When we hear a BAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!, we listen. We can’t help it. You hear a loud noise and you stop to figure out where it’s coming from. That’s why speakers should always begin every piece of content with a bang.
You gotta grab your listener’s attention in an instant!
Whether you’re speaking live or online, recording videos for sales, promos, your online courses, etc., your opening, the first thing you say or do, is the most important part.
Nothing else you say or do matters if they don’t stick around to listen.
You want to connect with your audience immediately. You want to pique their curiosity so they listen to your presentation.
AUDIENCE = MECHANICAL BULL
These days, it’s way too easy for your listener’s attention to wander off, especially online. They could be doing anything if they’ve turned off their camera during a Zoom meeting. My friend’s son didn’t even bother to get out of bed during his online classes during the pandemic lockdown. That goes up tenfold if they’re participating in a webinar.
It’s up to you to grab ‘em and hold on. Yes, like your audience is a bucking bronco. LOL!
You want to tease them, titillate them, taunt them, entertain them, make them laugh, scare them, etc., right off the bat. You have to be very deliberate with how you start your speech so they pay attention to you and not their cell phones.
WHAT? WHAT? WHAT?
Before you begin to craft your presentation you have to be clear about your “THREE WHATS”.
You want to craft your opening with the result you want for your listener and yourself in mind.
- WHAT is your reason for creating this?
- WHAT do you want the audience to get out of it?
- WHAT do you want them to do once they hear It?
Your initial connection with your audience has to make them want to listen. Design your opening needs to make them think, “Tell me more.”
Learn key strategies for grabbing attention, keeping viewers hooked, and driving more sales!
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There are endless ways to craft a strong opening for your videos and presentations. As long as you keep it relevant, you can:
Lead with THEIR PROBLEM. Start with the obstacle your listeners are facing. Your presentation must provide a solution to their problem.
Inject humor. When your listeners laugh at the beginning of your presentation they get excited about what’s to come. Jeremy Donovan tracks the number of laughs per minute as a way to compare speeches in his book, “How To Win The World Championship Of Public Speaking”. Amusing your audience counts in winning the Toastmaster International Speech Contest and it is always valuable when you’re presenting.
Scare ’em into paying attention. This works because you may want to shake them up a little. You may want them to worry about their stake in the subject and how it affects them. Always balance scaring or worrying your audience with humor or levity. You don’t want to make them want to run away screaming or thoroughly depress them.
“Give them some of that old razzle-dazzle…” Recite a poem, sing a song, dance a jig, etc. An entertaining open will delight your audience.
Spin a yarn. Tell a tale. We’ve all loved stories since we were kids. When your listeners hear you tell a story they relate your story to their own life experiences. Remember to follow the rules of a well-crafted story even if it’s short.
Ride the current. Begin with something that recently happened in the news or is trending on social media.
Use someone else’s words or facts. Start with a moving quote by someone famous or infamous. Make sure you credit them. You can also start with a fact/statistic from a credible source. Be careful with facts and statistics because they may come across as dry and boring. Use vocal variety and/or a question in conjunction with the facts or stats to liven them up.
Try to push past your considerations about looking silly or stupid as you attempt to connect with your listeners. It can take guts to grab your audience’s attention.
Be brief. You don’t want to make the opening to your speech or presentation so long that you don’t get to the actual point.
HOW I’VE OPEN EXAMPLES
Here are some examples of speeches, shows, and presentations where I’ve started with a BANG to engage my audience.
EXAMPLE ONE
My speech, “The Eyes Have It”, is about the power and importance of eye contact for speakers. I started it by standing with my back to the audience. Then, I asked the question, “What is wrong with this picture?” I wanted the audience to be curious, amused, and to get connected to the subject of my speech.
EXAMPLE TWO
I sang the song, “Strange Fruit” to open my one-woman show, “Black Pearls and Strange Fruit: the History of Black American Women Singers and Their Struggle for Racial Dignity”. I wanted the audience to hear the song without any preconceived notions about it. After the song, I said, “Isn’t it funny how we can listen over and over to a song and not pay attention to the lyrics?”
Strange Fruit is a song that Billy Holiday made famous in the 1940s about lynchings of black Americans. Many people didn’t comprehend the gravity of the lyrics. People in the audience would ask Billy to sing that tune about the black people hanging out in the trees.
In the show, I shared stories of the racism famous singers had to put up with to perform when they first started in the more segregated USA. My opening set the tone for the subject of the entire performance.
EXAMPLE THREE
For a speech called “Snap Out Of It! Four Ways To Get Back Yourself On Track In An Instant”, I was very still and intense. I kept snapping a rubber band that was on my wrist and staring into the eyes of audience members one by one. I said, “I’m here. Right here. Right now. With you.” Then, I took a long pause and greeted the audience.
I wanted the audience to wonder what the heck I was doing and why. I wanted the moment to feel weighted and serious. The purpose of that speech was to help people who were obsessing about a problem to get back to being present.
EXAMPLE FOUR
For my Let Me Connect You Workshop, I immediately pair up the participants and start with a series of questions related to networking. The first is always WHO HATES NETWORKING? That’s one way to immediately address the elephant in the room.
In closing, always be deliberate and premeditated about your opening. Craft your videos, presentations, etc., to start with a bang!
And while I have your attention, remember to always close your speeches and presentations memorably as well. ALWAYS have a CALL TO ACTION at the end.
THIS IS MY CALL TO ATTENTION: This is just the tip of the iceberg. If you really want to deep dive on the art of engaging your audience instantly check out “BEGIN WITH A BANG!: 42 Strategies To Grab Your Audience By Their Attention” MASTERCLASS & EBOOK [LINK]
Jackie Gordon
I've been creating outside-the-box ways to get paid for speaking and performing since 1998 and even won awards! I've been coaching speakers to speak more effectively for years. Now I want to help them get paid for it.
Learn key strategies for grabbing attention, keeping viewers hooked, and driving more sales!
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