How to hold your audience: captivate them with an image first

If you’re anything like me, you’ll have tuned out of what’s been going on in Syria years ago.

It all became far too complicated, and I’m ashamed to say I couldn’t really be bothered to even try to follow it.

But last night I watched a sixty second video at the top of a news article online.? The video was brimming with emotional power. ?I was captivated.

But here’s the thing.

Because I was captivated, I read the rest of the article — and now feel more informed about a complex subject.

And here’s the business link.

If you want to hold a business audience’s attention — to stop them tuning out of your meetings or presentations — you need to capture them with images and stories from the very start, too.

Here’s the sixty second video that stopped me in my tracks last night, compiled by The Guardian.

https://youtu.be/dgfUjt8mIFA?si=LtJDi2mKqPyo4pM9

Imagine if that video hadn’t been at the top of the article. ? Imagine if instead, this map (which was used later in the reporting) had been at the top of the page.

I’m pretty sure I would never have read the article at all.

Let’s translate that to your business.

You’re planning a presentation to the board.? ?

You’ve got some great stats to share with them, and want to get them out there early.

But now ask yourself … will those stats (the equivalent of the complicated map in this news story) hold your audience’s attention— or will they just start to tune out as soon as you start grinding through them?

Now imagine instead that you had begun your presentation with an arresting image that related to your product and told a story about those stats.

Of course, I very much doubt your arresting image will be as powerful as the toppling of a much hated dictator’s statue.

But if your stats are about your sales, why can’t you precede those stats with an image of a delighted sales team member pumping the air with joy when she hit her targets?? And then briefly tell her happy story??

If your meeting’s about a new health and safety policy, what’s to stop you finding an image that demonstrates viscerally what can happen if the rules aren’t followed? ? And share that alarming story??

If you’re making the case for a client to choose your product rather than a rival’s, could you not ask a satisfied client to create a short video using that product, exuberantly describing why they’re so pleased with it? ? And play that video -- that story -- at the beginning of the presentation, not as some ‘testimonial’ afterthought at the end?

It's the journalists' approach. ?Grab the audience's attention early, and they'll be far more likely to trust you and stick around for the rest.

A ridiculous proposition for business?

I honestly don't think so. ?Seven years working with business clients, coaxing their stories from them, challenging them to find imaginative ways of telling those stories, up-front and in-your-face, make me confident of this.

Go on.? Make?the journalist’s approach, your business approach. ?

Take something boring or complicated, track down the emotion at the heart of it, and share that emotion first.

Start with a story.? Do the data later.