CREATIVE LEARNING EXPERIENCES THAT CHANGE BEHAVIOR
Attention Differently.
Forget “10 Ways” or “5 Tricks” to Grab Learners’ Attention. It’s boring.
Lesley S
6/12/20251 min read
That’s how you get someone’s attention. Reel ‘em right in.
In Advertising Secrets of the Written Word (Delstar; 1998), Sugarman snags – no, hijacks – your attention. Something we educators and learning experience designers strive for, too.
Because where attention goes, so goes learning.
To capture attention, Sugarman starts with WIIFM. “Never sell a product or service,” says Sugarman. To answer the question of what’s in it for me, sell a concept. Apple’s Think Different concept is compelling. After all, who doesn’t harbor fantasies of being a swashbuckling (Amelia Earhart), passionate (Picasso), legendary (Gandhi) rainmaker?
Once the emotion you evoke has done its job of snagging attention, then provide the features - the "logic" - that someone can use to justify their decision to invest time, effort, or money.
