While giving a presentation to a group of sales representatives, I noticed their phones seemed to have a magnetic effect on their hands. Some seemed to be taking notes on their computers—but I had no way to tell if they were memorializing my brilliant ideas or catching up on their emails. I was speaking to them, ironically, about communication. They were genuinely interested in my topic, but they found it hard to concentrate. They were a distracted audience.

Distraction is here to stay. Research shows that people distract themselves every few seconds. Whether they are daydreaming or feeling the urge to grab their phone, they are not fully in the moment. The universal presence of smartphones and tablets provides an endless supply of diversions, ranging from emails to articles to that old standby, Candy Crush. Gone are the days when, as in the Lincoln-Douglas political debates in 1858, the audience sat attentively for hours while each speaker presented his case. Now we are lucky to get someone to go 10 minutes without looking at their phone. So how can we capture the audience before they pick up their device?

Classic Ideas for Capturing Focus

Plan your speeches to anticipate audience distractibility and use these tips to increase the likelihood that your audience will pay attention.

Put your main point first. People are paying the most attention at the beginning of your message. Start with a hook that grabs their attention, such as a question, statistic, anecdote, or quotation. Then deliver the main message within the first two minutes to ensure it is received. Don’t start with history or background. Cut to the chase.

Use clear, simple language. If you simplify your speech to a primary school level, people will find you easier to understand. Even if you know that all your listeners are college grads, if you speak at a secondary-grade level (e.g., 12th grade), they are likely to disengage.

Language level is a combination of sentence length and vocabulary. Vary the length and rhythm of your sentences but keep your average length low. Use short, familiar words in place of vocabulary that you think will make you sound smart. Instead of utilize, say use. Instead of taking it under consideration, say considering. Don’t say prior to; instead, say before.

How Can We Retain Our Audience’s Attention?

Even if you’ve prepared a knockout speech, your listeners are likely to feel twinges of distraction. Given the atmosphere we live in, how can we retain our audience’s attention?

First, realize that people pay attention to what they find valuable. Your audience will make a snap judgment when you begin speaking, deciding whether your material will benefit them. Demonstrate unequivocally that listening to you is the best thing they will do all day.

Even after you have won your audience members’ attention, you will have to work to keep them engaged. Marianne Fleischer, speechwriter and presentation skills coach at Fleischer Communication, has decades of experience helping presenters lasso the wandering listener. She points out that most people have an “automatic guessing machine”—they believe they know what you are going to say, so they don’t have to listen to you. She suggests that speakers disrupt this automatic process. Here are a few ways to re-engage your listeners.

• Ask a big question. Challenge your listeners by asking them a riveting question such as, “Why do you think we’re here today?” or “What do you think is the biggest cause of business failures in our society today?” Get them talking and let them share a bit of their own experience—they will then be more likely to listen to you.
• Tell a killer anecdote tailored to the audience: Always have two great, targeted anecdotes ready to go in case you need to bring back a distracted crowd.
• Change something. If you’re standing up, sit down. If you’re sitting, pop up from your chair. Walk around the room. Walk to the other side of the podium. Say something funny. Surprise them.

These tips will help you keep your listeners on their toes. When they don’t know whether you’re about to pop a question or call on them, they will be more alert.

Speaking to an Online Audience

The tips listed above will help you create powerful presentations, but challenges linger when speaking online. For example, it’s frustrating when people keep their cameras turned off. Speaking to a sea of black boxes does not inspire great performance.

If many people in your audience have turned off their video, point out that it is more respectful to other group members if people turn on their cameras. If you are a manager or instructor, you can say that having the camera on is required. When I present online writing training, I always call on people without cameras to answer questions first.

People pay attention to what they find valuable.

When people work on multiple screens as you speak, it’s tough to keep their attention. Multitasking is rampant despite research showing that it ultimately makes people less productive. People feel more productive when they are juggling six balls in the air, and they may be unwilling to let their other work wait while they listen to you. If I see someone looking down at their phone or at another screen, I call on them, asking them to answer a question or comment on something I have just said. We need to keep bringing them back to our presentation.

By accepting that some people are bound to be distracted during your presentation and preparing to deal with distractions, you will find it easier to keep your cool when someone in your audience pulls their phone out of their pocket and starts scrolling while you’re speaking. Provide solid value, put verve in your voice, and keep the audience on its toes: You’ll win back your listeners’ attention.

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Cultivating Authenticity as a Speaker

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Ron, a middle manager at an automotive parts company, had the chance to make a good impression on top executives by giving a presentation at a company wide meeting. Though he was naturally a gregarious person, he felt he should adopt a more formal persona.

He carefully scripted the whole presentation, even practicing where and when he would gesture with his hands. The big day came. In his attempt to follow the script, he neglected to make eye contact with his audience. Struggling to remember when to move his hands, he used gestures that didn’t match his words. In the end, he came off as wooden and off-base. He seemed inauthentic and did not elicit his listeners’ attention and agreement.

