7 Strong Ways To Grab Your Audience’s Attention At The Start Of Your Talk
Imagine yourself in a room, or up on stage giving a presentation.
You’ve put in an amazing amount of effort into getting ready, and you know you’re properly prepared to make this a success.
Things seem to be going well when suddenly, you look out into the audience, and notice that everyone has …. fallen asleep!
What happened???
When you’re delivering a talk or a presentation, you really only have a short window to draw in your audience.
It’s mere seconds.
Unfortunately, when I first started presenting, I would generally begin this way……
· With my introduction
· Then with the agenda
Now, when I prepare the opening of a talk, I approach it a little differently.
I try to make it really interesting and impactful.
I now think about it the same way Hollywood producers get us excited and looking forward to watching a movie.
I approach it like a movie trailer! With a short overview of the most dramatic bits and some intrigue about what will be shared.
How can you do that?
Let me share my tips and hacks.
Here are 7 ways to create a strong presentation opening.
#1 – A SHOCKING STAT
You ultimately want to create a wow moment and have people thinking to themselves, “ooh I didn’t know that!”.
So, pick a statistic that people haven’t heard before. Something that quantifies the problem in a punchy way.
Here’s an example of an interesting stat used at the beginning of a presentation.
In Robert Ballard’s TED Talk ‘The astonishing hidden world of the deep ocean”, he shares that:
“If you compare NASA’s annual budget to explore the heavens, that one-year budget would fund NOAA’s budget to explore the oceans for 1,600 years!!”
#2 – RHETORICAL QUESTIONS
A great way to get people curious about the topic and wanting to know more is by using rhetorical questions.
If you can get them to a state of wonder, that’s where you want them to be!
‘Why’ questions are great options, because they aren’t always completely obvious.
Which means it will get people thinking of the answer themselves. Which forces them to concentrate on your talk.
You can also stack multiple why questions on top of each-other. As long as they relate to the same point.
My favourite use of this is at the start of the Simon Sinek TED Talk: How great leaders inpsire action
He starts by posing these 7 questions, stacked one on top of each-other:
“How do you explain when things don’t go as we assume?
Or better, how do you explain when others are able to achieve things that seem to defy all of the assumptions?
For example: Why is Apple so innovative? Year after year, after year, they’re more innovative than all their competition. And yet, they’re just a computer company. They’re just like everyone else. They have the same access to the same talent, the same agencies, the same consultants, the same media. Then why is it that they seem to have something different?
Why is it that Martin Luther King led the Civil Rights Movement? He wasn’t the only man who suffered in pre-civil rights America, and he certainly wasn’t the only great orator of the day. Why him?
And why is it that the Wright brothers were able to figure out controlled, powered man flight when there were certainly other teams who were better qualified, better funded — and they didn’t achieve powered man flight, and the Wright brothers beat them to it?
There’s something else at play here”
#3 – AUDIENCE INTERACTION
If there is a way that you can involve your audience right from the get-go, you will have them way more invested in your talk and feeling part of it.
Rather than being talked at and distracted.
This could be a question or poll you want answered, an exercise, a game etc.
This is my general go-to for a talk opening.
My favourite use of this is at the start of the: Amy Cuddy TED Talk: Your body language may shape who you are
In her talk opening, she starts by asking people:
“I want to ask you to right now do a little audit of your body and what you’re doing with your body.
So how many of you are sort of making yourselves smaller? Maybe you’re hunching, crossing your legs, maybe wrapping your ankles. Sometimes we hold onto our arms like this.
Sometimes we spread out. (Laughter) I see you.
So I want you to pay attention to what you’re doing right now and we’re going to come back to that in a few minutes.”
Because she involves us as the audience, it’s hard not to get bought into what that means.
#4 – WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?
A great way to get people invested in listening is to share the value of your talk in your opening. i.e. What’s In It For Me (WIIFM).
People love to hear a direct tangible benefit they will get from listening. Which is very different to what they will be learning about.
In fact Amy Cuddy does this so well in her TED Talk.
It’s the best ‘value proposition’ of any TED Talk I’ve ever seen.
“So I want to start by offering you a free no-tech life hack………
And I’m hoping that if you learn to tweak this a little bit, it could significantly change the way your life unfolds.”
Significantly change the way my life unfolds!? Wowee. It’s hard not to get excited by that intro right!?
#5 – A RELATED STORY
A great option is to share a short but relevant story about your experience with the topic. It satisfies people’s natural curiosity about how you’re connected to this topic and what brought you there to talk about it.
It also serves as a great way to establish a connection with your audience.
If you don’t have a story of your own, a story that relates to the topic and sums up the problem space is a great option.
One point of caution though, I’d try and keep the story quite short.
Your audience wants to know the point of a presentation quite early on. So don’t take ages to get to the point with a rambling story.
In Gill Hick’s TED Talk ‘I survived a terrorist attack. Here’s what I learnt’, she includes a story in the opening of her talk:
“On a Thursday morning in July 2005, the bomber and I, unknowingly, boarded the same train carriage at the same time, standing, apparently, just feet apart.
I didn’t see him. Actually, I didn’t see anyone.
You know not to look at anyone on the Tube, but I guess he saw me.
I guess he looked at all of us, as his hand hovered over the detonation switch….”
It certainly makes you want to keep listening right!?
#6 – SOMETHING UNEXPECTED
I remember a talk I went to perhaps 10 years or so ago. It was meant to be a session on being impactful and powerful.
The lady started in such an odd way – she was mumbling, not making eye contact, she had lots of ums and ahs, etc.
She was generally coming across like she was unsure of what she was saying.
I remember sitting in the audience thinking to myself
“Have I come to the right session!?”
It was getting to the stage where it felt super awkward…..
However, at that point, the lady switched gears completely and started to explain that she was displaying exactly how you DON’T want to appear.
It was such a relief!
But also it really worked well as her whole point was made, that how you deliver your points or your presentation will have a massive impact on what the audience feels and interprets.
So, if you can, do something unexpected at the start of a presentation.
It will make your message truly stick in the minds of your audience long after you’ve left the room.
#7 – HUMOUR
If you can make people laugh or even just smile in the opening of your talk, you will ensure they’re actively listening and having a good time.
That’s when people are very receptive to what you’ll say next.
Here’s a TED Talk that starts with some humour: The agony of trying to unsubscribe (James Veitch)
It can be hard to pull off though.
If you feel comfortable with humour and you’re a naturally funny person, go for it!
If that’s not you, my advice is to go with one of the other options.
IN SUMMARY
Remember, you’ve got important information to share with your audience. So it’s crucial to get them interested and excited to listen right from the very start.
The next time you’re starting a presentation, don’t simply share the title, your name and the agenda….
Approach the opening of your talk like a movie trailer, using one of these options.
It will get people curious and intrigued to hear more!!
Q – Which one is your fave and why? Or if you have a different approach altogether, what is it?
Emily
Emily Edgeley is a Public Speaking & Storytelling Coach for the Tech industry. Since 2017 (after leaving a 10+ yr career in Cyber Sec & Tech), she’s run over 280 group coaching sessions, coached more than 250 people privately, and formally supported (first time and experienced) speakers at 10 Conferences, covering 1000+ people across the globe.
She’s on a mission to help anyone in the Tech arena learn how to speak with clarity, impact, and confidence, whether that’s at work or at a Conference. So they can share their ideas, build their brand and get more of what they want.
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