Episode 92 – Listen to This If….You want to grab your audience’s attention

You NEED to listen to this.

In this week’s episode of ‘Listen to This If…’ Jen and Michael explore how to grab your audience’s attention. In just five minutes Jen and Michael will discuss everything you need to know to turn heads and captivate your audience.

Transcript

Jen (00:00:12)
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Listen to This If… Where, Michael and I, who are the team from Let’s Talk SciComm try and give you a little pep talk to help you with something that you are currently stuck on.
And at the moment, we are thinking about how do we capture our audience’s attention, whether it’s in your writing or giving a talk, how do you make sure that people are actually going to stop whatever else they’re doing and pay attention? Tell me your top tip, Michael.

Michael (00:00:42)
OK, the pressure is on. The top tip for me Jen is going to be about surprise. Because there’s lots of different ways that you can capture the attention of your audience. But I really like surprises. You know, in general and…

Jen (00:00:57)
Is that a hint for your next birthday, Michael? Have a hint.

Michael (00:01:00)
I like, I like surprises. You know, sometimes people will say, “Oh, I’m going to order you something. What do you want?” “Make it a surprise.” So I do like them. And some of the hooks that really stand out in my mind have been surprises.
So I remember one time I went to a talk and I think it was about rockets or rocket science or something. But the person who started the talk, they actually started it from outside the room and they burst into the room. They put their hands above their head and they went, pooof, you know, onto the stage.
And that was the start of their talk. And I can’t remember anything else they said. But I remember that beginning. So it always sticks out in my mind.
And then another one that really sticks out in my mind surprising but for another reason was the first time I had a clinical exercise physiology class at university and the lecturer said, you know, when we had all moved into the room, “now I want you to look to the person to your left and look to the person to your right”. And everyone did that. And then he said, “either you or someone you just looked at is going to die from heart disease in your lifetime”. And everyone was just shocked, absolutely shocked. But that was the statistics of it. And you know, just a great opening hook.
And there’s actually a little bit of neuroscience behind this as well, Jen. So when you are surprised your brain releases dopamine and that helps you concentrate and pay attention. And then the other part of it is as well the, the primacy effect. So it’s, it’s almost like you know, first impressions. So the first thing that you say people are going to tend to remember more.
Which means it’s important that the first thing you say is not only surprising, but actually links to the content that you want to talk about. Because you know, if it’s surprising and doesn’t link to that, they’ll just remember the surprising thing and they’ll go OK well, what does it all mean? So that’s my top tip.

Jen (00:02:46)
No, no clickbait here. Yeah. And look, I think that’s fantastic advice, Michael. And I couldn’t agree more. I think surprise is really important.
And when I was thinking about this topic, I think the point is, we can’t give one magic formula for what the best opening hook is going to be, because it’s going to depend on who you are and who the audience is and what the topic is.
And you know, whether it’s an anecdote or a startling statistic like you remembered with the heart disease. Or potentially a joke or an amazing image or a thought experiment or a prop, or something to really draw out emotion in people. Or you know, interactive, asking rhetorical or non rhetorical questions.
I mean, we’ve all seen all of those things work well in the right circumstance. So to me, it’s not so much about exactly what your hook should be. My top tip is doing the work and potentially the kind of market research, testing out your hooks to come up with something that you feel really excited about.
Because the best hook to me is one that you… I guess we’re thinking here particularly about you know, getting up and giving a talk. But it’s true when you write as well.
Michael, you know that feeling where you have something that you’re really looking forward to sharing with somebody? You know, you have that sense of kind of anticipation and you just can’t wait to kind of do it.
Like when you give someone a gift. You know, when you’ve really thought carefully about the gift that you want to give someone. And you just can’t wait to see them and give it to them because you know it’s going to bring them joy.
I feel like if you can design a hook that you feel that way about, so you just can’t wait to get there and get to say it in front of your audience. The amount of energy and passion and enthusiasm and great body language and everything and the impact that has on your face and your voice. If you are really invested in it and you think it’s fabulous, the way you deliver it is going to be really captivating.
So that’s my top tip. Do the work to come up with a hook that you really really think is wonderful and you’re excited about. Because then the way you deliver it will be absolutely something your audience has to pay attention to.

Michael (00:05:05)
Yeah, that’s right. And I suppose that’s the good thing about hooks is there’s lots of different ways you can do it. You can be creative. So choose something that really excites you. Great tip.

Jen (00:05:15)
So good luck everybody. We hope that you have a lot of fun designing your next hook for your next talk or your next piece of writing.

Michael (00:05:23)
Yeah, best of luck.