要求聽衆關手機?
I am asked to present at various internal and external forums and I get increasingly frustrated with the lack of attention from the audience who are looking at their electronic devices. Some even work on laptops with no sign of embarrassment. Maybe it is me that is the problem, but I used to get the audience’s full attention. At the risk of being seen as a dinosaur from the 1980s, should I ban all use of electronic gadgets – or accept it as part of Modern-day life and hope they are listening, really?
我被邀請在公司內外的多個論壇上發表演講，但聽衆只顧盯着自己的電子設備而不注意聽我講話，這讓我產生了越來越強烈的挫敗感。在我演講時有些人甚至在自己的筆記本電腦上工作，而沒有流露出任何尷尬的表情。也許問題出在我自己身上，但我曾經能夠吸引聽衆的全部注意力。我是否應該禁止聽衆使用任何電子設備呢，雖然這可能讓我看起來像是來自二十世紀八十年代的老古董？或者我應該將這種現象作爲現代生活的一部分接受下來，並寄望於臺下確實有聽衆在聽我講話？Male, chief executive of a bank, 56
一家銀行的首席執行官，男性，56歲Lucy’s answer
露西的回答
You could ban gadgets, but I’m not sure what you would achieve, apart from making your audience’s lack of attention less obvious to you. Everyone would simply revert to doing what they always used to do during interminable presentations – daydream, snooze and doodle.
你可以禁止聽衆使用電子設備，但我不確定你能收到多大效果。這種舉措只會讓聽衆注意力分散的問題變得沒那麼明顯。每個人都可以轉而去做他們在聽冗長報告時總是會做的那些事——比如做白日夢、打瞌睡以及塗鴉。I suggest that you think of the gadgets as a way of gathering information. When I’m giving a talk I use the BlackBerry count as a painful form of instant feedback. The minute the audience whip out their gadgets I know I’m being too boring.
我建議你將電子設備看做是一種信息收集工具。但當我在發表演講時，我將有多少聽衆在查看黑莓(BlackBerry)看做是一種對演講感到痛苦的實時反潰當聽衆從包裏掏出電子設備時，我就知道自己當前的講述實在是太無聊了。The trouble is that most of us aren’t fascinating, charismatic or funny and, whatever all those people who flog classes in presentation skills tell you, it is not easy suddenly to become so. Especially, I fear, at the age of 56. As chief executive, you at least have authority on your side, which it sounds as if you are using to your advantage. If you were a little scarier the gadget count might fall; but suddenly becoming scary is not easy either.
問題的關鍵在於，像你我一樣的絕大多數人都不具備足夠的吸引力、感召力或是幽默感。而且無論那些舉辦演講技巧培訓班的人是怎麼對你說的，想要突然變成一位“抓得住”聽衆的演講者絕非易事。恕我直言，特別是在您今年已經56歲的情況下。作爲一名首席執行官，你至少在公司內部具有權威，而且根據你的講述，似乎你已在利用這種權威。如果你的態度更強硬威嚴一些，使用電子設備的聽衆數量或許會有所下降。但突然變得威嚴也不是一件容易的事。The best and simplest solution to the problem of giving presentations to which no one listens is to give fewer of them. Next time you get asked to speak at some grim external function, just say no. Most banking conferences are a terrible waste of time: you can simply eliminate them from your life without losing anything – thereby gaining more time to ensure your underlings are not losing billions in unauthorised trading.
對於發表演講時無人聆聽這一問題，最好、也是最簡單的解決辦法就是少做演講。下一次有人邀請你在一項令人不快的外部活動上發表演講時，你完全可以直接說不。絕大多數的銀行業會議都是對時間的嚴重浪費：你可以輕輕鬆鬆地把它們從你的生活中剔除而不會有任何損失——並能因此騰出時間來確保你的下屬沒有擅自進行未授權交易從而造成數十億元損失。As for the internal ones, you need to find a smarter, less boring way of doing it. For a start, stop calling them presentations. The very word is an invitation to the audience to start playing Angry Birds in a frenzy of boredom. Instead, call them “Ten minute talks”. Limit yourself to that amount of time and don’t run one second over.
