E-Tips

Get The Sage Off Stage

As speakers, we all fight the effects of brain chemistry. During a one hour presentation, for example, somewhere between the 12 and 18 minute mark, most everyone has a brief brain meltdown. When they come back, the next attention break happens between 8 and 12 minutes. People's ability to pay attention continues to decline to the end of the presentation.

So, what can we do? Get 'em involved, that's what. For years, one study after another has shown that lecturing to people doesn't work, by any criteria we can think of: retention, attention, speaker and program evaluation, etc. When we deal with smart, motivated people in the world of work, they have experience that needs to be tapped and shared. Here are some ways to do it.

Simplest ways - Ask involving literal or rhetorical questions. This focuses their attention.

More complex - Do a "round robin." This works with a smaller group. Ask people for their opinions or input about a topic. Then simply point to people and go around the room getting responses. Everyone is included in this manner.

More complex, still - Ask people to get with a partner, or form triads and talk about a relevant issue. You can then have them bring what they come up with into the bigger group, i.e. "five ways to sell against the competition." They will usually hit on the topics you feel are most important, and planned to address anyway. Now, though, they are much more involved.

All of these exercises not only help you fight the fatigue factor that comes with straight talk, but it also results in greater retention because people are more involved.

When we involve audience members, we treat them with respect. We change our relationship from what theologian Martin Buber called an "I-it" relationship to an "I-Thou" relationship. Guaranteed - learning, retention and your evaluations will all go way up. Get the sage off stage!