m62 visualcommunications, the global leader in presentation effectiveness, has today highlighted the importance for presenters of delivering short presentations and finishing on time. Many presenters fail to adjust the length of their presentations to fit the human attention span, thus failing to maximise presentation effectiveness and recall.

Many presenters make the mistake of filling a full hour slot with a sales or marketing presentation, thinking that the more information they can pour forth, the better. Even worse, some presenters believe that it is a positive thing if they are permitted to overrun their allotted time – in fact, the opposite is true. Over and above annoying the audience, a presentation that is too long will quite simply not be effective.

After a time, the audience will not be paying attention, no matter how interesting or engaging the presentation. Using attractive PowerPoint templates and including a few jokes is just not enough. The human attention span lasts an average of twenty to thirty minutes, depending on variables such as room temperature and interest. The significance of this is that if a presentation runs on for forty-five minutes without a break, the audience will only have paid full attention to the first twenty minutes – at best.

Attention span peaks at 4-6 minutes and then decreases slowly until 20-30 minutes, where it drops dramatically. This has a significant impact on the way a presentation should be structured to maximise audience attentiveness. The most important message of a presentation should be revealed at around five minutes, and presentations should not last longer than twenty minutes without a break of some sort.

Nicholas Oulton, Founder of m62, commented: “Attention span is an important but often overlooked factor in any business presentation. The audience simply will not engage in a presentation that goes on for too long, meaning they are less likely to remember key facts. This has serious repercussions for decisions made afterwards, away from the boardroom. If the audience cannot remember a presentation well enough to discuss it fully, they are less likely to make a favourable decision.”

m62 provides a wide range of solutions for a variety of presentation needs, and have worked for blue chip companies such as Siemens, Sony and Toyota.

For more information about m62 visualcommunicatins, please call 0151 259 62 62 or visit m62.net.