Clara, who spoke after Ron, took a different approach. Clara was comfortable with herself and did not feel the need to present a different persona to her audience. She studied her facts until she could quote the major ideas from memory. Without notes, she spoke openly to her audience and held their attention. She knew as she finished that she had successfully connected with her listeners. Later, the head of her division praised her for being sincere and authentic.

What Does It Mean To Be Authentic?

The dictionary defines authenticity as being true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character. The word also describes something that is worthy of belief because it is genuine or true. By contrast, inauthenticity seems fake. Unfortunately, even a sincere speaker like Ron can project an inauthentic image if they are uncomfortable onstage.

Being authentic does not mean winging it or saying whatever is on your mind. It requires thought and preparation. Communications coach Nick Morgan writes in a Harvard Business Review article that since neither casual spontaneity nor traditional rehearsal leads to compelling communication, “You have to tap into the basic impulses underlying your speech. These should include four powerful aims: to be open, to connect, to be passionate, and to listen. Each of these aims informs nearly all successful presentations.”

The intention to openly connect to your audience and listen to their reactions guides authentic speaking. You can develop these foundations with the following elements of authenticity.

Know yourself.

Self-awareness is the underpinning of authenticity. After all, if you don’t know who you are and how you feel, how can you be your authentic self? Developing self-knowledge begins with having the courage to see yourself as you really are, including your imperfections, doubts, and fears.

You don’t need to blurt out your every anxiety when you speak, but by grounding yourself in the reality of who you are, you will make other people more comfortable. Judyth Jernudd, keynote speaker and founder of the Jernudd Company, a speaking and media coaching company headquartered in Los Angeles, California, reflects on her early career as a news anchor. “The producers told me, ‘We want you to be yourself. Don’t try to be anyone else.’ That was the best advice I ever had,” she says.

Know your audience.

To build your credibility, consider your audience members’ backgrounds, language patterns, and cultural mores. Customize the images and metaphors you use.

Frank Furness is the past president of the Professional Speakers Association of Europe and has worked in 69 countries. He says, “Your stories have to match the culture and you have to be aware of cultural sensitivities and maybe change some of your slides and presentation. Examples must also match the culture. If I speak in India and mention sports, I will speak about cricket, not American football. In Europe, I might speak about football (or soccer) and not basketball, as the audience needs to relate to what happens in their country.”

Your audience members need to feel that they have something in common with you. Building on pertinent cultural details helps achieve this goal.

Know your material.

It’s impossible to come across authentically when you are stumbling over facts or key elements of your message. Rehearse until you know your material cold. Review your notes repeatedly. Memorize vital details and statistics.

When you speak, your listeners expect you to tell them something they have not heard before. That means you need to be original. Furness adds, “The most important thing is to be genuine and use your own stories and material. Never copy anyone else.”

Paradoxically, it takes planning and effort to build an authentic presence. Here are three ways to build your authenticity.

1 Match your gestures and tone to your content.

Morgan, the communications coach, writes, “People’s natural and unstudied gestures are often indicators of what they will think and say next.” If we try to control our gestures, our words and motions might get out of sync and confuse our listeners.

Using rapid movements, “studied” gestures, nervous tics, and other physical tells can detract from your image of authenticity. Allow your hands to move naturally in sync with your words; don’t try to artificially connect certain words to specific movements.

“While it’s helpful to learn from those more experienced than you, imitating another person’s speaking style or gestures may come off as inauthentic and fake.”
—Lauren Kerwin, Ph.D.

“Sometimes new speakers watch videos of successful public speakers and try to imitate their style and/or mannerisms,” explains Lauren Kerwin, Ph.D., an associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, as well as a psychologist and a coach to business leaders. “While it’s helpful to learn from those more experienced than you, imitating another person’s speaking style or gestures may come off as inauthentic and fake.”

2 Be vulnerable, but don’t overshare.

Allowing yourself to show your humanity is a good thing. Blurting out overly personal information is not recommended. As Jernudd says, “Delivering a speech is not therapy.” Do not share overly personal information unless you are confident that doing so will not make anyone uncomfortable.

Sometimes, individuals think that being authentic means spouting out whatever is on their mind. They might say, “I’m just being honest and authentic by sharing my truth.” Saying whatever comes to mind is not being authentic. Authenticity includes emotional intelligence, which dictates that we should only share our thoughts when our audience is able to hear and understand them. For example, if you strongly disagree with something another speaker says, you can respectfully state your alternative view without sharing a negative opinion of the other person.

3 Don’t speak from a script.

Authenticity implies naturalness. Reading from a script is the opposite of natural. It is forced and often stilted. Moreover, it takes you away from connecting with your audience by limiting you to standing at a lectern and keeping your eyes on the script instead of your listeners.

