The shrinking attention span is a myth. But that doesn't necessarily mean your audience is paying attention. Here's what you can do as a public speaker to ensure your audience stays attentive and retains your message during your next presentation.
Briggs says that how a person applies attention to different tasks depends on what that individual brings to the particular situation. What task are they trying to complete? What is their previous experience with similar tasks? What else are they trying to accomplish at the same time? These are factors Briggs says can change audience’s attention levels.
For instance, while listening to a keynote speaker, an audience member might be trying to grasp a concept that they hope will change their life. Likely they’ve attended other keynotes in the past--some that have revolutionized their thinking, some that left them flat. While listening to the current keynote, they may also be trying to decide which session to attend next, wondering if they remembered to bring their hotel key or worrying about who they will eat dinner with.
For example, what is your audience’s script for attending a presentation? A colleague of mine remembers showing up to an astronomy class where for the first few minutes, no professor showed up. Then, all of a sudden, someone in the third row started talking, raising questions about astronomy. It was the professor! He was sitting in the middle of the class, starting his lecture from his seat! The simple act of changing the script immediately caught the attention of a hundred undergraduates.
Briggs stresses that each person will differ in what they bring to the situation and how much attention they apply--so flipping the script may be effective for some and not others.
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