10 Winning Techniques for Gaining and Keeping Audience Attention

10 Winning Techniques for Gaining and Keeping Audience Attention

1.  A Promise:  Begin with a promise that keeps the audience expectant. For example, "By the end of this presentation, you will know how you can increase your sales by 50 percent!"


2.  Drama:  Open by telling an emotionally moving story or by describing a serious problem that involves the audience.  Also, a long pause after a key statement, changes in vocal pitch and volume, and high intensity emotions (ie: anger, joy, excitement) go a long ways toward engaging the audience.

3.  Eye Contact:  As you begin, command attention by surveying the entire audience to take in all listeners. Take two to five seconds to make eye contact with as many people as possible.

4.  Movement:  Nothing is more boring than watching a mannequin behind a podium glued to the floor.  Leave the lectern area whenever possible. Try moving towards your audience, especially in the beginning and end of your talk.  Using deliberate movement such as walking to your left and right as transitions between key points within your lecture is also very effective in getting the audience to "follow" you.

5.  Questions:  Keep listeners active and involved with rhetorical questions.  Ask for a show of hands to get each listener mentally engaged. The response will also give you a quick gauge of audience attention

6.  Demonstrations:  Include a member of the audience in a demonstration. Ask for volunteers. Not only will it give a great visual representation of what you're trying to demonstrate; by bringing audience members to the lectern area,  you are more likely to grab the attention of the entire room.

7.  Samples/gimmicks:  If you're promoting a product, consider using items to toss out to the audience or to award as prizes to volunteer participants.  You can also pass around product samples or promotional literature.  Be careful, though, to maintain control

8.  Visuals:  Give your audience something to look at besides yourself.  Use a variety of visual aids in a single session.  Also, addressing audience concerns and questions on a white board or flip chart as you go along is also a great tool.

9.  Dress:  Enhance your credibility by dressing professionally.  Since this is perhaps the first thing your audience will notice about you, dressing professionally makes it appear you know what you're talking about and goes a long ways towards getting your audience to listen to you initially.

10. Self-interest: Review your entire presentation to ensure that it meets the critical "What's-in-it-for-me" audience test.  Remember that people are most interested in things that benefit them.



Joke of the Day:  Ok to Swim Here?
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While sports fishing off the Florida coast, a tourist capsized his boat. He could swim, but his fear of alligators kept him clinging to the overturned craft. Spotting and old beachcomber standing on the shore, the tourist shouted,"Are there any gators around here?!" 

"Naw," the man hollered back, "they ain't been around for years!" 

"Feeling safe, the tourist started swimming leisurely toward the shore. 

About halfway there he asked the guy,"How'd you get rid of the gators?" 

"We didn't do nothin'," the beachcomber said. 

"The sharks got 'em."