{"id":759,"date":"2016-10-04T09:52:47","date_gmt":"2016-10-04T16:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelspeaks.com\/blog\/?p=759"},"modified":"2023-06-13T21:37:11","modified_gmt":"2023-06-13T21:37:11","slug":"the-ignorability-factor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelspeaks.com\/blog\/the-ignorability-factor\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ignorability Factor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine if everyone\u00a0was ignoring you and just talking amongst themselves. My guess is that you don’t have to imagine it, you can probably remember it.<\/p>\n

If you have pretty much any public speaking experience, you’ve experienced that moment of ignorability.<\/p>\n

How do I feel when I’m ignored? Like an ignoramus.<\/p>\n

Even if you’re the smartest person in the room, being ignored makes you feel like less than you really are.\u00a0That’s the\u00a0ignorability factor.<\/p>\n

7 Principle Case Study<\/h2>\n

\"school-class-401519_640\"<\/a>It’s bad enough at work when people are being paid to listen to you. Have you ever tried to keep the attention of people who DON’T even want to be in the room?<\/p>\n

Not long ago, my wife took over teaching a middle school classroom. She arrived home one evening exhausted from herding cats:<\/p>\n

They just talk to each other\u00a0or start working without even listening to the rest of my instructions. What do I do?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The answer to nearly every presentation skills\u00a0question lies in one of the 8 principles in my\u00a0SpeechDeck communication system<\/a>. Whenever I’m asked a “how do I” question, I immediately begin ticking off each of the principles to see how each one would be applied to the problem.<\/p>\n

My approach in this post\u00a0is not to detail\u00a0specific techniques.\u00a0Rather, let’s discuss how each of the 7 PRINCIPLES of color works to solve the problem.\u00a0Let’s solve the ignorability\u00a0factor!<\/p>\n

A<\/span> Inject Anticipation<\/h3>\n

When you’re being ignored, the principle of injecting anticipation into your public speaking is the most obvious starting point. The ignorability factor means that something or someone else in the room is more interesting than you.<\/p>\n

\"questionmark\"<\/a>In principle, that means something else creates more UNCERTAINTY than you do, because you have left no open questions.<\/p>\n

For example, if your students had any UNCERTAINTY that\u00a0you might<\/em> explode a stink bomb in the front of the room, I promise they would be paying rapt\u00a0attention. The reason they’re not listening is because they already\u00a0think<\/em>\u00a0they know what happens next.<\/p>\n

In principle, the first way to solve the ignorability\u00a0factor is to tease them with UNCERTAINTY–inject a secret<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

In each of these 3 boxes is a hidden object that explains each of the three steps of your instructions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The students would be UNCERTAIN what you’re hiding in the boxes and practically forced to listen.<\/p>\n

OR if you want a strictly verbal tease<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

I’m going to give you instructions with a “special” keyword.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The students would be UNCERTAIN what is “special” and what the keyword is, and therefore more likely to listen.<\/p>\n

In each example above, great presentation skills require you point out to the listener what the listener does not know.<\/p>\n

R<\/span> Develop Relationships<\/h3>\n

People chatting with each other during your presentation feel\u00a0a tighter in-group relationship with each other than with you.\u00a0This is especially common in a school or workplace where the audience members already have preexisting relationships.<\/p>\n

No matter how great your presentation skills or how hard you try, you will not be able to thwart preexisting relationships–you must use them to your advantage. Solving the ignorability\u00a0factor means you find COMMONALITY\u00a0with the in-group.<\/p>\n

\"standout\"<\/a>Use opinion leaders:<\/strong> Every group has leaders. Identify the opinion leader.\u00a0Use that leader in on stage or by name to help you deliver your explanation. Even if people don’t want to listen to YOU, they will pay attention to anything you say about or with their group leader.<\/p>\n

OR conformity:<\/strong> While you talk, require EVERY member to follow a series of steps: verbal response, hand raises, page turning, physical action, etc. When everyone must do the same thing, it’s usually uncomfortable for one individual to rebel against\u00a0the group.<\/p>\n

M<\/span> Reveal the Messenger<\/h3>\n

The principle of revealing the messenger requires that you share something UNIQUE about yourself that the listener wouldn’t otherwise know.\u00a0If they’re ignoring you, they think they know you.\u00a0Prove them wrong.<\/p>\n

Privileges<\/b>:<\/strong> Do something they CAN’T do. In a classroom, that means a teacher giving instructions can simultaneously touch props or classroom objects that are off limits to the\u00a0class (UNIQUE to the teacher).<\/p>\n

OR verbally, the teacher could describe events and access<\/strong> that are UNIQUE to the teacher:<\/p>\n

Let me tell you what Mr. Summers (principal, boss, thought leader, etc) said …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Reveal access to something the listeners don’t have.<\/p>\n

This is why people listen to celebrities who aren’t even good public speakers. Those celebrities have access to UNIQUE people\/places that the rest of us don’t.<\/p>\n

P<\/span> Encourage Participation<\/h3>\n

The opposite of the ignorability\u00a0factor is the REACTION\u00a0factor. The audience can’t REACT and ignore at the same time. Seek REACTIONS.<\/p>\n

\"4132135156_64d5d22c34_z\"<\/a>
Source: flickr:oregondot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Great public speaking is very interactive. You’ll notice I already included attempts at REACTION in my previous examples.<\/p>\n