker loses the virtual war with the other person’s phone. Now, you can’t necessarily eliminate the plenary session with 500 people…but whatever you can do, move to a smaller format where the speaker is in the crowd, asking everyone questions, combining the role of the speaker with another role. coach and facilitator of collective reflection that works well (format campfire Great, but only for about twenty people).
There are a thousand other tips and what we have collected here are great principles. Now one last thing: at your next event, think about this attendee (not necessarily the most positive one) and what you can contribute to them and what will make them care about your event. Empathy is a great resource…