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.