3 Seconds…That’s all it takes to lose your audience. It is also all it takes to grab their attention – if you know how.
Back in the ’80s, some research was done on readers’ reactions to direct response ads in the printed press. It concluded that an ad had 3.2 seconds in which to answer three important questions: What is it? Is it for me? How do I get it? Only then would the ad’s body copy get read.
That research is probably the origin of the often-quoted 3 seconds to grab attention which features regularly in Marketing matters.
It’s true of ads, it’s true of articles, it’s true of websites, and it’s also true of live presentations. Fortunately it is relatively simple to avoid the common mistakes that lose the audience, and replace them with attention-grabbing alternatives. But first, let’s consider why people switch off so quickly.
Widespread Attention Deficit
There is a form of Attention Deficit Disorder that afflicts the overwhelming majority of adults in the Western world. Here’s why: we are all subjected to vast amounts of messages every day: emails, letters, junk mail, newspapers, magazines, posters, radio, television, websites, labels, product logos, telephone calls, show window displays, and many more.
It is estimated that there are about 150 million websites, with over 30 billion web pages. That’s a lot of reading material, screaming for attention. In the UK alone, some 130,000 new books are published each year (190,000 in the US). Walk into any newsagent’s and look at the array of magazines all screaming for attention. A supermarket may have 30,000 different products on display, all demanding attention.
We can’t take them all in, so we have been trained to switch off. We decide very quickly if we want to continue paying attention.
Why attention wanders
In live presentations, there is another factor in play. You may be presenting at an average of 150 words a minute, but your audience can think at an average of 500 words a minute. That leaves them with a surplus capacity of 350 words a minute. That capacity does not lie dormant while you are presenting. It processes random thoughts. It also processes what you are saying, if they do not understand or agree with what you have just said.
That means your audience will dip in and out of your presentation. You need to understand that it is happening and take the appropriate steps to counter it. Let me ask you this: have you ever pretended to listen to someone else, nodding your head and murmuring “uh-huh” while you were actually thinking about where to go that evening? We all do it. So plan to deal with it.
The vital first 3 seconds
But let’s stay with the printed word (and emails) for now. What can you do to grab attention in those vital first three seconds? And in the 10 or 15 seconds after that?
The two most important rules are: direct and succinct.
Get to the point quickly. Don’t creep up on your listeners. Whatever it is that you are trying to tell them, they want to know it NOW. Remember the three vital questions in direct marketing?
Question One: What is it? Declare it quickly.
Question Two: Is it for me? So make it appealing, and relevant.
Question Three: How do I get it? Answer – by listening to the rest of what I’m going to tell you.
Relate this to your own behaviour, and accept that it will be matched by the behaviour of those you want to reach. Most emails are judged by the Subject line, and instantly discarded. Advertisements fail if their headlines do not grab the intended audience. That’s where you must spend time in crafting an appealing message. Websites are abandoned if they do not meet expectations within seconds.
Attention span of a goldfish
Let’s now turn to spoken communication. Why do you need to be succinct when speaking or presenting in a business context? Because the threshold of boredom is very low, and most people’s concentration spans are about the same as a goldfish.
No one’s communication is 100% effective. As you know, you can attend a seminar and hear the most incredible, stimulating message that fires your imagination and inspires you to greater things … and retain only a fraction of what you heard. So let’s assume that communication is 50% effective and see the implications.
In an 8 hour working day:
- We spend about 4 hours listening to what others are saying
- We hear about 2 hours’ worth
- We actually pay attention to only half – about one hour’s worth
- We understand about half – 30 minutes’ worth
- We believe half of what we understand – about 15 minutes’ worth
- We remember half of that – about 7.5 minutes’ worth
OK, you don’t have to take that literally, but isn’t that a sobering thought? If you are a business leader with words of wisdom for your team, just consider how little is retained and acted upon. If you are involved in sales, think how little of your message remains to motivate your clients when you have left the scene.Staying on track
The two essential elements of effective communication, are focus and structure. By focus I mean having a clearly defined message, and knowing what you want your listeners to know. By structure I mean a prepared sequence that keeps you on track and helps your listeners to follow you.
Here’s a simple structure or sequence that could serve as a template for making a proposition:
1. Hook: something that captures the attention
2. Map: tell them what you are going to talk about
3. Core message: give them the heart of your message and why it is relevant to them
4. Fill in the detail, building up their interest, and leaving out the stuff that belongs in brackets
5. A quick summary followed immediately by the action you want them to take
In informal conversation, the structure can be much tighter:
1. Say something startling or unexpected on the subject
2. Deliver your core message in a way that prompts them to say, “Tell us more”
3. Give more detail, but briefly. Conversations are not speeches.
Leonard Bernstein, of West Side Story fame, was once approached by a young man who said he had an idea for a new musical. “Write it on the back of your business card,” said Bernstein. When the man protested that he couldn’t fit it on his card, Bernstein replied, “Then it isn’t ready.”
Further Information
Phillip Khan-Panni is CEO of PKP Communicators, and the UK’s first and only World Silver Medallist in Public Speaking. For guidance on succinct communication, read his book, Getting Your Point Across. Or contact Phillip at: Phillip@pkpcommunicators.com.
Download this page in PDF format