The average sustained attention span of a typical adult is 20 minutes long.
Audience attention is vital for effective communication, but it is not an easy thing to hold onto. Studies show that presenters need to grab the attention of their audience within the first 8 seconds of the presentation.
In the first few minutes of any talk, audience members are alert and engaged. They are paying attention to the presenter’s mood and mannerisms, the information is new, and the content is refreshing. Thoughts like “This looks like it’s going to be interesting” or “I wonder what this person has to say” are a general consensus.
After 10 minutes, attentiveness starts to wane. People pay listen sporadically and forget what the previous slide was about. After 20 minutes, half of the listeners are thinking about something else and not focused on the topic or speaker.
The root problem lies not in the minds of the audience members, but in the quality of the presentation delivery. Business meetings and presentations often fail to capture attenntion in the way that a sporting event or a drama on television does. The pace of new material and the style of delivery is often an issue.
An interactive response system and audience polling changes this paradigm. Presenter can add polls, survey questions, ranking exercises, and discussion questions to their PowerPoint presentations. Audience members respond to these questions with wireless keypads, tablets and smart phones. The results are instantly tabulated and displayed for analysis and comparison. Using audience polling engages the kinesthetic learning styles of participants, making the dissemination of information easier to process and retain.
Keypads force participants to interact with the material being presented, enhancing the learning experience. In an instructional setting, the presenter speaks to the audience, with the information lost or retained. Studies show that attentiveness and retention increase by 25% or more when a response system is used.
Suddenly, presentations engage the minds of the audience. When a discussion question is displayed or a slide prompts participants to vote, those audience members that might have been straying from the topic are steered back into focus. Their feedback is instantly gathered.
Interactive learning games are another polling tool to boost engagement. Session attendees can compete as teams are individuals using their handheld device. People are naturally competitive and their energy and focus increases with the "gamification" of the meeting experience.
Response system software can be used for audiences of hundreds or thousands of people. Every person’s response is accounted for each time the keypads are used. Presenters can gauge the needs of the audience and adjust their presentation accordingly. Audience members will see how they are responding and learn from their peers as as well as the presenter.
Traditionally, full engagement of audience members could only be accessed through complicated exercises. (See how this creative college professor did it via some experimentation with his own shadow. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blOrY-nEGaE) With a response system, increased audience engagement is easier to achieve.
Mike McCleary, Training & Safety Specialist – Electric Cities of Georgia
“I have found it to be a great addition to our classes. It forces even the least communicative of the group to join in the conversation. I will occasionally have someone that isn’t interested in participating. By simply telling the group, ‘We are missing one’ they have to ring in so the class can continue.”