對於公司內部的演講，你則需要找到一種更聰明、並且不會令人感到無聊的演講方式。首先，不要再把這類活動稱作“報告會”。對於聽衆來說，這個詞等同於邀請他們在極度無聊中玩《憤怒的小鳥》。把這類活動稱爲“十分鐘講話”則會好很多。把你的演講時間限制在十分鐘以內，絕不要超時哪怕一秒。That will serve two important ends. It will mean you have no time to waffle and are forced to get to the point; and the audience will know they don’t have to listen for long and had better pay attention or else they might miss something. Follow your talk with questions, which will solve the gadget problem at one stroke. I’ve never seen anyone play with a gadget when they are the ones doing the talking.
這種安排能起到兩大作用。首先，這意味着你沒時間誇誇其談，而必須快速切入主題。其次，聽衆們會知道他們不用聆聽長篇大論，因此最好聚精會神以免漏掉重要信息。在演講結束後給出提問時間，這可以輕易解決你提到的電子設備問題。我從未見過有誰在輪到他們發言時還在繼續玩電子設備。Your advice
讀者的建議One of you leave
有一方得離開Research shows we are all hopeless at multitasking. Start your talk like the cinema ads and ask people to turn off all devices. If someone continues to use one, ask them if your talk is so boring. If yes, either you should stop or they should leave.
研究顯示，人類對於同時處理多項任務有無法抑制的偏好。像電影院的廣告那樣開始你的演講，並要求聽衆關掉他們所有的電子設備。如果有人繼續使用，問他們你的演講是否非常無趣。如果他們給出了肯定的回答，要麼你停止演講，要麼他們離開。Consultant, female
諮詢師，女性It’s not them
這不是聽衆的問題It is one thing if you are a mid-ranking manager and people play on their BlackBerrys and laptops during internal meetings, but you are the CEO. I do not think that the gadgets are the problem.
如果你是一名中層經理，員工在內部會議上玩黑莓手機和筆記本電腦尚可理解。但你是位高權重的首席執行官，我不認爲電子設備是問題的關鍵。Investment manager, male
投資經理，男性Fightback?zone
設置一個電子設備隔絕區The only recourse is to create a zone of electronic inoperability. This can be done with WiFi and cellphone jammers that are widely available for sale on the internet.
唯一的辦法是規劃出一片電子設備無法使用的區域，以此對付電子設備。這可通過互聯網上隨處有售的WiFi以及手機信號干擾器實現。Manager, male, 50s
經理，男性，年過50A good yarn
我來分享一個不錯的小故事To avoid people fidgeting with their gadgets during our weekly executive committee meeting, I asked my grandchildren to design felt pouches embroidered with each senior manager’s name. As they enter the room they must put their gadget in their designated pouch and leave it in a basket. The meeting is shorter and more focused. We all gain.
爲了防止與會者在我們每週一次的管理委員會會議上擺弄他們的電子設備，我讓我的孫子們設計了繡有每位高級經理名字的小袋子。當他們進入會議室時，他們必須將自己的電子設備放入繡有自己名字的袋子中並將口袋留在儲物筐內。此舉不僅縮短了會議時間，還使會議變得更加重點突出。我們都從中受益。Banker, male, 60
銀行家，男性，60歲Get trained
你應該接受相關訓練What a self-important prig you sound. I find 95 per cent of what is said in such forums is not relevant. Multitasking seems a good compromise. Maybe a course in improving your presentation skills could improve your audience’s attention span.
你聽起來像個十足的道學先生。我覺得各種論壇中的發言大約有95%都無關緊要。這個時候乾點別的似乎是一個好的折中選擇。也許參加一項提升演講技巧的培訓有助於使你的演講得到聽衆的更多關注。Director
主管Question-time
用好提問時間Don’t try to ban gadgets, try to incorporate them. Here is an example from academia, where the lecturer asks the students to keep their mobiles on as they will be used to answer multiple-choice questions during the lecture, with the lecturer having immediate access to the results.
不要試圖禁止使用電子設備，而要嘗試在你的演講中利用它們。這裏有一個來自學術界的例子。有位講師在授課時要求學生保持手機開機，因爲學生們將被要求用手機作答隨堂給出的選擇題，通過這種形式教師可以立刻得到學生的答題結果。Lecturer
講師My confession
我懺悔I think I’ve been to one of your talks. I didn’t play around with my phone, but I confess it was me that started the Mexican wave.
我想我聽過你的一次演講。我沒有拿着我的手機大玩特玩，但我必須承認是我掀起了人浪場面。Anon
匿名
