A great book on making clear presentations and with the right approach to communicating information to today’s busy and distracted audiences is Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds. Garr also runs a fantastic blog here.
Archive for the 'Attention spans' Category
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Have you tried to express yourself in just a few words. It can be difficult especially with complex issues. Today’s best communicators do it well. Obama captured the spirit of a nation with his “Yes, we can change”.
How well can you summarise your thoughts? A good web site for inspiration is “Six Word Stories’ .
Working to made your speech even more concise not only helps the audience understand and retain your messages. It’s fun. Think more like an advertiser. Yes, you can!
In a world of short attention spans, expressing your ideas in a concise memorable way is essential. Here is an excellent BBC show which asks guests to do just that. In 60 seconds they have to express their idea and then that idea is evaluated. Ideas include, “No TV for teenageers” and “It’s never to late to apologise”. The total show lasts 6 minutes – perfect for even rushed executives. I download them to my ipod and listen while travelling.
Download these podcasts at the BBC’s web site here.
One thing you can be sure about when you are delivering your next presentation. Your audience wish you would finish it quicker, get to the point sooner and wrap it up faster. Your audience don’t have unlimited time, attention or energy. So don’t present like they do.
If you see people’s eyes glazing over, notice sighs and hear yawns, you are in the “dead energy zone” from which no memories emerge. Your audience is switched off and waiting for you to finish. Those who are less polite will walk out.
To become a better presenter, you need to understand how memory works. One technique to learn is called spaced learning. Advocated by Dr John Medina in his book Brain Rules and put into practice in a school in the UK, spaced learning stops trying to force information on the brain. Instead it aligns with how memories are actually formed.
Spaced learning uses intense learning periods of 20 minutes, interspersed with 10 minute intervals of physical exercise that requires hand-eye coordination, such as juggling, basketball and plate spinning. Sounds barmy right? But the results are amazing. Students who took a 90 minute class on biology had a 58% pass rate. A year late taking another science subject and this time four months of conventional class study the pass rate went up to only 68%.
The technique is fast and uses “hooks” and visual cues to stimulate the learning points. How can you introduce gaps in your presentations where the audience can take abreak, move around and then be ready for a quick review when they return. You need different versions of your presentations. Insert “check slides” which have gaps in the key messages and ask the audience to fill in the missing words. Have handouts that ask key questions about the messages. Insert more five minute breaks (keep it to exactly 5 minutes though!) and don’t be afraid to go back to skim through your slides. Above all, dump your text-based slides for visuals that use pictures and slogans. Make your slides resemble billboards.
First used by Shakespeare’s As You Like It, the phrase “too much of a good thing” is wise. It’s usually used to mean “too much of a good thing is not always good”. When it comes to information that is certainly true. Considering that the average Sunday newspaper with its numerous section pull outs and glossy magazines contains as much information as our grandfathers came across in their whole lives, it’s no wonder that we feel that information is overloading our poor brains. It’s like the Niagara Falls pouring into an egg-cup. Massively overpowering. Ultimately pointless.
The causes of information overload are never-ending with 24-hour cable TV, the internet, video games, messaging, newspapers, magazines, blogs, wikipedia, and social networking. It never stops. And, on the main, it’s completely useless. It provides no productive or creative use. Sure, we all go to the web to “research”. But three hours later we are not entirely sure which brand of MP3 player we should buy. The choice is overwhelming to the point of drowning out our ability to make decisions effectively.
So armed with this knowledge, what do most business presenters do? They prepare the most information-heavy presentations they can cram into a PowerPoint slide. Slide after slide of text. Data packed into font size 8 tables. Reams and reams of bullet points, which really don’t have a point. Why would any presenter in their right mind do this?
Whatever the reasons, you need to start cutting down on the information you deliver to your audience. Use no more than 10 slides for a presentation. Use graphics and pictures instead of text. Build up a photo database that you can reference while you are preparing your presentations. A picture speaks a thousand words and more importantly, it’s memorable.
Today’s tip covers two aspects of presentations and presenting. First, a presentation is linear. Second, the best presenter uses random access methods throughout their presentation.
Let’s start with the presentation. A presentation is a linear form of communication. While you are speaking, the audience has no idea of the words you can going to speak next. They may have an idea of the gist if you are presenting with clarity – but the actual words are unknown to them until you speak. And then, once spoken, there is no way that the audience can go back to what you have just said unless they interrupt you and ask you to repeat yourself (annoying) or they have one of those global remote controls that Adam Sandler had in the movie, Click (freaky).
