Listen to the audio version of this post here.
Tell me if this sounds familiar? I’m on a webinar – there are a lot of those, these days, right?
It’s a subject I genuinely want to know more about, and the woman who’s running the thing is clearly an expert. So, I start out enthusiastic about this opportunity to learn some things.
Somewhere in the first half hour, my excitement begins to wane. It’s a lot of information and it’s coming non-stop.
The second half-hour, I’m still half-listening. I’m also checking my email on my phone. Okay, I admit it: I also log into LinkedIn and reply to a couple of comments on my post from earlier in the day.
By the third half hour, I’m horrified – I didn’t realize there would be a third half hour. My phone rings; I decide to take the call. The online group is so small, I feel like I can’t just sign out; it would be noticed. So, I take my phone into the other room.
And when I come back, the woman is still talking. And humble-bragging about how she’s really hitting us with a firehose, huh? Really giving us a lot.
She brought up the firehose four or five more times before she finally ended the session after two long hours.
Here’s the thing. She didn’t really do us—or herself—any favors.
This firehose metaphor. Drinking from a firehose means being overwhelmed. Inundated with a torrent of information spewed in your direction.
Does any of that sound like a good way to learn? Or to develop a business relationship? Or to make a buying decision?
There’s all kinds of debate about how long a person can listen and learn. I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of research about the human attention span. I found everything from the famous goldfish comparison suggesting we can tune in for about 8 seconds …to an assertion that a good speaker should shift gears every 18 minutes because that’s when the audience begins to drift.
I’d bet the truth is somewhere between them. And closer to the first one, if I had my guess.
Here’s what I know for sure. Especially when it comes to online learning, meetings and events, we have a frighteningly short amount of time to capture their attention.
Then keeping their attention is another whole challenge.
That’s why I asked my LinkedIn connections to Pledge to Be Pithy.
Whether you’re introducing yourself in one of those Zoom-based networking events that are becoming popular, or running a meeting, or offering a full-blown webinar, you’re way better off to be clear and concise. That’s what makes you compelling and memorable.
Apparently, I’m not the only one who wishes people would cut to the chase, already. Professionals lined up to take The Pledge:
- Gregory Wade: “I’m in”
- Marti Konstant: “Sound advice. Pithy enough?”
- Tracy Jensen: “Yes, please! #lessismore”
- Ellen Schnur: “In!”
Then there was Andy White: “Totally in on this pledge. I completely zone out after a while – detail overload, half of which is off at a tangent, more often than not. Great advice (and also a handy note-to-self, seeing as we can all be guilty of it, especially when you are passionate about the topic under discussion).”
Apparently, Andy thought twice about that comment. Because he added another one: “Or the pithy version: yes!”
Listen, there’s definitely a place for long-form communication. And in most of our business interactions, especially online, and especially now when so many are new to online platforms, we maximize our impact when we minimize our verbiage.
- Open powerfully (we can talk about that another time).
- Make your point. Or make three; don’t make 17.
- Close with something your audience will remember. (A Call to Action, perhaps?)
Here’s to shorter communication your audience can digest and act on.
By all means post a comment below and take the Pledge to Be Pithy.
Or if you think short-and-sweet is overrated, you can tell us that too.
I’ve been training virtually for 3 years now…online training, presentations, virtual conferences…
It always interest me when studies look at attention span of online training…but fail to take into account all online viewing!
Binge watching is especially popular these days!
So, statistics aside, notice that people can spend hours in front of their TV or computer screen…because they are engaged and interested in the material!
When our presentations are well-delivered, informational AND entertaining…it’s interesting to note how long someone will stay with a training!
Your trainings, Catherine, are as well-outlined as any entertainment show…with spikes and pauses and interaction, Oh my!
You know how to run a show and keep an audience! It seems to me, we should be looking more at what works for long-term viewing (as you do)…and model that!
It’s a good point, Karen — people will stare at a screen for a long time if they’re deeply engaged. And, it’s tough for most trainers and other experts to replicate the scene changes, variety of voices, and shifting points of view that we get in a well-produced TV show.
So your point about well-delivered, informational and entertaining work is well-taken. Those who run online meetings and training and even those virtual happy hours can benefit from developing that skill.
And, as my one-time co-anchor always told me, “You can never get in trouble going short.
Yes, Pithy. Wish everyone was.
Me too, Donna!
Great post Catherine. I signed up for two courses before this all hit. The first one was the firehouse. Amazing, amazing information. But the first week could have been the entire course. I wanted to learn more but I was not retaining anything. It felt more like an entire college degree versus one course. The second online program I signed up for is structured perfectly. Two to three 30 minute or less videos or less a week, an experiential element to do on my own, then journalling/sharing. All at my pace on at my time. Not only am I more engaged and learning things but I am embodying them. It is experiential learning at its best. I am not only receiving information but immediately incorporating it into my life. Education is more than the information, it is being able to absorb and use the information.
It’s a good example, Melissa, of how online learning can be structured for success … or not. And you’re so right. Hearing information isn’t sufficient for real learning to happen.
I got huge value from The Marketing Seminar with Seth Godin. LOTS of information and inspiration. And, it was chunked out over months with short videos from Seth, prompts for our own writing, and comments on our work from coaches and fellow-students. Great model of online learning.
I think keeping it short is usually better. It’s so easy to drift into one’s own thoughts without even realising it until 20 minutes has passed. Also, a written outline shared with the audience can be very helpful, because we retain so little of what we hear. And, while it is standard practice in talk radio to end a call the moment a caller begins to repeat, it is helpful to repeat your main points three times in a talk. Here’s what I’m going to tell you, now I’m telling you, this is what I just told you. Very effective formula.
Stopping that drift into our own thoughts is a challenge, Patrick. Meeting facilitators, leaders and trainers can make it easier by “looking at us” which means they need to be comfortable talking as they look at the camera, and using a lot of vocal variety. With less visual stimulation, virtual audiences really need auditory cues to stay connected.
YES! Back to work for me. Melissa said it best.
No one said lets have a Pithy Party!?
Oh, Jacques — that is PERFECT! Yes, let’s have a Pithy Party.