How To Get People To Stop Ignoring You And Start Listening

Getting people to pay attention to what you say: ah, now that is a challenge every school teacher, advertiser, and director of marketing has been trying to figure out since the dawn of time. Anyone who has ever been in a position of authority will realize this can be difficult. So, if you are faced with this problem, what are some of the methods you can use to defeat the poor attention span of your audience?
Well, first realize the root cause of the problem. In our modern, high-tech high-speed world, people are bombarded on a daily basis with all manner of images - sights and sounds come at them from iPods, TV, radio, the Internet, and so on and so forth. So, if you stand before someone and just try to speak in a flat monotone voice - something like what Ben Stein did in the movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"; you are going to have the same affect on your audience as he did on his students. You are going to put them to sleep!
So, how to liven them up? Step one, figure out what sort of audience you are going to be speaking to. After all, if you talk to a bunch of senior citizens, they are quite a different group to some high school seniors. For that matter, highly gifted students are quite different from a group of "special needs" students. So, you must tailor your talk to your audience. Also, speaking to a group is different to speaking to an individual.
Next, look for ways to relate what you are talking about to what is important in their lives. Let us take the example of the high school students. You want to talk to them about the importance of learning to write. Oh, can't you just see their eyes rolling back in their heads as you try to sell them on that? If at all possible, have some sort of audio/visual presentation. These days, just about anyone can do a PowerPoint presentation. So, make use of that. By giving them things to look at, you can stimulate attention.
Also, don’t preach. Involve your audience and speak on their Level. So, when talking about writing, talk about books that are of interest to them. Don't drone on about the classics, use recent books that they would like to hear about. If you are talking to minority students, maybe mention how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had to write out his famous "I Have a Dream" speech in order to learn it. Maybe show a clip of the speech. The moral here is: make what you are saying relevant to your audience. Make them care about what you are saying.
If you are trying to get someone to a reprimand or a Warning, avoid being confrontational. Appreciate your Audience’s point of view. There is also the issue of the time and place of your talk. If you give your speech early in the morning or late in the day, people might be tired. Also, if they are hungry, they will be less likely to pay attention. If the room you are in is very hot or cold, your audience will be uncomfortable and not inclined to listen to you. If you can, make sure you are speaking in an area where there are few distractions and the ambience, temperature etc is pleasant.
Finally, there is the old classic rule about leaving them wanting more. Often, the best way to catch people's attention is with humor. A few jokes, at the right places of your speech can help to keep your audience focused on you. If you’re an entertaining and interesting speaker, people will be more likely to listen to you throughout what you have to say.

You would *Laugh* at the sad pick up lines I used to use!

No seriously, some of the stuff I used to try in college is absolutely laughable... It's one of those things where you look back on yourself and shake your head. How did I ever think that would work! Things have changed though... things have changed a lot!
Just recently I was sitting back with some friends killing time with a pitcher of beer at our favorite patio bar just outside the city. A typical afternoon on a lazy Saturday. Much how we spend many of our Saturdays unwinding from the week. We had our eye on a girl sitting at another table with a friend. She was about an 8 out of 10...
Anyways... I told my buddy's I'm going over there to get her number. The usual teasing and betting whether or not I could do this, did not happen. They had been through this with me before.
I walked over and spoke with her and her friend for a minute or two, and just like I have performed in the past, she was writing her number down on a napkin in no time. In fact... they had already been approached once already, and the 3 of us were laughing together about how they had turned him down... poor bastard.
Other guys buy women drinks, try to dance with them, impress them with their friends, and try all kinds of crap for hours, night after night - and usually get nothing! I talked with her, and got her number within minutes - like I've done hundreds of times in the past. Another one down.. Easy!
The question is: What Happened? What did I say?
When I was in college, if you had of asked me if this was possible, I would have said "Yeah right... Maybe... but not for me!" But now... I do it all the time.
I'm nothing special either. I'm a regular guy... just past thirty. I'm not athletic, or especially good looking, In fact I've never been that type of guy that women ask out, or approach out of the blue.
Now though... It's not uncommon for me to be doing regular chores during the day, and get 3 or more numbers per day, and...dozens of numbers a week from good looking, interesting women... The type of women I would choose. The type of women YOU CAN choose!
I don't have any secret locations either... ok that's not Completely True!.. I do know of some places that are better than others, but in general, these techniques work best in every day places... your local coffee shop, mall, grocery store, were women are not expecting to be picked up. Their guards down in these places.
In fact.. a bar or night club can be devastating for men trying to pickup women. Every woman in the bar is expecting it, and has their guard up, and standards raised higher than ever. Without a special advantage... a guy's doomed to even try!
So how do I do this? How does a regular guy go from wishing for attention to getting phone numbers in minutes?