If you had $1000
for every second that you've
spent being bored by a speech,
presentation or meeting
what could you buy?
Do you:
Dread
sitting in meetings?
Loathe
attending analyst presentations?
Abhor
listening to political speeches?
Resent
being preached to?
Detest
being assaulted by charts, graphs
and numbers without meaning?
Scoff at
PowerPoint missing the point?
Even the news channels have
become boringly predictable:
lots of shouting about the Clintons
and Trump (from both sides,)
lots of commentary from
personalities you wouldn't
voluntarily have a cup of coffee
with and endless debate
about the polls.
Do they think this really
entertains us?
Or do they just believe that
we have nothing better to do?
Time is really the only
thing that we give freely.
And Time is one of the
only things we can't get back.
So shouldn't we be more outraged
by pundits, politicians and presenters
wasting our time?
Perhaps we are.
Perhaps it's a smoldering, quiet,
somewhat cynical outrage that
accompanies us when we are
required to experience "boring."
Perhaps, just perhaps,
we are all so jaded by
failed attempts to engage us
in any way whatsoever,
that the act of
paying attention
is what we are
most stingy with.
You have less than ten seconds
to capture my attention.
After that, you have to
constantly fight to maintain it.
You think ten seconds
is too short?
Right now look at your clock
and watch ten seconds go by.
Now you tell me that it's too short
a time for you to issue a compelling
wake up call?
If you waste ten seconds of air time
with a colorless answer you have
lost the attention battle.
That's why we teach people
that it's imperative to come to an
interview with an arsenal of color.
And that color better be vibrant
and full of contrasts. Pastels
and muted earth tones don't
register in the impression zone.
Keep in mind that the audience
always has the option
to tune you out.
As a result you must strategically
build an element of unpredictability
into your presentation.
If you can predict where an
interview or presentation is going
don't you tune out?
Boring, by the way, can just as
easily be a product of bad delivery
as a result of bad content.
If you bore you,
you're bound to bore us too.
So the next time you even think
about going public remember
that you have to earn an
audience's attention.
They'll give you some time;
but never give away their attention.