Powerful Ways to Open a Presentation.

The opening of a talk is so difficult. A great speech opening gets us curious and sets the direction for a powerful speech. We shouldn’t make our opening too formal. Make it appear free, casual, inevitable. There are several ways of winning audience’s immediate attention:

Use Silence: Say a few more words then be quiet. It’s a quick and easy way to own the room.

Relating a human interest story and how the topic affects the vital interest of the audience:This can be done by referring to something that has just happened. Don’t start planning your presentation by trying to think of a great story to start your presentation. That’s hard. Instead plan the rest of your presentation — which will (of course) include stories to back up your points.

Make mistakes intentionally: The idea is to gain control of your audience. If you can make them laugh and be more interactive with you, your presentation will have that casual feel to it which will make it more memorable than others.

Asking a question:Asking questions may wake up your audience and get their interest to your topic.

Speak to one person at a time: Choose one member of your audience and dedicate your whole presentation to him or her. Just assume that everyone else is not paying attention. When someone asks you a question, change your focus to that person and answer the question as if the two of you are in a coffee shop chatting away. Isn’t that the most relaxing way to handle a crowd?

Use a quote: A quote is just using someone’s else words rather than your own. They happen to have made the point you want to make in a particularly pity or evocative way.