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“How do I make a killer start to my speech that makes the audience sit upright, pay rapt attention to my words, and look forward to the complete presentation?”
Everybody wants this winning start to their presentation. But getting started is the hardest part. Any presenter who has been charged with the task of presenting has faced the “tyranny of the blank page”. So how do they get started?
A question is a great start. It is personal, arouses curiosity and interest in the audience as to mentally answer the question. A quotation is a great start too. Words of a famous personality or a well known quotation adds credibility to the speech and carries the power of familiarity. Are there any other ways to make a killer start to the presentation and keep the audience hooked? Yes, there are many.
Ted talks in particular threw many ideas my way for opening a speech. Here are 13 ways to kickstart your presentation:
#1- Make an Actionable Statement / Disrupt the Status Quo
Make a powerful statement that disrupts the status quo. Make a call to action or a call to change right in the start. This breaks the audience expectation. What were they expecting? A formal introduction about the presenter or the topic. Instead, you infuse energy into the room by making a strong statement. How?
Read this power-packed opening:
“I'm going to begin today with a story and end with a revolution. Are you ready?”
Source- Ted Talk- What it's like to be a woman in Hollywood by Naomi McDougall
The presenter pricked up the ears of the audience with her revolutionary call. She further energises the atmosphere by seeking their participation. How can you use this strategy for your presentation? By changing the status quo.
Say something like “Today I will change the way you look at food.” People in general are not comfortable with change but your audience is different. It has come to learn something new, leave their old habits and adopt healthier ones, change their way of thinking, or anything that brings a positive change in their life. Give that promise right in the start. A reason why audience is lethargic and bored to death is because the presenter is not sharing anything new or something that will bring a change in their life.
#2- Start with the Audience
As many presentation experts advice “It’s not about you. It’s about THEM.” Take this advice literally and start talking about the audience if you can. Nothing can make it more personal than talking about the audience. So do you pick up one man or woman from the audience and start talking about their life? You might do that but how about treating the entire audience as one person, one living entity. Here are examples to dissipate the mental fog:
There are about 5,000 women here today. Among us, 1,250 have been or will be sexually assaulted at some point in our lives. One in four. Only 10 percent will report it. The other 90 percent take refuge in silence -- half of them, because the incident involves a close family member or someone they know, and that makes it much more difficult to deal with and talk about.
Source- Ted Talk- Why women stay silent after sexual assault- Inés Hercovich
Now the above opening would have been quite shocking for the female audience because it is not just a statistic anymore but a real life possibility. Audience is the central character in the story behind this statistic. It is uncomfortable and therefore demanding attention. It is also disturbing the status quo which is what we tried in the first opening technique too. Here’s another simple but effective use of this technique:
As you've probably noticed, in recent years, a lot of western forests have burned in large and destructive wildfires. If you're like me -- this western landscape is actually why my family and I live here.
Source- Ted Talk : Why wildfires have gotten worse — and what we can do about it, Paul Hessburg
Many might have noticed, many might have not. Those who would not have noticed would feel guilty of not noticing an important event and feel thankful to the presenter for making them aware. Here’s how another speaker addressed the audience right in the opening:
Congratulations. By being here, listening, alive, a member of a growing species, you are one of history's greatest winners -- the culmination of a success story four billion years in the making. You are life's one percent.
Source- Ted Talk : How to win at evolution and survive a mass extinction- Lauren Sallan
Related Blog: 5 Public Speaking Lessons From The 5 Most Watched TED Talks Of All Time
#3- Speak Out Your Mind
Be candid. Be yourself. So if you are shaking with anxiety, you can start with this confession, even though they can see the same with their eyes. Why? Because people like other people who are straightforward, who are not wearing a mask. If you are super excited, you can do “yay”. Forget all formalities, the stage is yours at that moment. Own it!
What are you doing on this stage in front of all these people? Run! Run now.
That's the voice of my anxiety talking. Even when there's absolutely nothing wrong, I sometimes get this overwhelming sense of doom, like danger is lurking just around the corner.
Source- Ted Talk- Don't suffer from your depression in silence by Nikki Webber Allen
Now the presenter may not be feeling anxious and the opening was pre-planned but it is a confession of a common feeling she experiences. It is genuine. Many might criticize it for playing the sympathy card but what’s wrong in seeking some moral support from your audience. I don’t see any harm. Break all the walls between you and the audience.
#4- Share a Story
Now you must be wondering why this came so late. It is after all the most effective technique of getting the audience interested in you and your presentation. Everybody loves listening to stories- not of kings and queens that existed once upon a time but real stories and the story of the person standing in front of them.
