In my preceding article “9 Secrets To Better Beginnings Of Any Presentation”, I wrote about the importance of presentation beginnings and best ways to capture the audience’s attention, as opening is one of the most crucial elements of a powerful presentation. In this article I would focus on how to practise the openers with a 5 point test that could be applied to get into the actual presentation.
Effective presenters know that the beginning part of a presentation should take between 5 and 10% of the allotted presentation time. For one hour presentation, this is between three and six minutes. It is only 30 to 60 seconds for a 10 minute presentation. Although one should spend not more than 10% of the delivery time on the beginning of presentation, over half of the preparation time may be spent on honing and crafting for opening. The hardest thing a presenter is required to do is to START. When you want to travel, the hardest part is to just go ahead and go. But once you start, everything follows. Once the beginning is set, it becomes easier to jump start the presentation and get audience attention almost immediately.
Test whether your presentation opener has the following statements:
1. Impact Statement
An Impact Statement is a brief narrative summarizing the outcome of your presentation which creates strong support to proceed further. To create an impact with your presentation, the audience have to get the message. That means they have to be able to hear it and understand it. And to do that, first they must listen. So the very first step in this whole process is to gain their attention and then keep it, so that they listen, hear what the presenter say, understand it, and then they can be influenced by it which is, after all, the essence of impact.
2. Statement that arouse curiosity or suspense
Best way to arouse curiosity is by hiding or obscuring or veiling or hinting but never revealing. An example statement: “We are close to being able to file hyper-linked legal documents on CD-Roms. Only one thing stands in the way and that is my topic today.”
3. Statement through Question
If you want to persuade the audience to use Copy right legislation, starting the presentation with a question might do the trick. ” Is there anyone here who has not violated the copyright law ? “. Here you are making a statement that your topic is all about copyright law.
4.Statement about startling statistics
A startling statistic can be great opener. ” According to a national survey reported in the Wall Street Journal 82% of respondents say they access pornography on the Net at work “.
5. Societal norm statement
If your presentation subject is “Helping Children Learn to Work”, your opening statement could be”Are We Losing our Societal Norms About Work ? With children becoming more sedentary due to study routines, entertainment options and the like, it is more important than ever to teach the value of work. We parents face the challenge of needing to create opportunities to work rather than just having them.”
Finally make sure to establish credibility upfront with the following ABCD checklist:
-Attract audience straight away with a statement at the beginning of presentation
-Begin to deal with ingredients of your presentation after your initial statement.
-Come out punching. Get to the point with right statement. Your audience expect nothing less.
-Drive rest of your presentation with sub-statements.
Follow this 5 point test and check list for your next presentation and if none apply then it is better to reschedule that next presentation until you are able to create a dynamic opening.
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