Educationally Speaking: Commanding attention

My summer vacation has already included several excursions that involved airline travel. On a recent flight to Seattle, the stewardess reminded me of a lesson I’d learned years ago from my speech teacher. He taught that the first part of any speech is to get the audience’s attention.

Upon boarding my airplane, a flight attendant got on the microphone to do her spiel. “Good afternoon and welcome aboard. Please make sure that you’ve properly stored all carryon items in the overhead bins or under the seat in front of you. Make sure you’ve properly fastened your seatbelt. All electronic devices must be turned off and remain off for the duration of our flight.”

I looked around and very few of the passengers were listening. Several were reading, others appeared to be napping, while many were talking. One woman was soothing her cat that she’d brought onboard in a carrier. The woman on one side of me was praying fervently with her rosary.

Part of me felt a sorry for the flight attendant and wanted to tell her to try, “All eyes on me, please.”

Teachers use signals to get their pupils’ attention before giving directions. Sometimes I raise my hand, other times I ring a bell. If they’re pretty noisy, I clap a rhythm that pupils’ are then supposed to imitate.

I give classroom instructions multiple times a day and often students don’t listen. “Please head your paper by putting your name on the top right hand corner, followed by the date and the page number for this lesson.” I collect papers daily without names.

Sitting on the plane listening to the flight attendant, I suddenly felt like my pupils’ must in my classroom. I had no desire to listen to her. The odd role reversal moment passed and I opened my novel to read.

When the businessman on the other side of me began chuckling, I was distracted. My ears perked up and I tuned into the flight attendant again. “The smoking section on this Boeing 747 is out on the wing.”

I thought to myself, since when do they allow smoking areas on a plane.

She continued with a straight face, “At 586 miles per hour, if you can light it, you can smoke it.”

Chuckles broke out among the passengers near me.

My speech teacher would have approved because once you get your audience’s attention, it’s your job to keep it.

A child screamed and then began sobbing. The mother tried to soothe her daughter when another child joined the crying chorus.

The flight attendant continued, “In the case of an emergency should the cabin unexpectedly loose pressure, oxygen masks will drop down in front of you. If you’re traveling with small children… what were you thinking?”

More passengers laughed this time.

“Be sure to put the oxygen mask over your own face first, before securing one over your child.”

Near the end of the flight, the flight attendant once again entertained us with her unorthodox method of keeping our attention during announcements.

“Seats and tray tables should be in their locked and upright positions. Be sure to remain seated until the captain has turned off the seatbelt sign. Be careful when opening the overhead bins as items may have shifted during the flight.”

I heard seatbelts unhooking already. Adults aren’t any better than pupils’ at following directions.

“If you have a connecting flight with our airline, a ticketing agent at the gate will be there to guide you. If your connecting flight is with another airline, we simply don’t care.”

The passengers erupted into laughter.

I wondered if the airline knew she was modifying their “canned” speech. Because she’d adlibbed and added humor, people were actually listening for a change.

She finished, “Thank you for choosing us for your travel destinations and we hope you have had not only a safe journey, but a pleasant one as well.”

The stewardess got a standing ovation.

My speech teacher would have given her an A+ for engaging her audience and holding their attention with a memorable performance.
When you speak, do you command other’s attention?

-- Kristi McCracken, author of two children’s books and a long time teacher in the South Valley, can be reached at educationallyspeaking@gmail.com. Check out her weekly ‘krismac’ blog at www.recorderonline.com.