Stories do not have to be some big event in your life. Everyday commonplace conversations, observations of surroundings and your personal take on that could be a story and a very interesting one. More importantly, how you narrate that story makes a big difference. Read this presentation opening by a medical specialist that is highly amusing:
A few years ago, I always had this thing happening to me, especially at family gatherings like teas with aunts and uncles or something like this. When people come up to you, and they ask you, "So, what are you doing?" And I would have this magical one-word reply, which would make everybody happy: "Medicine. I'm going to be a doctor." Very easy, that's it, everybody's happy and pleased. And it could be so easy, but this effect really only lasts for 30 seconds with me, because that's then the time when one of them would ask, "So, in what area of medicine? What specialty do you want to go into?" And then I would have to strip down in all honesty and just say, "OK, so I'm fascinated with the colon. It all started with the anus, and now it's basically the whole intestinal tract."
Source- Ted Talk : The surprisingly charming science of your gut by Giulia Enders
Stories may be happy or sad. The best motivational speakers share their darkest stories that send shivers down the spine but they also reveal how they overcame those despite all odds.
I'd like to take you back about seven years in my life. Friday afternoon, a few days before Christmas 2009. I was the director of operations at a consumer products company in San Francisco, and I was called into a meeting that was already in progress. That meeting turned out to be my exit interview. I was fired, along with several others. I was 64 years old at the time.
Source- Ted Talk : How I became an entrepreneur at 66 by Paul Tasner
#5- Quote History
All of us would like to reconnect with our history. After all, history is nothing but the story of those before us (his story). There is also a certain nostalgia associated with the events or objects of past. For instance, we still have a soft spot for cassettes even though they are outdated. History is full of memories of mankind.
As a speaker, you can tap into the emotions and shared memories of your audience by taking a trip down the memory lane, even if the memory lane is yours.
A little over 100 years ago, in 1915, Einstein published his theory of general relativity, which is sort of a strange name, but it's a theory that explains gravity. It states that mass -- all matter, the planets -- attracts mass, not because of an instantaneous force, as Newton claimed, but because all matter -- all of us, all the planets -- wrinkles the flexible fabric of space-time.
Source- Ted Talk : How LIGO discovered gravitational waves — and what might be next by Gabriela Gonzalez
Let's go back to 1957. Representatives from six European countries had come to Rome to sign the treaty that was to create the European Union. Europe was destroyed. A world war had emerged from Europe. The human suffering was unbelievable and unprecedented. Those men wanted to create a peaceful, democratic Europe, a Europe that works for its people.
Source- Ted Talk : The new age of corporate monopolies by Margrethe Vestager
#6- State a Fact
Increase the general knowledge of your audience by sharing a fact. The audience have come to listen to you to learn something. Let the learning commence from the start.
Sharing facts also make the speaker look credible since you have done some research. You can take a factual event from history or throw light on a fact related to your presentation subject.
It has been 128 years since the last country in the world abolished slavery and 53 years since Martin Luther King pronounced his "I Have A Dream" speech. But we still live in a world where the color of our skin not only gives a first impression, but a lasting one that remains.
Source- Ted Talk : The beauty of human skin in every color by Angélica Dass
#7- Introduce Yourself
Now, we know we discussed above that presentation is about the audience and not about you. That doesn’t mean you can’t talk about yourself, your experiences and thoughts. Do it but do not boast about yourself. Do not try to make the audience feel small.
If you belong to a profession that not many people have heard of or if introducing yourself will set a context for the presentation topic, share it with your audience by all means. There is no boasting in saying “I’m a surgeon and I witness the battle of life and death every day.” That is your truth and should be shared. Don’t go about listing your awards and years of experience. Self praise is no recommendation, remember that.
I'm a neuroscientist, and I'm the co-founder of Backyard Brains, and our mission is to train the next generation of neuroscientists by taking graduate-level neuroscience research equipment and making it available for kids in middle schools and high schools.
Source- Ted Talk : Electrical experiments with plants that count and communicate by Greg Gage
#8- Share a Joke
Some people are born with a sense of humor. Naturally such presenters are loved the most.
For those not born with that, sharing a joke can be a tricky thing. It can work and evoke guffaws or it can land flat embarrassing you to death. Take care that the joke is not stale and cliche. Also that it is not so intelligent that it goes over the head. Try out your jokes on your friends and see their reaction to be safe.
You might argue that audience is not there to listen to jokes. But nobody ever complained about having a good time. You do not have to be overly serious. You are not at a funeral.
Just sharing a joke that made me laugh today 😀
#9- Picture It!
Set the imaginations of your audience rolling. Let them put their minds to use and picture a world that you want them to see. Engage them right from the start.
Audience will surely take no offence. Everybody daydreams. Rather than letting them daydream a world of their own, make it a shared dream with “Picture it” opening:
Picture it: a big, sweaty, tattooed man in a cowboy hat and chaps, is in the ring as the arena full of fans cheer him on. Their hero: "Cowboy" Gator Magraw. Gator bounces off the ropes and is quickly body-slammed to the mat. His wild opponent leaps into the air, crashing down onto Gator's rib cage. Gator struggles to breathe, wondering: "Is this really what my father wanted for me?"
