Maintaining Their Attention
Getting your audience’s attention is only the first step to a successful presentation. Once you’ve captured their attention, your next challenge is maintaining it. Typically, adults have short attention spans that shift constantly. Here are some tips to help you out.
- Provide handouts that outline your presentation. Ask your printer to use a heavier, 60 lb. paper if you have copy on both sides of the page. It will prevent a distracting show-through of your copy on the backside of the sheet.
- Use colorful overhead transparencies with bold colors and large type. Use no more than seven words per line and seven lines per overhead. Letters should be one-fourth of an inch high and limited to one or two typestyles and no more than three colors.
- To increase interest and keep people a little more alert, pass out one or two handouts during odd times of the presentation. Color photocopies of a product or graph are always effective, as are mini-catalogs, brochures, or postcards that contain your website address and contact information.
