Attention

Attention is the first stage of perception. It is also an essential first step in changing minds. If you do not have attention, you cannot persuade.

Here are lots of ways you can use to gain attention:

Beauty: We like beautiful things.

Breaks: Giving breaks helps sustain total attention over time.

Chunks: Break complex messages into attentional chunks.

Completion: Help them complete other activities.

Color: Bright and red-end colors grab attention.

Confusion: The need to know more.

Contrast: Be different from other things around.

Emphasis: Amplify key things.

Emotion: Stimulate emotional arousal.

Engagement: Get them so involved they blot out anything else.

Fewer Choices: Focus their decision.

Focus: Using natural ability of eye.

Incompleteness: Wanting to see it all.

Incongruity: Highlight strangeness.

Interruption: Break into their flow.

Threat: Potential pain.

Move: Move them away from distractions.

Movement: Move quickly.

No Distractions: Separate them from distractors.

Novelty: New and unfamiliar things.

Opportunity: Potential gain and pleasure.

Prod Their Motivators: Get them going.

Proximity: Move towards them.

Sensitivity: Use brightness, hues and sounds that grab the senses.

Size: Big stands out.

Time: Get them when they are ready.

Ways to keep attention (in addition to more attention-getters):

No Distractions: Separate them from distractors.

Occupied Mind: Keep them busy thinking.

Future Reward: Working towards benefit.

Delayed Ending: Keep them dangling.

Articles about attention:

What is Attention?: The basics and some theories.

Evolution and Attention: Why we need to attend.

Color and Attention: Bright and red-end colors grab attention.

Attention in Conversation: How to sustain a laser focus.

More to come...

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Attention

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