As you speak, you should be scanning the audience—are they listening to and looking at you? Are they leaning forward to hear you or slumped back, waiting for you to finish? If you are reading from a script, you are likely to miss indicators about whether you are getting through to your audience.

Prepare carefully. Jot down your key points on a note card that you leave on the lectern in case you need to stroll by and look at them. Then let your language flow.

Cultivating self-awareness in your daily life is the best way to develop an authentic presence as a speaker. Be honest with yourself. Be truthful with others within the bounds of sensitivity. Walk through the world with integrity. You are the only you to ever exist: Let your true nature shine through when you speak, and you will always be authentic.

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Speaking to a Distracted Audience

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What does a man born in 384 BCE have to teach the modern writer? A lot. When I teach persuasive writing, participants are often amazed to learn that Aristotle, the Greek philosopher who taught the world about everything from chemistry to metaphysics, also contributed mightily to the study of rhetoric. Rhetoric is using language effectively and persuasively. And in this, Aristotle’s philosophy is as relevant today as it was 2,000 years ago.

Aristotle taught his students the art of persuasion. Today’s business people use persuasion daily. Managers must persuade employees to follow through on projects, entrepreneurs convince investors to fund their start-ups and sales professionals persuade prospects to buy. In short, the ability to persuade is a core element of business success.

Aristotle identified three possible approaches to persuasive arguments:

1. Ethos: The credibility of the speaker or author.
2. Pathos: The power of feelings and stories.
3. Logos: The power of logic and reason.

Each approach has strengths. When choosing which one to emphasize, analyzing your audience is key. Which approach is most likely to motivate your particular reader or readers in your specific situation?

Here’s a summary of Aristotle’s categories with suggestions for using them.

Ethos

Ethos is an appeal to the authority of the speaker. When you use ethos to persuade, your readers feel they can trust you. You can rely on ethos if you have outstanding professional credentials or hold advanced degrees. You can also use ethos if you have extensive experience in your field.

To build your ethos appeal, make yourself look and sound professional and unbiased. Use vocabulary that suits your station (not using overly informal language in a high-stakes business setting, for example). Introduce your expertise or experience. And please, use correct grammar and punctuation. Grammatical errors undermine your authority.

For example, if you want to sell data protection services to a prospect, you can choose which mode to emphasize. For an ethos appeal to the person who believes in buying a strong brand or industry leader, you could write:

“Our company has been in business for 25 years and has won numerous awards. Our team members come from the top universities in the world and are carefully selected for their technical acumen and integrity.”

That might work.

However, switch your approach to pathos if you want to make your readers’ hearts thump.

Pathos

Appealing to pathos means appealing to the heart. Every decision contains an element of emotion, so touch on your reader’s feelings with all your arguments.

To highlight your pathos appeal, make sure your tone matches your persuasive goal. You may be upbeat or depressing, depending on your circumstances. In addition, tell stories of emotional events–happy or sad. Your stories should match the way you want your readers to feel. Finally, paint a picture of the future with descriptive action words and vivid images.

If you know your prospect has recently had a close call with a data breach or if you have spoken to them and they have expressed anxiety about security, you might emphasize pathos like this:

“Data breaches cause devastating losses that may be impossible to repair. Your customers trust you with their personal data, and your reputation will suffer if a bad actor gains access to your network. We can help you avoid the specter of widespread data loss.”

While it’s true that people rely partially on pathos for persuasion, the argument must, in the end, make sense. Hence, logos.

Logos

Logos is an appeal to reason or logic. Business decisions must be rational; that’s why all business communications contain a dose of logos. Logos uses cold arguments -; facts, statistics, data, common sense -; to convince people rather than trying to appeal to their emotions.

If you want to score points on a logos argument, cite facts and statistics. Construct clear, logical arguments. Use sophisticated language, but never obfuscate. Stay concise and to the point. In the right circumstances, you can apply analogies.

For a logos argument to sell your data protection service, you might write:

“Nearly 60 percent of businesses suffered a data breach during the past three years. According to research by IBM, the average cost of a data breach is $9.44 million. Our firm has prevented 359 data breaches over the past three years. We can help you protect your data.”

You can see that the three-part persuasive model is still relevant today. Any of Aristotle’s persuasive approaches might work, depending on the audience. That’s why analyzing your reader is the first job of the persuasive writer.

Whether you choose to apply ethos, pathos or logos, think about your greatest persuasive strengths before you write. Perhaps your personal authority is the magic charm. Or maybe the knockout story of how your company saved the day for another client. And sometimes, your reader will want just the facts. Do your homework so you know enough about your reader to determine which approach is likely to succeed.

By identifying your mode of persuasion in advance, you strengthen your arguments and ultimately persuade your readers more forcefully.

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