Questions and answers about human communication
 


Getting and keeping attention in public speaking

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Why are some presenters and public speakers boring and others not?

There are lots of things that separate the boring speaker from the interesting one. We'll focus on one.

All human beings are hard-wired to react to change around them. It's an evolutionary device that helps protect us from threat in the environment. When thing change around us, we pay attention.

On the flip side, things in the environment that are constant or unchanging do not create attention. In fact they quickly fade into the background as we "habituate" (get used to). Think about sounds that, initially, may be annoying, but with experience are not heard.

The same thing applies to public speaking. When a speaker is "constant" and doesn't introduce elements of change into the environment the audience has trouble paying attention and focusing. For example, someone who stands at a lectern, unmoving and speaks in a fairly consistent tone of voice lulls people to sleep.

A speaker who moves around, uses different tones and speaking speeds, uses audio-visual aids to introduce change to the audience, will appear to be dynamic.

So, that's one of the things that distinguishes between boring and dynamic speakers. Dynamic speakers use and introduce more change for the audience, making it easier for them to focus, and pay attention.

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