Presentation Brilliance – Four Questions to Grab Attention

First impressions drive everything.

Especially with presentations:

1. Start well, and you should be OK
2. Start badly, and you won’t

But most first impressions aren’t great:

1. “Thank you for your time” (makes audiences think “Why are you so grateful to be here?”)
2. “Here’s the background” (“Boring recap”)
3. “We were founded in 1922” (“I. Just. Do. NOT. Care.”)

Instead:

Ensure your opening sentence is powerful. Get them excited. Work out in advance what you’ll say. Practise saying it until it’s great.

And then ask your audience some questions – like this:

1. The topics you asked me to cover are XYZ. Are they still the right ones?
2. Is there anything else you want us to cover?
3. Which of these topics would you like us to discuss first?
4. Great – let’s do that. Why do you want us to start there?

Questions like this work well:

1. It starts interactive. So it stays interactive
2. It’s good for energy in the room
3. It’s great for your confidence
4. You know their priorities…
5. …so you can talk about them first
6. Which means they’re hooked already…

… And nobody will be thinking “I know this is my #1 priority. But what year was your company founded?”

Action Point

Your start is disproportionately important. So spend disproportionate time preparing it.

The above is a great way to start…