Distractions! They are everywhere, and can drive us on the road to exasperation, especially when we are sitting in the audience and find that we seriously have to work at tuning both ears to what the speaker is saying. All too often, something quite unrelated comes in to nudge away at our attention, and our first urge is to fight it. Deep down, I think most of us feel that we are reasonably good at paying attention, particularly when we have paid hard-earned dollars to be somewhere, and listen to what a speaker has to say. However, over the years I’ve realized that this is not always the case.
While I can do a number of things reasonably well, and some of them very well, I’ve come to realize that the ability to pay attention, especially for long periods of time isn’t one of 
them. Getting distracted seems to happen quite effortlessly. For example, at a banquet or conference where people will be speaking, as they often do on those occasions … and have paid money to be there, it doesn’t take much to shift from the 100% attention to getting distracted and focused on other things, totally unrelated. Distractions zap attention!
Of course, in terms of extreme distractions, the worst thing that can happen is having a fire alarm sound, or sprinklers go off, or paramedics rush in. The audience attention is now focused on the emergency, and the speaker is forgotten. By the time the sirens, sprinklers and emergencies have been addressed, either the speaker’s time is up, or it is time for everyone to go home.
Even when a speaker is quite riveting, we can find our attention waning if we are too cold, too hot or seated too close to someone else. It could be light coming through a window, the buzz of air conditioning or someone just walking by an open door. And, distractions don’t always have to be loud or obvious: someone’s perfume, a knowing glance, someone texting, someone softly talking, and if we’re hungry, the smells from the kitchen will outweigh any call to action the speaker may have, unless it is “Let’s break for lunch.” Truly, it does not take much to bite into that 100% attention we promise to give.
Without a doubt, it can be tough work for speakers to keep an audience’s attentive for the entire time of their talk. Any professional who has taken on the challenge of speaking before a group knows that it is important to have a clear idea of their speaking environment before they ever stand up to say a few words. Checking out the
- size of the room
- layout
- acoustics
- lighting
- sound system
- stage or lack of one
- seating arrangements
- open spaces
- number of attendees
are just a few of what could be a speaker’s considerations. After all, what speaker wants their audience to thinking about something other than what he or she has to say?
So, as both a speaker, and as someone who sits in the audience listening to other speakers, I’m always shocked when speakers give the audience members ‘unwritten’ permission to put their attention elsewhere. Every time a speaker stands up in front of an audience, it is a one-time opportunity. So why give the people who came to hear you, an opportunity to go elsewhere in their mind?
For example, not too long ago I was at a speaking event where ‘jewellery’ was the distraction. Even though my local jeweller would go bankrupt at how little I buy, still, I love the look and sound of jewellery as it sparkles and dangles, and sometimes makes little clinking noises……….unless those noises are close to a microphone. The presenter came on stage to great applause. Everyone, including me was on edge and engaged at what the presenter had to say. While I didn’t mean for it to happen, I found myself getting side-tracked. As the person continued my attention moved from focusing on the speaker’s words to the sound of the speaker’s metal earrings as they jingled ever so gently. Of course, the more I wanted to listen to the speaker, the more I ended up paying attention to the earrings. Duh, so much for will power and self-discipline.
Becoming more disciplined in paying attention might be an obstacle that I won’t overcome in this lifetime, but all of us put in our best effort. Earrings, bracelets, watches hitting the microphone, squeaky shoes, squeaky stages, repetitive ands, ums and er’s, visuals that are identical to the words coming out of the speaker’s mouth… all work at whittling away our attention.
On the plus, however, zapping our attentiveness gives us something to talk about. If we happen to miss a point or fail to hear what the speaker was saying, we still likely leave with a take-away; something to talk about on the way home … and that is the ‘distraction that zapped our attention’. Either way, we will remember the speaker, though it might be far removed from the point he or she was trying to make.
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