58. People Get Tired and Hungry

You probably already knew that people get tired and hungry. But when you are the presenter, you are at the front of the room. You are moving and talking. You are excited about your presentation. It’s easy to forget that your participants might be having a very different experience. It is likely that they are tired of sitting, and if a significant amount of time has gone by, they will likely be getting hungry.

Try to Have Some Influence Over When You Present

You may not be able to choose what time your presentation is, but if you are able to, avoid speaking right before a mid-day or end-of-day meal—both times when people are hungry. Speaking right before dinner adds to the problem—people are likely to be both hungry and tired right before dinner.

You have probably heard that you should avoid speaking right after a meal, since people can often get tired or sleepy after they eat. It would be better to have your presentation time slot be right in the middle—not too close to a mealtime, but not right after one either. You have to speak sometime, though, and I’d rather take a slot after a meal than right before one. If your presentation is focused, interesting, and lively, then speaking after a meal should be fine, because you will energize the audience.

If You Are Close to a Mealtime, Don’t Talk About Food

You’d be surprised how many times we use references to food, metaphors about food, or pictures of food in presentations. Food grabs people attention, so it’s a good idea to use food references and photos in your presentation, but not if your presentation comes right before a mealtime. If you make reference to food when people are hungry, it will make it harder for them to pay attention to the rest of your talk. Be careful of saying things like “Before we break for lunch I want to talk about one more topic...” If people are hungry and you mention food or mealtime, assume that you won’t have their full attention anymore.