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Hi !

Have you ever walked out of a presentation that failed to spark your interest?

Checked email as the presenter's voice drifted into the background?

Noticed audience members tuning out while you were presenting ?

Photo Credit: Azman Jaka

This is regrettable - whether you're in the audience or presenting your work.

We all want to feel heard when sharing information we consider important.

But capturing and keeping listeners' attention have never been more challenging.

Substitutes to the content you're presenting are only a gaze away.

Gif by: Originals

So what can you do (without disconnecting the wifi)?

Often, answers focus on strategies and tactics (many of which you've seen in editions of One for the Week) like:

- Storytelling

- Metaphor

- Allusion, and many others

But this week, I want to focus on a mindset - not a technique - to transform the development and delivery of your presentations.

This mindset embraces the notion that to compete effectively for listeners' attention, you must:

(1) Recognize your listeners enjoy consuming content in a variety of formats 

(2) Reflect your listeners' affinity for content diversity by incorporating a range of formats in your presentation, such as video clips, gifs, memes, images, and music in addition to text and graphs

(3) Reinforce real-world relevance of your material throughout your presentation to enable listeners to visualize concepts in their own heads - keeping their attention focused on your presentation, not the prospect of more enticing content on their screens.  

Video Clip: Girl I Guess Podcast

What do you think about the ideas in this week's edition?

Let me know your thoughts, and I'll share your comments in a future One for the Week.

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