The start of a presentation is never easy so here are 5 ideas to show you how to start your presentation
You’re probably feeling a bit nervous. Worried you’ll forget your words or start rambling.
And then there’s your audience. No they’re not judging you but they do want your start to be interesting and engaging.
So rule number one : Don’t start your presentation with stuff about you or your company. Your audience don’t really care about you or your company. What they do care about is how whatever you are talking about and sharing is going to be helpful and useful to them.
Which means they don’t want to hear at the start how great you are, how many awards you’ve won, what a lovely bunch of people you are, how fantastic your coffee machine is…..
Rule number two: Do start your presentation with something your audience will be engaged by. Something they don’t know or hadn’t considered. It needs to be relevant to your subject but it needs to get the attention of your audience.
Here are some examples:
A big stat: ‘Did you know that 16% of your long standing customers will leave you this year, not because of prices or quality but because they think you no longer care about them’
A headline statement: ‘According to x and y over two-thirds of B2B buyers are making decisions based on what their research tells them about you’
A rhetorical question: ‘How many of you here today have done any sort of exercise in the last week?’
A short story: ‘My daughter recently flew back from a holiday in South America. The crew arrived late. Some passengers gave them a sarcastic slow handclap. When the pilot did his welcome aboard talk he mentioned it. Did those who did the slow handclap realise the crew had been in a road traffic accident? You’re lucky they weren’t injured or we wouldn’t be taking off now he said – story point – when did you last make a wrong assumption?’
Use a prop: I coached a guy who was a specialist courier. We decided he should have no slides but instead a large cardboard box – the exact thing he used every day. From the box he started pulling out items he couriered. It was so much more engaging than had he used photos on the screen of the items. (Incidentally he won a prize for best presentation that year from his local chamber of commerce)
Whichever way you choose to start your presentation go with the one that is relevant to your subject and will create the biggest impact in terms of grabbing your not just your audience’s attention but their engagement.
And resist the temptation to think that a short ‘funny’ video or a clever joke will do the same. It won’t. Your audience will have seen and heard plenty of those ‘cheap’ tricks to try and grab attention.
Here then is how to start your presentation:
Firstly have someone introduce you
Then straight into your opening as above – no ‘thanks Gerald it is great to be here and the pastries were delicious….’
Your opening sets the tone. Your audience are engaged and attentive.
And now you have to keep them that way!
If you have any great examples of presentation openings you’ve either witnessed or delivered that you want to share please drop me a line with details to trevor@trevorjlee.com
If you need help with your presenting check my offerings here: https://www.trevorjlee.com/presentation-training/
And if you prefer to learn in your own time at your own pace then follow this link to my series of on-demand presentation courses, each of which come with a 1:1 coaching session: https://www.ondemandpresentationcourses.com/
