What is the main message of Got Your Attention??

The main message of Got Your Attention? is how to grab and hold people's attention in a distractible world.

Who is the author of Got Your Attention??

The author of Got Your Attention? is Sam Horn.

Marketing & Sales

Got Your Attention? Book Summary - Got Your Attention? Book explained in key points

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Got Your Attention? summary

Name: Got Your Attention?
Rating: 4.1 (79 reviews)
Author: Sam Horn

Sam Horn

How to Create Intrigue and Connect with Anyone

4.1 (79 ratings)

18 mins

Brief summary

Got Your Attention? by Sam Horn is a guide on how to capture and maintain people's attention in the fast-paced world we live in. It provides practical advice on how to stand out in crowded markets and communicate effectively with others.

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Table of Contents

Got Your Attention?
Summary of 8 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 8

What’s in it for me? Learn how to get the attention you want and deserve.

So you need to get someone’s attention. How do you do it? Do you scream and shout, jump up and down, wave your arms, while yelling, “Hey! Look over here!”

While this may get a taxi to pull over, it won’t get you the attention you need in your career or life.

In today’s fast-paced, high-stress market, everyone is competing for attention – whether at work, for job interviews, at conferences or for entrepreneurial projects. To grab the attention of the people who matter most to you, you’ll have to develop a more sophisticated strategy than yelling loudly.

In these blinks, you’ll learn tips and tricks to get the attention you need to land the jobs you want, stand out among colleagues or convince a panel of experts that your start-up idea is gold.

In these blinks, you’ll discover

why opening with fire is a good way to get attention;
why no one cares about your GPA in a job interview; and
how a 13-year-old girl grabbed the attention of thought leaders.

To keep your audience hanging on every word, pique their curiosity and fuel their imagination.

People today are impatient. As soon as you open your mouth, people in the audience have already made up their mind: about what kind of person you are and what you can do for them.

If you don’t give them something exciting to latch onto, they’ll tune out immediately, and start paying attention to the next act.

So how can you avoid this fate?

You need to pique your audience’s curiosity about your knowledge and what you have to offer.

Here is where Did You Know? questions play a key role. Offer your audience three important bits of information that they don’t know, but are eager to know.

It’s easy to do: just craft three, one-sentence Did You Know? questions to start your conversation. These questions might be about the problem you’ve set out to solve, the importance of your work, a dramatic shift in the field, or the unmet needs in the market that you’re filling.

Let’s say you’re talking about a book that addresses landing a job in today’s tough market. Your three questions might look like this:

Did you know that...80 percent of the 3.6 million jobs available in 2012 were never advertized?

Did you know that...on average, only 20 percent of job applicants actually get an interview?

Did you know that...in 2013, 53.6 percent of college graduates in the United States under 25 were jobless or underemployed?

Granted, making people curious is half the battle. Now you need to fuel their imagination to maintain their curiosity about your subject, and that means pitching a solution.

Let’s stay with the book example. Your solution for your talk might sound something like this:

Imagine that...once you read this book, you’ll stand a chance of finding 40 percent more openings for your dream job or boosting your chances of getting an interview by 30 percent!

This technique works, as when you phrase potential outcomes like this, you’re helping your audience actively think about what you’re saying.

Act out the problem you plan to solve by showing and asking. Your audience will do the rest.

Have you ever heard the saying, “When you advertise fire extinguishers, open with the fire?”

This explains a helpful fact. People tend not to know what they want until you show it to them.

Share what’s rare to place yourself in the spotlight and apart from the pack.

While humility can be an admirable trait, being too humble can quickly become your greatest weakness, especially when trying to get the attention of your boss or any other authority.

In fact, successfully competing for the attention of important people means showing and proving your competitive advantage.

Before making a proposition, first ask yourself why your subject would say no. Then work for the yes.

Have you ever felt that a person stopped listening to you even before you began speaking?

It’s a common reaction of conversation partners who are prejudiced against you – a result of a person saying “no” in his mind, before you even open your mouth.

Pay quality attention to others and they’ll do the same for you.

Have you ever been really excited about a project and called up a friend to pitch it? You felt he would be excited too, but in the end, he didn’t seem turned on at all.

What happened? Perhaps it was the language you used in your pitch. When trying to persuade people, it’s important to speak in the terms that they use on a regular basis.

Keep current if you want your information to be interesting. Please don’t quote Aristotle!

We’ve all been in situations in which an older person drags on, telling stories about the past. Whether about some ancient movie star or out-of-print book, why is it that old stuff can be so boring?

Often, when people tune out while listening to someone speak about something “before their time,” it’s not because they are rude, it’s just because they can’t relate.

Make your speech relevant. Find that thread so you can pull your audience together.

Imagine that you’re presenting the results of your research. You begin with all the relevant statistics you’ve calculated, and quickly you are looking at a sea of bored faces. What happened?

Connecting to people requires more than just presenting a theory. For most people, agreeing with your hypothetical scenario isn’t enough; they need to be able to apply your knowledge practically.

Illustrate your ideas with an example of an individual who experienced what you’re talking about.

It can be seriously difficult to put yourself in someone else’s shoes; sympathizing with others can be even harder. People can relate easily to one person, but not to many at once.

So while we can bemoan the fate of one hungry child, an entire country filled with hungry children dulls our sense of empathy. This situation is described in psychology as the empathy telescope, which states that it’s easier for one person to care about another person than about many people.

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What is Got Your Attention? about?

Got Your Attention? (2015) is the ultimate guide to grabbing and holding the focus of distracted people in today’s fast-paced world. You’ll learn how to overcome the impatience and chronic distraction of your audience to make yourself a compelling, engaging speaker.

Got Your Attention? Review

Got Your Attention? by Sam Horn (2015) is a thought-provoking book that explores the art of communicating and capturing attention in today's fast-paced world. Here are three reasons why this book is worth reading:

With its practical techniques and strategies, it helps readers master the skill of grabbing and maintaining attention in any situation.
The book offers real-life examples and case studies that demonstrate how to make a memorable impression, making it invaluable for anyone looking to stand out.
Through its engaging stories and insights, the book keeps readers hooked from start to finish, ensuring the learning process is never dull.

Best quote from Got Your Attention?

If what youre sharing doesnt have real-world relevance for them, why should they pay attention? Its simply not a high-enough priority.

—Sam Horn

Who should read Got Your Attention??

Anyone who wants to get the attention of distracted minds
Job seekers looking for advice on how to stand out
People who want to create meaningful connections

About the Author

Sam Horn, also known as the “Intrigue Expert,” is a messaging and branding strategist with 20 years of experience working with clients like Intel, NASA and Boeing. She has also helped thousands of entrepreneurs and executives produce books, keynote speeches and TEDx talks.

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Marketing & Sales Communication Skills

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