Audience Engagement and the Keynote Speaker
Posted by Jody Urquhart on Fri, Dec 24, 2010 @ 01:25 PM
Meeting Planners and the keynote speaker need to actively nurture attention to keep an audience engaged. It is harder today to compel people to pay attention because in the digital world the attention span has evolved to be less than 3 seconds at a time.
Constant stimulation on the world wide web is customized to the audience. This is what we compete with in a keynote presentation or seminar. Add to this only 3 per cent of professionals get eight hours of sleep every night of the working week.
Exhausted, bleary eyed professionals get up early, jacked up with caffeine to attend the opening keynote presentation. A keynote speaker with alot of energy just doesn't cut it anymore. Audiences demand cutting edge content, humor, entertainment, fast paced delivery catered to the audience and inspiration to boot.
The best motivational speeches evoke curiousity and evolve into strategies that compel and audience to change. Getting the audience attention and continually nurturing it is the most important part. Here are some ideas to garner inspiration:
- Mix it up. Use interaction, humor,props,analogy,powerpoint
- Keep it human. i find the personal stories and examples engage me the most.
- Compel people to make a difference. A speech should unfold to one main thing the audience needs to do differently.
Happy Holidays to everyone! 2011 will be an inspiration to everyone.
Motivational Speaker Jody Urquhart