Public speaking and presentations can be nerve-wracking even for the most experienced speakers. It just doesn’t come naturally to everyone, even those in leadership. Given that it’s already a common source of anxiety, the best we can hope for is that the audience will pay rapt attention. But in a world of ever-shortening attention spans, how do speakers go about maintaining the focus of the crowd? Matt Abrahams at HBR.org has a new article that will teach us to do just that.
Abrahams explains that capturing attention is not enough. One must maintain that engagement in order to get through to the audience. According to him, speakers must connect on physical, mental, and linguistic levels. First up, physical engagement. Having your audience do something with their bodies during a presentation will capture and maintain attention. Anything from standing up and stretching together for in-person meetings, to virtual introductions or reactions if the meeting is remote.
Second, engage mentally. Abrahams says there are three ways to do this: ask questions, incorporate provocative information, or introduce smart analogies. While asking questions may be an obvious choice, provocative information and analogies can be just as effective at keeping your audience mentally engaged. Third, and perhaps the most compelling, is linguistic engagement. What this looks like in practice is using inclusive words, time-traveling language, and references to shared experiences. For example, using statements like “think back to a time when”, or “picture this” are great ways to keep an audience from losing interest. Give the full article a read here for an in-depth review of how leaders put this into action, and see if it can improve the experience of both speaker and audience.