That wild man in the chaps ... was me.
Source- Ted Talk : A pro wrestler's guide to confidence- Mike Kinney
#10- Matter of Fact Statement
How do friends talk to each other? Do we think about our opening line? No.
Relating this to presentation speech, break down all walls that exist between you and your audience. Imagine this is not the first time you are speaking to them. Imagine you meet them everyday. Your starting would then be a casual thought or rushing straight to the point without indulging in any formalities:
So when I do my job, people hate me. In fact, the better I do my job, the more people hate me. And no, I'm not a meter maid, and I'm not an undertaker. I am a progressive, lesbian talking head on Fox News.
Source- Ted Talk : Let’s try emotional correctness, Sally Kohn
Many Ted speakers have used this technique. Probably because they present on the stage so often, they do not have any inhibitions.
So when people voice fears of artificial intelligence, very often, they invoke images of humanoid robots run amok. You know? Terminator? You know, that might be something to consider, but that's a distant threat.
Source- Ted Talk : We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads, Zeynep Tufekci
So there's a lot of valid concern these days that our technology is getting so smart that we've put ourselves on the path to a jobless future. And I think the example of a self-driving car is actually the easiest one to see.
Source- Ted Talk : Why jobs of the future won't feel like work by David Lee
#11- Ask a Question
You knew this already. That is why we mentioned this technique so late. It’s old but effective. We started this article with a question too. It’s effective because it involves the audience. It seeks their participation. It forces them to answer mentally.
The question you ask also matters. Ask a question that they will not know the answer to. Because the answer lies with you and you’ll give that answer through your talk.
A question can even be mind-boggling as Elif Shafak puts to her audience:
"Can you taste words?"
It was a question that caught me by surprise. This summer, I was giving a talk at a literary festival, and afterwards, as I was signing books, a teenage girl came with her friend, and this is what she asked me.
Source- Ted Talk : The revolutionary power of diverse thought by Elif Shafak
What does it mean to be a witness? Why is it important to bear witness to people's suffering, especially when those people are isolated from us? And what happens when we turn away?
Source- Ted Talk : Why I risked my life to expose a government massacre by Anjan Sundaram
#12- Use a Quotation
This is another basic technique that you probably knew already. If you have used famous quotations to make your start, you did a good job.
Everybody loves a good thought. We share it on our Facebook timelines, post it on Twitter and pin it on our Pinterest board. Some even take a printout of their favorite quote and pin it on their walls so they are inspired by it everyday.
Also, when you begin with quotes of a towering personality such as “Mahatma Gandhi once famously said..” our mind is eager to know what the famous personality said. You can also use a quotation and contradict it with your own opinion.
Now, Hegel -- he very famously said that Africa was a place without history, without past, without narrative. Yet, I'd argue that no other continent has nurtured, has fought for, has celebrated its history more concertedly.
Source- Ted Talk : The powerful stories that shaped Africa by Gus Casely-Hayford
#13- Combine 2 or More Techniques
You can make a stronger, impactful beginning by combing any of the above techniques we discussed.
Take the example below. The speaker starts with a fact, adds a powerful quotation and then disrupts the status quo.
According to the UN, billions of people still live without an address. The economist Hernando de Soto said, "Without an address, you live outside the law. You might as well not exist." I'm here to tell you how my team and I are trying to change that.
Source- Ted Talk : A precise, three-word address for every place on earth by Chris Sheldrick
Wasn’t that great? Taking another example, the one below starts with a confession story and moves on to asking questions:
Today I want to confess something to you, but first of all I'm going to ask you a couple of questions. How many people here have children? And how many of you are confident that you know how to bring up your children in exactly the right way?
Source- Ted Talk : Lessons from the longest study on human development by Helen Pearson
Your Amazing Speech Opening Might Be Hidden in the Middle of your Talk:
What we think might be a great start might not be that great. Instead, a line buried somewhere down in our rough script might be a killer presentation start.
I was listening to Ted talk by Euna Lee on “What I learned as a prisoner in North Korea”. She makes a decent start,
I recently read about what the young generation of workers want in Harvard Business Review. One thing that stuck out to me was: don't just talk about impact, but make an impact.
However, she begins telling a story later on which seemed like a perfect thriller novel opening and would have made a better start to her presentation:
It was March 17, 2009. It is St. Patrick's Day for all of you, but it was the day that turned my life upside down.
Write down multiple speech opening lines and show it to your friends and family. Which one touches their heart and mind the most? Use that.
A great start raises your spirits to maintain that continuum throughout the speech. End powerfully the way you started. Make it an evening for you and your audience to remember.
Which presentation opening strategy did you like the most? Tell us in the comments below.