Compare this form of communication with reading a book. At any time, you can jump ahead to read the next few pages or even read the last page like Billy Crystal’s character in When Harry met Sally. Or if you wish to stop and reflect on a paragraph you just read, you can. This method of communication is called random access. Using the internet is very much a random access experience with all the distractions of hyperlinks.
Today’s digital natives have grown up with a completely different approach to accessing information (learning). In the past, knowledge was passed from one generation to the next through the spoken traditions of storytelling which evolved into lecturing (how did that happen?). This took a further evolution into PowerPoint slides which have done more than any other tool to stifle learning in the business world. It’s not the software’s fault, just the way we use it. Today with the internet, we learn by using wikipedia, accessing interest-specific forums, seeing what our friends recommend and see how other people rate the problems through digg or delicious.
If I want to find a software or fix an IT problem, I could go and listen to my IT guy give me a long-winded explanation about something completely (to my mind) irrelevant. Linear communication. Or I could jump online and google the problem. Check what people with similar problems are saying on computer forums, search computer web sites for software. Check out their credibility on wiki. And then perhaps ask some friends via Twitter and Facebook. Random access communication.
Your challenge as a presenter is to use more random access methods of communication while you are presenting to give your audience the chance to make the learning experience their own. Examples include, discussion within a group at their tables, doing online research, reviewing notes and re-presenting or interpreting the learning points via a case study or role play. How else can you provide jump off points for your audience?
Whether you like marshmallows or not, a four-year-old child certainly does. What’s not to like? Chewy, sweet, synthetic colorful lumps of candy. But how long can a child go between a marshmallow? This was tested in the 1960s and brainy psychologists worked out that the longer a child could hold out – the higher their IQ and generally well-roundedness later in life.
Daniel Goleman has suggested that an important component of emotional intelligence is a concept called “delayed gratification”. People who lack this trait are said to need instant gratification and may suffer from poor impulse control.
The need for instant gratification is a feature of digital natives regardless of whether they like marshmallows or not. But what has this got to do with presenting? You don’t need to be a insightful commentator to realise that the developed world is trending towards instant gratification. We are continually informed with our mobile phones, blogs and now Facebook and Twitter (instant gratification of connectedness). Online shopping means we can continue when the shopping mall closes (some never do!)(instant gratification of consumption). Reality shows, Pop Idol imitations all contribute to this trend (instant gratification of popularity).
Back to presenting, what this means for you is that your audience is increasingly likely to expect a reward during your presentation. A reward? You mean just listening to my presentation is not enough to keep the audience happy? Don’t they know how smart, witty and insightful I am?
So what rewards can you use with your demanding audience? It doesn’t need to cost you anything. Let the audience be a part of the ‘journey’, let them take part and participate along with you as the guide. A presentation shouldn’t be a dump of information, it should be a joint discovery. If you ever feel that your presentations are becoming too predictable and canned, it’s time to change it up. Enjoy the journey!
Toddlers, goldfish and puppies are not the most especially attentive of audiences. But you can learn a lot from their attention spans. There’s short. And they won’t hang around if they feel bored.
Does your audience ever feel bored? This often happens when you present too much information with not enough time to connect the dots with vivid examples and practical applications. The result? Very little digestion and a completely unmotivated audience.
Brain studies have shown that using graphics (images, charts, pictures) first while introducing a topic the retention and interest goes up. Digital natives – who have grown up with interactive technology (video games, internet) like to think in fast bursts. Use graphics to quickly show a path, overview a topic or summarise findings.
Goldfishes are not known for having long memories. But to be honest, today’s audiences can often resemble goldfishes. But that’s your fault. Test it. Ask someone who has listened to your presentation one week later, what some of the key messages were and you will be amazed if they even remember listening to the presentation. Boring information is like watching paint dry: it takes up some time and then you forget all about it. Instead of delivering a “watermelon” of information to your audience, use spaced learning techniques. Help your audience recall key points but going back to them during the presentation, refreshing them after breaks, inserting colorful summary slides or graphics and giving quick “Q&A quizzes” throughout the day. The more you create chances for your audience to deepen their understanding, the higher their memory retention.
(Wo)man’s best friend he may be, but a puppy can be a real handful. Puppies learn through play and massive amounts of interactivity. They bring a digital native attitude to learning. Growing up playing PlayStation, Xbox, and countlesss other handheld consoles, digital natives expect all experiences to be “fun”. Work and learning included.
Yes. It’s important to treat yourself seriously and be good at what you do. But don’t treat your presentation too seriously if you want your audience to stay engaged and remember what your key messages are. Humour works. But even if you are not that funny, high amounts of interactivity will help you keep your audience awake. Pop quizzes, short discussion, role plays, two-player face offs (PK games) will all help increase interaction and keep the energy alive!
