For a presenter, few moments are better than feeling you have the audience in the palm of your hand. And few are more painful than feeling the gulf between you and your listeners getting wider and wider.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll look at principles that seem to guide the great speakers I’ve seen recently, whether they’re talking about a vision for the company or the roll-out of a new ad campaign.
Here’s the first:
Answer the question, “Why?” When I started out as a speaker, I was told to use a grabber–a snappy, attention-getting opening sentence designed to pull people out of their own heads and get them interested in what’s in yours. But I noticed that anytime I was listening to a really good speaker, they weren’t so concerned with the showy stuff at the start. They were more concerned about posing this question: Why is it urgently important that we discuss this topic?
[ctt tweet=”A great opening lets your listeners know why your talk is important to them. http://bit.ly/1lwCHp1″ coverup=”4c0RA”]
Maybe a story, or a joke, or a news item from the paper can work. But using tricks and shtick to get attention may not draw them into the topic, and it could hurt your credibility. You don’t want to do the equivalent of the disappearing bunny trick to get them to focus on your serious talk.
Providing answers to the “Why” question is the better, more credible, and meaningful way to open your talk.
[h4]Next week…Find the passion[/h4]