How to Combat the Short Attention Span of Your Audience

Most people are busy today - sometimes very busy! In fact, we've elevated impatience into an art form. We want it, and we want it now! Busy, busy, and busy some more! The more you come across the topic of "busy-ness", the more you can feel an imaginary heavy weight sitting on your shoulders and getting heavier. Moreover, some may be occupied performing what to others might be considered pointless activities, or repeating questionable behavior patterns, or allowing themselves to be exploited by others - then blaming those same "others" for their current life state, or many other possibilities.

Key point: for many, this learned "busy-ness", tends to push us into developing a really short attention span. We in the business of communication, can moan about this perceived barrier - belittle people for "Having the concentration span of a gnat ...". As writers and enlightened communicators, we have several options. We can choose to:

• Fight the idea; try to change entrenched perceptions.
• Ignore the problem. We can take the view that if a reader is deluged in "busy-ness", that's their problem!
• Or we can embrace the entire dilemma and simply work with humanity's collective impatience, yet still seek ways to break through the various "busy-ness" barriers that exist.

Indeed, the last option in the list above is my suggestion here: just go with the flow. How? In a variety of ways. Consider:

• One quick and easy yet powerful technique that writers and presenters can use is to simply keep your sentences short.
• Present the focus on one topic at a time.
• Avoid using long paragraphs - ideally keep each paragraph to no more than 5 or 6 lines.
• Writing or speaking in short, snappy sentences that are likewise grouped appropriately into easily understandable blocks, makes the activity of reading or listening less demanding, and therefore, making sense of your message can be made much easier for your reader or listener.
• Use longer, meaningful headings and sub-headings as far as possible and avoid shorter, two- or three-word headings that are less expressive.
• Break paragraphs into bullet lists - like this one - whenever possible or appropriate.
• Apply boldface and italics to further focus attention, add emphasis or suggest special meaning.
• Use white space or empty space help frame your document. How: have generous margins within your document or web design.
• Evaluate whether your message can be communicated better in other types of medium. Don't assume that text is the best answer for every publication. You may find that an audio MP3 podcast is more suitable. Or you may prefer a video clip published on your website. Alternatively, you could consider publication to CD or DVD. Each has benefits and drawbacks depending on a variety of factors. Simply consider your options to establish the most suitable publication format.
• Determine whether you can profitably present your message across several different mediums. For example: plain text, e-book PDF, Microsoft Word, Web HTML / PHP, MP3 podcast, CD, DVD, web video and RSS. Why? Different people can react differently to different mediums. By expanding on how you deliver information, you can maximize the effectiveness of your publication. Through making careful choices, multiple media delivery can be easier and cheaper than you may think. For example, this website uses RSS, however, the technology that achieves this goal is a low-cost plug-in component that takes only minutes to install and configure, after which all RSS feeds across the entire website are generated automatically "on-the-fly" for each item listed.

With a new approach, tailored to the lives of your readers, listeners or website visitors, suddenly, people can "get it" - and absorb what you're saying easily.

For most people, life is already an unwelcome challenge, so making your reading "easy" can make you more than just popular. Try rich for example - arguably, it's no accident that most of the world's self-made richest people are great communicators.

Potential result: your document or article is much more likely to be read - completely - and acted upon!.

Isn't that nice?

Playing Chill-Out: Go On, You Know You Want To

Now, to really get to empathize with this tip, I highly recommend you spend the next 15 minutes doing nothing in particular - certainly not work and whatever you do, ensure "busy-ness" is banned. Here's some ideas to explore:

• Watch a cloud sweep across the sky.
• Marvel at the grace of a butterfly (of course, there's always a butterfly available to watch and enjoy isn't there? :-)
• Observe the first teetering steps of a young child as she learns to walk (and never gives up, simply because she has not yet learned how to stop trying!).
• Notice how a blade of grass dances in a gentle breeze.
• Light a candle, then blow it out. Marvel at how the wisps of smoke dissipate in the surrounding air.
• Sit comfortably. Relax. Find somewhere silent. Close your eyes and do nothing for 15 minutes. Don't force your thoughts - let them "fall" where they go. If you feel uneasy - a need to "do" something, you're at last observing your current level of busy-ness. Repeat daily. Watch how the uneasiness disappears eventually.

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