The grand cathedrals of Europe were built to be everything the cities of the time were not; spacious, ornate and peaceful. Joseph Campbell spoke of them as sacred places; ones in which those who entered were drawn into an alternate reality and the concerns and distractions of the outside world fell away. They were gateways to the divine.
A good speaker does the same thing with his presentation. Left to their own devices, most people will bring their concerns into your presentation with them, literally. They’ll have their computer, Blackberry or cell phone on. They’ll have some papers they need to look over as they wait for you to begin. They’ll be chatting with a co-worker about the latest office drama or networking with the people seated around them. If you want to successfully engage their full attention and draw them into your presentation, you need to break through the mental, and physical, clutter.
Some times you can physically shut out the outside world. Auditoriums, like cathedrals, announce themselves as sacred places through grand lobbies, arched entryways and heavy wooden doors, hushed sounds and the way the chairs all face the stage, the most sacred realm of all.
That’s tough to match if you’re presenting in an office with ringing phones, buzzing printers and people traipsing in and out. Yet, as anyone who has ever read a great book in a crowded and noisy place can tell you, it is possible for people to tune out all the distractions around them and focus absolutely, if the story or subject is compelling enough.
Be so compelling that nothing else can compete with you. Be so compelling that your audience will fully enter the sacred space of your presentation, where nothing exists except you and your message.
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