How to open a presentation (and why it matters most)

Of everything you will do, everything you will prepare, and everything you plan to rehearse, promise me one thing: spend real time on a brilliant opening. Because the opening is the single most important moment of your entire presentation. For two reasons.

The first is that you have roughly one to two minutes at the start to capture everyone's attention and curiosity. Miss that window, and winning them back becomes very hard work. The second is that when you know your opening by heart, you never have to stumble into your talk like a skier who waxed for the wrong weather. You glide in. And as a happy side effect, learning your opening will soften your nerves and give you flow from the very first word.

Before you say anything

Wait until the room is silent before you begin. More often than not, all it takes is to stand still and look at your audience, and the quiet arrives on its own.

When you do start to speak, think about all the different colours your voice can paint with. A common and effective choice is to open in a strong, slow, clear voice. That slower tempo sends a quiet signal: what I am about to say matters.

The opening itself

Keep your opening short and keep it sharp. Its job is to create interest, and to make people want to listen to what comes next. Let it be funny if that suits you, or exciting, or entertaining, or even a little surprising. Whatever fits.

Above all, make it highly relevant to the people in front of you. So think, think, and think again about how to bring your subject close to them. Talking about the company budget? Compare it to the household budget and the money in their own wallet. Talking about the environment? Break it down and give examples they can feel in their own neighbourhood, their own daily life. The closer you bring it, the harder they lean in.

A few practical tips

• Never open with "I'm not much of a speaker." You are only teaching them to expect less.
• Take a step forward, not back.
• Don't shock them too hard. They still need to stay focused for the rest of the talk.
• Own the stage: walk forward, pause, look at your audience, breathe, and then begin.
• Use the first 2 to 12 minutes for the things that matter most, and for anything that is a little harder to digest. The longer a presentation runs, the harder it becomes to take new things in.

Get the opening right, and everything after it becomes easier, for them and for you.