How to engage an audience in seven seconds.
It sounds impossible.
If you had to deliver a presentation in just seven seconds, could you do it?
It’d be tough.
However, it can be a great way to consider your introduction.
Attention spans are short. And they’re only getting shorter. Studies show an average of seven seconds to capture someone’s attention.
For context, goldfish average eight seconds.
Another thing to blame on all the scrolling and swiping of social media.
The solution?
Get to the point. Fast.
The Pyramid of Communication
At Pink Elephant, we work with the Pyramid of Communication.
This basically means starting with the main message, the most important thing to the audience.
Ask yourself, what’s in it for them? Why should they stay and listen?
‘Let me tell you how I’m going to make you more money.’
‘Let me tell you how I’m going to save your time.’
‘Let me tell you how I’m going to make your life better.’
I imagine a lot of us would find these introductions interesting.
Failing to put the audience first risks losing them. They’ll disengage.
What would you rather hear about first? A 2–3 minute background story offering context and history (possibly lots of information you already know)? Or ‘here’s how we can save 20% on our costs this year’?
Clarity beats chronology.
Once we’ve done this, as the pyramid cascades down and out, we can start to introduce the important-but-less-relevant details.
Background, context, history. Even our name and job title can wait.
As we continue and add in the details, we need something to guide us to our finish.
This is the final point of the pyramid: the Call to Action.
What do you want our audience to think, feel, or do at the end of your presentation?
It’s important this is clear. It’s equally important to keep it to one simple request for what you’d like the audience to do next.
Paddlers, Swimmers, and Divers
Imagine you’re at the beach on a nice, sunny day.
I’m writing this on a rainy day in Glasgow, Scotland, so this is proving difficult to imagine.
Anyway, you look out to the water, and you’ll see lots of people splashing around.
Some are just dipping their toes in and getting their feet wet.
Others are swimming out slightly farther.
And some are braving the depths by diving down to explore what’s below the surface.
It’s the same with presentations.
Some people just want the ‘top line.’ The most important thing. And then they switch off.
Others want a bit more information. They’ll keep going further down the pyramid.
And finally, the divers. They want every single detail.
If we structure our pyramid correctly, every single one of these audience members gets what they want. And you’re likely to keep them engaged for as long as their attention span allows.
Whilst it’d be great to keep every single audience member for the whole presentation, this is unrealistic.
The pyramid is designed to make sure that when you do drop out, they’ve got the information they need.
Time to practise
Next time you’re rehearsing your presentation, record it.
We’ll always encourage you to go through the discomfort of recording a presentation and playing it back.
In this case, it allows you to pause after seven seconds. If you were in the audience, would you decide to keep listening?
Does it pass the ” so what?’ test?
How to engage an audience in seven seconds
If you’d like a deeper analysis of your presentation structure, and many other tools and techniques, here’s my Call to Action…
Get in touch with Pink Elephant to see how our training can support your next presentation.
Photos in How to engage an audience in seven seconds by Pink Elephant Communications.
How to engage an audience in seven seconds was written by Stuart Fenwick and edited by Maxine Montgomery.
