The saying, first impression is the last impression, is true for almost everything, especially for a presentation. A good start to a presentation draws the immediate audience attention and keeps most of them engaged to it, throughout. When there is a powerful start the audience is always eager to know more about the topic, you are representing. But, the question arises, “How can you create an impactful start that will make the audience stay till the end?” There are a few measures that you can take in order to achieve complete audience engagement, with the opening of your presentation:
1) Tell a story: Stories are always welcomed by everyone, and when you start your presentation with your personal story or a story based on an incident related to the topic, you grab the quick attention of the audience. Most of the people in the audience would want to know about the relation of the story with the topic and will listen to you with complete concentration. Such start of a presentation builds the interest of the audience, that may last till the end of the presentation.
2) Welcome the audience with a thank you: As the story ends, you must thank the audience for their presence. Along with your introduction, you can show some gratitude with a statement like, "Thank you all for coming for the presentation". You can also add questions like “How are you doing today?” When you acknowledge the audience with a thank you and give them a warm welcome, the audience also in return try to pay full attention to your speech.
3) Asking for an audience response: You can further ask a question about some random things related to the audience to get the count of the people who are listening to you attentively. e.g., questions like, "who is here to grab the lunch after the presentation?” and there you go with multiple raised hands, and attentive listeners in the audience.
4) Use of a Powerful Quote: Quotations are inspiring, and if it goes with the topic of the presentation and said in a proper way, the audience becomes more attentive for what you have to say next. Use of quotes shows your intelligence and your hard work that you put in finding a meaningful and relevant quote. An opening with a quote is always a powerful way of starting a speech.
5) Use of Facts & Statistics: Using facts in the opening represent your knowledge and passion about the topic you are speaking upon. When you are putting an effort to get facts into the opening of the speech, it represents that you have prepared the further presentation with great precision and research. The audience is more inclined to the people who are passionate about their subject and have researched well before speaking.
6) Add Some Humour: You don’t have to make fun of anyone, but adding a suitable humble joke can make the presentation more interesting. When you add humor to your presentation, not only the audience becomes more concentrated, but you also feel a bit light and more confident. A serious presenter can hold a serious audience, but a presentation with mixed expression gets the attention of most of the people.
The beginning of a presentation is like a cover of a book. If it interests you, you will definitely open the book, but if not, the chances of your opening the same book reduces by 60 percent. So, why test the success of your presentation by choosing a boring opening for your presentation? Rather try out those simple steps and see the results.
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