I am very often on YouTube, watching all types of videos, and am amazed that so many religious messages run anywhere from 30 minutes to close to two hours! I mean, do you really think people can pay attention for that long just listening to you speak?
If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.
Having my own ministry, I post to Facebook and make videos of those messages for people who prefer to watch something than to read it. I have my own YouTube channel (Messianicmoment), and currently am at 512 subscribers. I make sure that my messages run less than 9 minutes, on average, because most people have a very short attention span, and my analytics tell me that, on average, people watch only about 33% of the video.
So you can imagine my surprise when I see so many videos with religious messages that run on and on for more than an hour!
At the Messianic synagogue I attended in Philadelphia, I would often give the Shabbat message. When I did, I tried to keep it at or less than 25 minutes, and the only reason I felt I could go that long was because I made sure to allow some interaction with the congregation. I can tell you, from experience, that after 25 minutes or so of just speaking, when you look at the congregation, a large number of them will have eyes that are beginning to glaze over.
People have a short attention span, especially those raised on Sesame Street, which (despite how good it is for teaching young children) does have one drawback: all the quick changes from this story or skit to that one conditions children to have a very short attention span. And since this program has been on for decades, many of the adults under 50 have been raised on it.
I also have been in positions where I am a teacher or a trainer, and the same rule applies there- without audience participation, straight lecturing will start to lose its effectiveness after 20 minutes or so.
When researching the average A-span for people, I was amazed to find that in a number of reports, done by a number of different organizations, the average A-span for people across all age groups (there are definitely different results for different age groups) is calculated in SECONDS! Honest- from less than 10 seconds to no more than 75 seconds.
One study found that while “everyone’s attention span does differ slightly, research has revealed that the average adult human is only able to concentrate on a task for around 15 to 20 minutes, suggesting most of us are struggling to maintain focus for long periods of time.” (this was from the Lenstore Hub web page, which is a Acuvue company. Please don’t ask me why an eye store is doing this research, but when I reviewed the entire report, it was very complete).
So, then, my personal experience seems to gel with the professional research. That is why I don’t even look at podcasts or YouTube videos regarding religious topics that are 20 minutes or more. I often won’t even look at them if they go more than 10 minutes, because I figure if you can’t say what you need to say in 10 minutes, then you are just babbling.
I also know from being a teacher and trainer, that to learn something it has to be repeated to people at least three times, at different times, in different ways. To do that effectively in a 8-10 minute video is challenging, so I tend to repeat the same thing in different videos, hoping that those who watch my videos regularly will eventually learn the lesson. I also try to make my videos entertaining, throwing in humor now and then (by the way, anyone who is a subscriber and would like to confirm that my videos aren’t boring, I would appreciate you chiming in with a comment).
There are so many important messages about God to give, and some of them do require some background before the main message can be presented, but if the entire message goes longer than 10 minutes, you have already reached the point of diminishing returns, so prepare well, test the time, and if you have to, cut the message into different messages to keep each portion short enough that it can be watched with full attention. As you continue the teaching, do a short review of the prior message then go to the next part. Not only will this make it easier for your audience to hear and remember the message, but you might get them to continue to come back, even when this topic is over.
So, before my time is up, here is what I would like to suggest to those who give video messages and want people to remember what you say: use the KISS Rule- Keep It Short, Speaker! (I’ll bet you thought I was going to use a different word there, didn’t you?)
That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!
