One of the most interesting things I ever learned was that a lot of what we think we’re seeing, we’re not actually seeing.

Turns out the human brain caches an awful lot of information, including information it’s getting from the eyes.

For example, right now I am sitting in my living room. I see a couch, a couple chairs, and a bookcase. Or at least I think I do. Since they are not moving, it’s quite likely that those images are actually cached in my brain. The image of the couch is actually an image that was put there a few seconds ago, as are the images of the chairs and the bookcase. Oh, and of course, images of the wall and the ceiling and the paint on them.

Why does the human body do this? Remember that the brain makes up about 2% of the body’s weight, but consumes 20% of the body’s resources. It’s a resource hog, so it’s always looking for ways to reduce the food bill Nature sends it each month. Constant streaming of all data from the eye would consume tremendous resources, so the brain is caching as much as possible.

In this way, the brain is very much like the internet browser on your computer.

And by the way, the brain is a very good 3D imager, so if I move my head a little bit, the brain will just rewrite the cached images accordingly. However, if I radically increase the need for refreshed imagery — for example, if I stand up, walk across the room, and look for my keys underneath that couch — the brain will stop using the cache and will pull in new imagery from the eyes.

This is happening in other people’s brains too, of course. Fortunately, you don’t have to do a lot to force a refresh in their brains. Even a small change will force a refresh.

You know how the other day I mentioned that sometimes I would greet a client’s assistant with “yuvarlanıp gidiyoruz” (we’re rolling along)? Something like that is enough. It causes the other person’s brain to say, “Wait a minute, he usually says he’s fine, plus he’s a foreigner, and foreigners rarely use this phrase, so I need to pay attention.”

And as a result, the other person’s brain refreshes the imagery, pulling in new imagery of my face, new imagery of my eyes, even new imagery of the wall behind me and of the molding between the wall and the door.

There’s a spike in the other person’s brain activity, and they don’t even really know why, they just think this situation is interesting for some reason.

What does this mean for your presentation?

Your audience’s brains are trying to pull as much of your presentation from cache as possible. And what’s in the cache? “Presentations are boring,” “This person has nothing to say,” “Time to scroll Facebook,” etc.

So when you walk up there, do a little something to break the pattern. It doesn’t need to be much. A pause before speaking. A question if everyone else is starting with a statement. Some cross-talk with the organizer. Whatever. It doesn’t matter that much.

Of course, the idea you are presenting needs to be interesting, or your audience’s brains will go back to cache in a couple seconds. But do a little something at the start to force a cache refresh right from the beginning.