Grab(ber) for attention

Here is a question for you: how is a goldfish superior to a human being? You've probably heard this before: surveys conclude that the human attention span has decreased to 8.25 seconds, slightly lower than that of a goldfish (9 seconds). These numbers have been picked up by popular culture for their shocking value - this article here quotes other data & statistic to debunk the myth.

For those looking at more diversified statistics, have a look at the summary and infographic presented here: on top of the goldfish comparison I also found some interesting information associating length of attention span with professional role, age, gender etc. There is a lot to be challenged here in terms of sources for these claims, but as a speaker I can attest that indeed one requires skills and preparation to retain the attention of an audience. I would not necessarily claim that the minimum is 8 to 10 minutes as it says in the article, but if I expect my customer to pay attention to my demo beyond the early 20 minutes, then I need to be prepared.

Whatever it is you are delivering, you need to make it RELEVANT TO YOUR AUDIENCE. If there is one thing I want you, the reader, to take away from this series is - relevance. Whatever you share, show and say needs to be relevant to those listening to you (not only to yourself). I will return to this topic in one of the upcoming editions.

In terms of how to draw attention or how to refocus attention during a session, there are different tools or techniques, and they are generally referred to as grabbers /hooks/limbic (in relation to the name of the set of brain structures supporting emotion and long-term memory among other things; emotion and long-term remembrance are exactly what we want our presentations to trigger). Some techniques to use as grabbers include:

Whichever you decide to use make sure that is:

a. relevant to the context and to the audience

b. is aligned to the overall tone and vibe of the session

For example, if you are going to use a quote, make sure it is something that is indeed known to the audience and that they will resonate with it or it simply fall flat. Many years ago a colleague of mine was doing an internal rehearsal for an upcoming customer session and was relying on a quote from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams. I had read and loved the books and caught the reference, but nobody else did. The outcome was that while in role-play mode as a customer I was the only one engaging with the speaker who had prepped under the assumption that everyone had read and loved the book - and it turned out is was a wrong assumption. For the actual customer session my colleague chose another grabber, not as dear to his heart, but relevant to the customer.

Stories are some of the best ways to keep attention on what you are saying - the only guideline is to keep it relevant. Always tell stories of what you have learnt from or seen other customers do to get more value from their transformation (reference customers in a similar industry and context). You should not share names or any confidential info, but feel free to share the use case and the benefits. The best engagement I have ever built with the customers I was demo-ing to was when I shared learnings from my own experience as a HR professional and of using the tool I was showing them. Whatever happened, they always remembered those points and started asking questions and/or sharing their own point of view.

If you are worried that you do not have enough stories - don't be. Use stories you have learnt from other colleagues - just make sure you understand what they are about and be invested in the way you tell the stories.

I also leverage the "imagine" quite often - especially when I know what it is that the customer is aiming to achieve. To use this one you need to make sure that your demonstration will be compelling enough to support that claim you are making - so again being relevant and clearly understanding your customer are essential points.

There are also more "physical" grabbers. Somewhere in the archives of the Internet there is a Ted Talk of Bill Gates describing the work done to prevent the spread of malaria and raise awareness for funding. Apparently he brought a jar on stage and opened the lid to release mosquitoes into the audience while saying something along the lines "Just imagine these swarming around you are carrying infection". That is some way to raise awareness and elicit emotion and immediate action!

In the corporate world we can also use polls, hands-on experiences (like allowing the customer to connect to demo instance and perform certain tasks themselves). I have also done "scavenger hunt" type of sessions with customers: I would ask them a question and they would find the answer by logging into and navigating our tool. It got pretty competitive and fun once my sales colleagues showcased the prizes (boxes of chocolate candy).

Try some or all of these and drop a note in the comments to let me know how they work for you. Or share your experience with those you have already used in customer sessions. Whatever you do to grab attention, just remember the golden rule: MAKE IT RELEVANT to your audience!