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So how do you start a presentation effectively?
Good question because every time you get up to speak in front of a group of people, you have a monumental task ahead of you:
Getting their undivided attention!
Gaining your audience’s attention is not easy because you have to compete with powerful opponents: daydreams, cell phones, social media, email, news outlets and many other modern distractions.
You might think your audience will immediately stop what they are doing when you walk up to speak.
Think again!
That does not happen. Not because your audience is packed with bad people, but because there are a lot of things distracting them. These days you have to grab your audience’s attention quickly and never let go.
Here is a brilliant way to captivate your audience:
It’s called “In the past, this happened” presentation opener.
It is an opening that adds tension and urgency at the beginning of your presentation, and it will cause your audience to pay attention.
Here is the Formula:
“In the past ___x___, ____y____ happened.”
x = time frame ( 30 seconds, 2 minutes, three years, etc.).
y = significant event (3 plane crashes, one person walked on Mars, someone won the lottery, etc.).
Note: it’s stronger to have a number in both of the x and y.
Example 1: How to start a presentation if you are a CFO
Imagine you are the CFO of a company, and you want to advise your VP’s not to spend over by sharing a scary story about the topic. You can start your presentation by saying “In the past 30 minutes since we began this meeting, we have burned through 1,000,000 dollars of our hard earned cash…” Wow, if I were a VP of that organization, I would be all ears. So would you.
Example 2: How to Start a presentation if you are a UX designer
Imagine you are a UX designer, and you want to demonstrate to C-Suite execs the magnitude of the change you are suggesting. You can start your presentation by saying: “In the past 24 hours we missed 24 thousand subscribers because we did not have a “Norton Secured” symbol on our registration page.” Wholly guacamole!
Example 3: How to start a presentation if you are a director
The formula can be used for a positive message as well. Let’s say you are the director of the customer service department, and you want to illustrate the success of your team. You might say “In the past three months we launched our Customer Success Portal and we diverted 25% of customer phone calls to self-service forums, saving the company half a million dollars.” Woohooo!
Example 4: How to start a presentation if you work for a non-profit
What if you work for a non-profit company and want to influence donors to give more money?
After a 30 minute pause, you might say … “ In the past 30 seconds, a poor single mother of two was a victim of predatory lending. She took a loan against her paycheck with 200% interest rate.” If I were a donor, I would be all in.
Conclusion
In the past 2 minutes, the time you spent reading this article, a million professionals were subjected to yet another boring corporate presentation.
Your audience deserves better; you deserve better. Now you have a chance to grab your audience’s attention and keep it. Use this technique, and they will not dare to daydream, check their phone, email, or anything else that might distract them.
>>> Would love to see how you start a presentation in the comments section below:
