• Tired—a busy, full schedule full of physical effort, a new bed, and new roommates may have a negative impact on a person’s ability to give attention; the ultimate lack of attention is a person sleeping.
• Technology—with all its pictures, sounds, variety, newness, ease, and playfulness, technology is an enemy because it is so good at keeping the attention of its subject. It is the perfect personal tool of one person who can go anywhere and see anything, and it is hard to compete with.
• Question—it seems so innocent to ask a question, but that gives the hearer the opportunity or even the responsibility to think of an answer. All the various answers may take attention away from your message. The younger the audience, the less they understand the concept of a rhetorical question.
• Whatever is keeping my attention now—news from home, a conversation with my friend, hunger, the next or previous activity. Even someone with a short attention span is always paying attention to something . . . as long as he is not asleep. Trying to get folks to focus on your message may take a bit of time to get everyone off of what they are focused on.
• Monotony—blah, blah, blah. The more boring and uninteresting your message, the easier it is to become distracted. Work on an attitude of enthusiasm, inflection of voice, and a message that is needed, interesting, and clear.

Closing Thoughts

• Use words the audience understands.
• Don’t say the same thing many times.
• Own the stage.
• Never expect 100% attention . . . never.