When you open your presentation, you have just thirty seconds to command your audience’s attention. Don’t waste your opening words. Prepare a winning opening and give it extra attention as you rehearse your presentation.

A relevant and compelling quote is one way to open a presentation and engage your audience. General Eisenhower said, “Leadership is the ability to decide what has to be done and then to get people to want to do it.” When I talk on leadership, I might start with that quote. I’m also a believer in quoting others besides Dead White Men – not that many haven’t said wonderful and true things. (more…)

Lisa Poole knows how to capture an audience’s attention.

Lisa Poole VP, Application Configuration and Operations Consultant at SunTrust Bank is one of the speakers at the American Payroll Association. Each year there are hundreds of breakout sessions; most are highly technical. Engaging an audience and immediately and proving to them that, “This will not be dull” can be a challenge.

This is how Lisa Poole from SunTrust did it. Lisa knows how to capture an audience’s attention and gave me permission to share this with you. See how you can adapt this concept to your industry.

“For the past 13 years I have enjoyed and benefited from being in your pre-Congress speaker training Patricia. The American Payroll Association’s commitment to constantly improving the presentation skills of their speakers is commendable. The techniques you have provided have helped me create the introduction below for this year’s Congress session on Adding Value to Your Organization through Job Costing: (more…)

If you don’t grab your audience in the first 30 seconds and hint at more to come, you lose them. This is true in film and in public speaking.

Do you know how to grab your audience? The first thirty seconds of your presentation are critical, like the first page of a book or first seconds of a TV show or film. If you don’t make an impact and hint at more to come, you lose your audience.

Good movies, TV shows, and books, like good speeches, often open with a flavor scene, grabbing attention and positioning the audience for what is to come. Take a classic movie that has been a favorite for eight decades, Gone with the Wind. Neither the book nor the film opens with a discussion of the causes of the Civil War. Both start with Scarlett O’Hara sulking because the impending war might interrupt her social life. (more…)

Patricia Fripp shows you how to open your presentation with impact through FrippVT.

If you want to improve your presentations learn your options for openings. No matter what your subject, audience make up, or length of presentation what good presentations have in common is they get off to a good start.

The first 30 seconds of your presentation are very important, as your goal is to engage the audience. When you see they are smiling and paying attention it builds your confidence. There are many ways to open a speech or presentation. Some of the techniques are a question, story, statistic, quotation, little known fact, or a challenge.