Has your audience tuned out?
The modern marketer’s mind is overloaded, and the first place where focus is lost is during the series of endless meetings and presentations they have to suffer through. Ben McCallum, managing director at Universal McCann Sydney, explains how to command attention, and make every meeting productive.
Our work lives can often feel like an endless cycle of meetings—Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, or even the increasingly elusive in-person gathering.
The truth is endless meetings can stifle growth and productivity. Just think of the time you found yourself in a meeting, staring at the speaker but completely lost in thought—wondering what’s for dinner, revisiting a past conversation, or mentally reliving last night’s episode of MAFS. And it’s fair to say, you’re not alone, it happens to the best of us.
The modern marketer’s mind is overloaded, and our ability to focus in meetings and during presentations is suffering. At its core, focus is simply the absence of irrelevant thoughts. It sounds simple enough, yet staying focused can be incredibly difficult. You might wonder why. But the real question should be: no matter the format, how do you command attention and make every meeting productive?
We live in an age of hyper-connectivity, we’re consuming information and being bombarded with content at an unprecedented pace. Podcasts and audiobooks are often played at 1.5x speed, social media feeds refresh endlessly, and even TV shows have shortened their average shot length to just four seconds. This rapid-fire content consumption has rewired our brains to expect instant engagement. The result? When faced with long, meandering meetings or sluggish presentations, our attention quickly drifts.
Beyond this, meetings are often unstructured and lack a clear purpose. Too many sessions are booked because they’ve always been booked, not because they serve a strategic function. When an agenda does exist, it’s often bloated with unnecessary information that dilutes key takeaways rather than driving a focused discussion.
To make meetings and presentations valuable again and reclaim your audience’s focus, marketers and agency leaders need to rethink their approach. Here’s how:
Shorter is often more purposeful
Instead of fighting our natural attention limits, let’s embrace them. Short, focused meetings with a clear goal are far more effective than lengthy, aimless discussions. An impactful, concise presentation will always engage an audience more than a lengthy explanation of everything a product or business does. In other words, the key is to prioritise what actually needs to be discussed and then structure the meeting to a 15-minute blitz. Remember, not everyone needs a speaking role.
Ask ‘why’?
Clarity is everything. Before inviting the team, ask: What’s the true purpose of the meeting? What’s the desired outcome? If the answers are unclear, reconsider whether a meeting is even necessary. Ambiguity drains focus, while defined goals keep participants engaged and on track.
Optimising how we show up
How we prepare for meetings is just as important as how they’re run. So, here are three fail-safe ways to improve focus:
Prioritise Sleep: Sleep deprivation impairs cognitive function, making it harder to stay engaged. A well-rested team is an attentive team.
Take reset moments: Pushing through back-to-back meetings without mental resets leads to diminishing returns. Short breaks between meetings improve long-term concentration.
Eliminate distractions: Close unnecessary tabs, put phones away, and actively listen. If you’re in a meeting, be in the meeting.
Ben McCallum, MD of UM Sydney
Fixing our meeting culture isn’t just about saving time—it’s about improving performance. By rethinking how we structure meetings, we can enhance creativity and strategy, with shorter, more focused discussions free up mental bandwidth for deep, strategic thinking.
We can also boost productivity. Less wasted time in unproductive meetings means more time for meaningful work. Decision-making will also improve: When meetings have clear objectives, decisions become faster and more effective.
In a fast-paced industry where attention is a valuable currency, it’s time to be more intentional about how we spend it.
Team meetings and presentations are a valid part of working life. If we make them more valuable the clear benefit is an effective team, which means better work. It’s not rocket science!
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