Your opening is everything. Get it wrong and you are done for. At least, that is how the saying goes. In my view we cannot generalise quite so broadly. It depends enormously on the presentation. We give all sorts of them, and most of us, most of the time, are giving the everyday, routine kind. Would a champagne-popping, hair-raising opening really suit those? The odds of your colleagues quietly quarantining you are rather high.
Grand openings belong instead to the presentations where you want to inspire, to motivate, and to a degree to sell your services or products. For the rest, something simpler will serve you far better.
Building the opening
An opening is made of several steps, and each one matters for getting off to a good start. Depending on the length and nature of your presentation, you will need more of some elements and less of others, so pick the ones below that your presentation genuinely calls for.
The welcome
The purpose here is simply to welcome people to your presentation. Do use titles if your audience have them.
The moment of respect
This is where you show your audience a little respect. You might say something like "What a wonderfully awake crowd you are," or "It is so good to be back in this city again," or "How lovely to have such interested listeners." A small, genuine acknowledgement goes a long way.
The hook
Its job is to open people's eyes to what you are about to talk about. It does not have to be strictly about your subject, though. It can just as easily be something else entirely that gets your audience to sit up and pay attention. If you are giving an everyday project update inside your company, you need no special hook at all. Something simple to lift the mood may not hurt, but you are the best judge of that in your own surroundings.
The practical details
Last, but absolutely not least, run through the practical details: start and finish times, breaks, where the toilets are, lunch, coffee, any reading material, and how you would like people to handle their phones. It is a small thing, but it lets everyone settle and gives you a calm, confident place to begin.
Want to become a better presenter?
This is a short piece from David's knowledge bank. To go deeper, the best places are a keynote, a course, or one to one coaching.