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How can you keep the attention of your audience? Part 2
Last month I revealed 3 out of a total of 5 laws of attention that you can use during your presentation to keep the attention of your audience. These were: the law of largeness, the law of strength and the law of movement. Find down below the final two laws that will keep your audience glued to their chairs! (At the end of the newsletter you may find a concise summarization of all the laws with tips).
The final two laws of attention:
4) Law of familiarity: When we recognize something, attention will be drawn to it. Movies and theatre play into universal feelings all the time. Stand up comedians are especially kings in the law of familiarity to attract attention. They make us laugh about ourselves, cause it is so recognizable.
Tips for you based on the law of familiarity:
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Use examples that are known to your audience!
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Use metaphors that make a complex thing understandable, cause you compare it to something that is familiar to your audience.
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Use anecdotes. Everybody will recognize something in a good anecdote. They will find comparisons to something they once experienced themselves.
5) Law of order. A structured and well arranged story is easier to follow and will get more attention. A good director knows the effect of a good structure to generate the maximum effect. A good structured story, will give the audience a better grip. To have a better grip, will make it easier to understand. If the story is well understood, the better the chances will be that the message will get across. The ultimate goal of a director and playwright! And the ultimate goal of a presenter.
Tips for you based on the law or order:
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Make sure you have a well structured story.
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Mention your structure in your introduction, it will create attention. You will make your audience hungry for what will come.
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Do not use sentences or explanations that are too elaborate, it will take too much of the attention span of your audience. People will lose grip and overview and as a result, attention will be lost.
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Use clear structure indicators during your presentation. Such as: firstly, secondly, now we have come, to go back to the beginning, in 2 minutes I will, this relates to …….
Now that you are aware of the five laws of attention and tips to bring them into practice, I would like to say, go ahead and experiment! Try implementing one or two things you normally do not make conscious use of and see what happens! You do not need to wait for you next presentation, what about implementing a thing or two in your next conversation? Good luck!
Kind regards,
Mabel Frumau
www.presentingwithimpact.nl
Short overview of all the 5 laws of attention with tips:
1) Law of largeness. Something that is large will get more attention.
Tips for you based on the law of largeness:
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It is better to stand instead of sitting down.
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Do not stand too far away from your audience
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Big gestures will catch attention.
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Be aware where the essential parts in your "presentation play" are and make sure you make them large by; moving up front, pausing, using gestures and emphasizing.
2) Law of strength. Speaking strongly (powerful) generates attention.
Tips for you based on the law of strength:
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Talk a bit louder (more powerful) than that you normally do.
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Speak more powerful and with more emphasis if you come to an essential part or sentence of your presentation.
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Talk TO your audience literally. See the vibration in air (sound), in a bow landing down on your public. It is funny, but doing this talking TO your audience instead of keeping the sound to yourself, literally makes more connection than just talking and thereby generates attention.
3) Law of movement. Something that moves, grabs our attention. What is fixed or sounds the same continuously, we will no longer see or think about. Therefore the message is variation!
Tips for you based on the law of movement:
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Gestures and expression in your face will attract attention.
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Use variation! Variation is movement! In audio-visual aids, volume, interaction, subjects, tempo etcetera. After talking about theory, mention an example that clearly illustrates what you have been talking about. Show pictures demonstrating what you have been talking about, instead of heaping up pieces of theory one after another.
4) Law of familiarity: When we recognize something, attention will be drawn to it.
Tips for you based on the law of familiarity:
-
Use examples that are know to your audience!
-
Use metaphors that make a complex thing understandable, cause you compare it to something that is familiar to your audience.
-
Use anecdotes. Everybody will recognize something in a good anecdote. The audience will find comparisons to something they once experienced themselves.
5) Law of order. A structured and well arranged story is easier to follow and will get more attention and will therefore be better remembered.
Tips for you based on the law or order:
-
Make sure you have a well structured story.
-
Mention your structure in your introduction, it will create attention. You will make them hungry for what will come.
-
Do not use sentences that are too long, it will take too much of the attention span of your audience. People will lose grip and overview and as a result attention will be lost.
-
Use clear structure indicators during your presentation. Such as, firstly, secondly, now we have come, to go back to the beginning, in 2 minutes I will, this relates to ……..
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Source 5 laws of attention: website Vergouwen en Overduin
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