Distractions happen. Sometimes worse than others. This morning I was preaching on a ship (if you know me you will know which one). Ten minutes into my message there was a drill which meant about twenty or so people rushed out. Momentary distraction. Five minutes later three of the fire crew returned and were putting on their apparatus in the front corner of the hall, twenty feet from me. Distraction.
Thankfully most of us don’t have to compete with something that interesting most of the time. But what to do when people are all looking at something else? This morning I didn’t fight it. What advantage to compete and have people only half hear what you are saying?
Whatever you decide to do, one very important key is that your listeners will pick up on your mood. If you are tense and annoyed, they will feel bad and the distraction will be increased. If you seem calm and unflustered, they will be the same. In fact, sometimes it really helps to diffuse any tension they are feeling by a gentle and careful acknowledgement of the situation.
One thing that is clear, is that if you don’t have their attention, speaking is pointless. I remember reading of Bruce Wilkinson’s memory of Howard Hendricks’ absolute commitment to commanding the attention of his students, for without attention, there can be no learning.
So how do you do with attention? Not when there is a display by the local fire brigade twenty feet from the speaker, but when there are the normal distractions of life. People have other things on their minds, the seats aren’t always the most comfortable, not everyone had an invigorating night’s sleep, blood sugar levels do drop at key moments, etc.
It’s one of those things, I suppose. The more obviously you are trying to get attention, the less effective you will probably be. But you should be doing something. Somehow your voice, your energy, your body language, your manner, your content, your enthusiasm, your something has to get and keep attention . . . Otherwise it is largely irrelevant what you are doing when you preach.
Biblical Preaching 
I think you are right that the key thing for preachers in this situation is to “keep your head”. If your message has invaded not only mind & memory but heart & soul…the chances are that you will be sufficiently absorbed by it that you will not readily be put off. If a preacher doesn’t look like he or she believes what they are preaching – why would anybody else?
Holding their attention can be tough. The more I grow as a preacher, the more I realize that time spent with God, which translates into anointing, is how you keep attention and change lives.
Secondarily, building good communication skills helps, to whit, I really benefited from Andy Stanley’s Communicating for a Change.
Lastly, cranking up your enthusiasm makes you contagious. You gotta tap into your passionate wild man and preach from there. John Wesley said something like “People will come to watch a fire burn. I pray before I preach that God will light me on fire before I go out there.”
Allow yourself to get fired up!