and you cannot hold up a sign that says listen to me. You have one minute to say something that will keep your audience keen to pay attention to what you will say next.
Seasoned executive communications coach Neil Gordon says,
“An audience forms its impression of you in just fifteen seconds. As soon as you open your mouth, can make or break your whole presentation. What keeps people listening and engaged is curiosity about what’s coming next, and that suspense is at its peak right at the start. It can be a powerful tool. Don’t waste it.
The biggest mistake you can make is to spend the first fifteen seconds, or even longer, thanking the person who introduced you, and the audience for their time, and saying how glad you are to be there.”
Speakers do that because they want to be polite and friendly. The thing is everyone has heard it before. They have heard it so many times, they tune the speaker out and go back to their phones or plans for the weekend.
So how do you make the most of those crucial seconds?
Gordon advises that you give them a silver bullet, the most relevant point in your speech that will make or break whether your audience feels empowered.
“Smile and nod briefly at the person who introduced you, take a beat and a deep breath, and launch right into the most compelling part of your talk. Distill your most important point down to one big idea. I call it the silver bullet. Convey your main idea in one powerful sentence.
People operate on self-interest, and they’re most likely to listen closely, and remember you and what you said, if you address what concerns them most. So start there. You can add your own perspective later.”
What can you accomplish in four sentences?
The first few sentences of your message can actually achieve four things:
1. Grab their attention.
2. Tell them why they want to listen. Make a connection between their needs and your goals. Tell people what problem you can solve and what key benefit they will get that will give them some combination of happiness, success, and freedom.
3. Explain to the listeners why they should listen to you on this subject.
4. Get them to believe you.
A good understanding of your audience will help you shape your opening.
Accomplished speakers often start with an honest warm-up question (no answer expected) that sets the stage for the presentation. They turn their audience from listeners to active participants from the get-go. The question allows pause for the audience to think about how they might respond and it also helps you to get over your early jitters before you direct your attention to your main point. The right question can also serve to state the most compelling point of your talk.
If you decide you would like to use a question there are examples in this guide that you can use for inspiration or as is.
That leaves you another 45 seconds to advance your connection with your listeners and establish your credibility.
Smiling and Eye Contact Enhance Connection
You can show your audience your smile between sentences and if you are truly enjoying their company your eyes will convey that you are smiling on the inside.
Make eye contact while you speak. Your eyes can convince the audience of your honesty, openness and confidence. Of course, in smaller groups it is very easy to make eye contact with everyone. In large auditoriums the audience is further away from you and it is harder for them to tell precisely where you are looking. Thus, by simply staring at a group of people at the back of a lecture theatre it is possible to convince each of them individually that he or she is the object of your attention. Mentally divide a large room into several sectors and make eye contact with one person in each sector.
The key is to determine beforehand exactly how you wish to appear to the audience and use the first minute of your talk to establish that relationship. Whatever approach you choose, as their friend, as an expert, perhaps even as a judge, you must establish it at the very beginning.
You would not be keen to give a talk unless you have something worth talking about. It’s highly probably that its significance to you has a story, a rhetorical question or a head-turning statistic. Each has emotional impact.
An emotional tug is a way for your listeners to relate to your story or message. You need that kind of connection because you want them to feel curious and stay for the whole story. If a reader doesn’t feel curious about what happens next you may as well walk off the stage.
Everyone has a Story to Tell
One of the best ways to engage your audience early is to employ narrative elements, especially one with an emotional tug. After all, your audience is human and we are hardwired to look for meaning in the world around us. A strictly professional approach with just facts is not as interesting or convincing as stories. A story can capture the attention of the audience. It can be entertaining and engaging because people want to find out what happens next.
Stories stimulate more parts of the human brain which intensifies engagement. Chris Anderson curator of Ted Talks explains it this way.
“We all know that humans are wired to listen to stories, and metaphors abound for the narrative structures that work best to engage people. When I think about compelling presentations, I think about taking an audience on a journey. A successful talk is a little miracle—people see the world differently afterward.”
Telling a story allows the audience to glimpse more of your personality which makes you more relatable to them. A little bit of sincere emotion could be just the connection you need to make the ensuing facts of your message more meaningful as well as make your presentation more memorable.
Ask a Rhetorical Question
Asking a rhetorical question makes listeners ears perk up because our brains are hard-wired to come up with answers to questions.
Why do rhetorical questions work so well? We mentioned this earlier when we said that the right question turns listeners into active participants while drawing attention to the most compelling point of your talk. Here's another reason. You have an objective, a mission. Asking rhetorical question or presenting a puzzle with no obvious answer places immediate focus on the one answer you are trying to get your audience to grasp. They know they are not expected to give you an answer, but they will be thinking about your topic. They expect you to provide the answer and they will be engaged and tuned in so they do not miss it.
Experienced presenters craft rhetorical questions where the answer is a clearly a “yes. You can ask such a question more than once during the speech to trigger emotional reactions and make the audience feel the same way you do about something. Once the audience begins agreeing with you they are more likely to continue agreeing.
Surprise Listeners with One Head-Turning Statistic
Just one head-turning statistic can startle an audience to sense that what they are about to listen to is a gigantic sweeping issue worth their time.
Statistics can be boring. But, if you cite a statistic that astonishes, shocks, or somehow catches an audience unaware, it will be something that sticks in their mind throughout the presentation and be one they will be anxious to share with their friends, family and coworkers. A head-turning statistic can be more persuasive because it shows that you have done your research and establishes you as a credible authority. When you reveal something that an audience hasn’t heard before, they are eager to learn more.
Don’t rely on your audience to understand the enormity or significance of how the statistic is relevant. Try to make the statistic come alive with a meaning that your audience can visualize. For example, which statement below has more impact or imagery? A or B
A. Google gets over 2 trillion searches a month
B. Say each search phrase entered into Google is 2 inches in length and say we print those phrases on a ribbon. How long would that ribbon be? So long, we could loop that ribbon to the moon and back more than 11 times every month. Let’s look at it another way. On average we take 14 breaths per minute. That just over 20,000 breaths in a day. Every time you and I take a breath 280,000 people enter a Google search.
Make them cry, make them laugh, get them excited, do anything, that touches an emotional chord. Once you’ve tapped these emotions in a truthful, compelling way, your audience will be thinking, what are you going to give me next? I want to see it! They will be captivated.
You can use an ice-breaker if it is brief, attention grabbing, and relevant to your topic. The beauty of an icebreaker is that it has a way of giving your listeners an energy boost, be it fun, silly or thought-provoking. The key is to keep it simple because you need to keep the conversation moving.
Asking a question that is relevant or a good lead into your topic works well.
Look at our list of questions and use them for inspiration or if you find the right one feel free to use it at your next presentation.
