Designing for the attendee who is also working

Assume divided attention and build a session that still delivers under it.

The person on the other side of the screen has a job, and during your session they are quite likely doing some of it. Pretending otherwise produces sessions that only work for an idealised attendee who does not exist. Designing for the real one is not cynical. It means putting the essential message in the first ten minutes rather than saving it for a finale nobody reaches, and it means never letting a critical instruction exist only as a spoken sentence.

Practically, that translates into a few habits. Repeat the core point at intervals in different words, so that a returning attendee catches it. Make each segment self contained enough to be understood by someone who rejoins partway through. Provide the detail in a written form that outlives the session, so that attention lapses become recoverable rather than fatal. Use short, explicit transitions so that a person glancing back at the screen can locate themselves immediately.

There is also a design choice about attention rather than a plea for it. Ask people to do something early, before drift sets in, and ask again at the points where attention historically sags. A question that requires an answer is worth more than a request for engagement, because it converts a passive watcher into a participant with a reason to stay. Attention online is earned in small repeated instalments, never granted once at the start.