Engage Your Audience With an Effective Opening

Welcome to your third edition of presentability matters. Each month, we provide you with tips to increase the impact of your speaking opportunities.

Whether you’re speaking one to one, one to an important few or one to many, the opening of your presentation sets the scene for your speech. It is vital to use it wisely to gain your audience’s attention from the outset and truly engage them from the beginning. That is why effective openings are the topic of our feature article this month.

We’d like to use this opportunity to welcome Greg Kennedy to the presentability team. Greg’s speaking and training experiences add an exciting dimension to our team.

You’ll also find out more about our upcoming presentability programs, in-house solutions, advisory services and coaching later on.

Engage your audience with an effective opening

Give your audience an incentive to tune into your speech.

Presentation openings are our secret weapon for increasing our level of audience engagement.

Should we rely on pot luck to get it right? We could do, but to consistently achieve outstanding presentability we need to unpack the secrets of effective openings.

Franklin D Roosevelt, elected US President in 1932, pledged a ‘New Deal’ for his people after the national banking system collapsed in 1933. His speech became famous for the phrase ‘The only thing we have to fear is fear itself’.

Here is the second paragraph of his speech; what do you think it sets out to do and how does he achieve it?

This is pre-eminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper.

He uses the gravity of the situation to encourage and prepare the listener for ideas and actions that require meaningful change. He then paints a picture of the nation returning to health as the reward. It would lure the audience in, begging the question: how can this be done?

We don’t for one minute suggest that the presentations we do in our day-to-day work and community lives will have as much at stake, nor do we need to be adding theatrical flourishes into the openings of our business meetings, but we can use them to intrigue, command and captivate our audiences from the outset.

Crafting Your Opening For Consistent Results

You may have found that the same speech delivered to different audiences gets variable results. Is this an issue for the audience or us?

More often than not, it is an issue for us. We may not be creating the right environment for gaining attention. Here is a set of questions you can ask yourself when preparing your openings:

1. What does my audience care about?
2. What issues do they deal with and how can I add value to them, even if it involves simply drawing on parallel experiences?
3. How can I pique their interest from the outset, by delivering a teaser of something further to come?

Remember: the opening is not about you, it is about them. It doesn’t matter if you are hosting a client event, presenting at a conference or updating the finance department on your team’s expenditure plans, the audience needs a WIIFM hook – What’s In It For Me?

An attendee at one of our recent courses was a service provider to an internal business development team. He had developed a range of materials to help the BDMs and their sales force deal with client queries themselves, instead of constantly referring inquiries to him.

How could he craft an ‘opening’ to ensure that his message got through? The key lies in appealing to their motivations - increasing sales in less time. Expending excess time on client servicing gets in the way of those motivations

The opening to his presentation could be something along the lines of:

It’s great to have the opportunity to present to you because we’re concerned that you have to deal with a broad range of client queries at the expense of building your sales. We have developed some powerful tools that will dramatically cut down the time you will need to spend in this area.

By aligning his opening with outcomes that his audience are interested in – without giving away the whole solution – they are likely to be curious, attentive and want to know more.

Your presentation opening could be the difference between the audience switching on and switching off. Which do you choose?

Upcoming courses and events

The presentability programs provide a full range of training to give you and your team even greater impact and results from the boardroom to the training room, sales pitches, and at conference and event presentations.

Our public programs are currently run in Sydney’s CBD and we do in-house training tailored exclusively for your organisation in all locations on demand.

Our next public program is on Tuesday September 18.

Numbers are limited for greater learning and places have already been taken.

Click here for more about the course, including a special earlybird offer saving you 40% for a limited time.

Perhaps a tailored in-house program is more in line with your needs? Click here to visit the full suite of capabilities.

We trust you found some valuable tips in this edition and we would be more than happy for you to forward it on to friends and colleagues.

We love getting your feedback so that we can address your burning questions in future editions.

Until next time, keep improving your presentability.

Phil Preston and Michael Neaylon
On behalf of the presentability team
www.presentability.com.au
support@presentability.com.au

Three ways to engage with your audience before you speak

Welcome to our second edition of presentability matters. Each month, we provide you with tips to increase the impact of your speaking opportunities.

In this post we look at audience engagement techniques…before you speak! The more you connect with your audience prior, during and after your speech, the more effective your message or call to action will be.

Engaging with your audience is critical.

As you’ve probably noticed the best television advertisements generate an emotional response from the viewer.  Remember the Old Spice ad – how engaging was that?

While you don’t necessarily have to make them laugh or move them to tears, your task as a presenter is to resonate with your audience.

Every audience is different.

Some audiences will be naturally easy to engage with, others tough nuts to crack.

If you’re an MD giving an announcement to celebrate a highly successful quarter and improved incentives for your people, then you’ll be warmly received.

If you are a local government representative at a public meeting, there to explain which side of the town will be badly affected by the new bypass road, then you’ll encounter much more resistance.

Regardless of the degree of difficulty inherent in your task, there are powerful preparation techniques you can use to create inroads into the hearts and minds of your audience.

Three ways to engage your audience before you speak:

1. Survey a few people who will be in the audience ahead of time to make sure you are in tune with their aspirations and concerns. This will also help you shape your content to be more meaningful for them.
    
2. Do some extra research into the major issues confronting your audience and deliver relevant insights or parallels from your own experience. People like hearing other perspectives; it broadens their understanding of their own issues and sparks ideas about their own solutions.
    
3. Get there early to meet and greet people, giving you the opportunity to assess the mood of the occasion and build rapport with your audience. The more people you can introduce yourself to and shake hands with, the warmer your reception will be when you start speaking.

The MD, before giving good news about the last financial quarter, can speak to key contributors and their colleagues. By actively displaying genuine acknowledgement of key contributors the message becomes deeper and has more impact through the power of giving credit. Drawing on specific anecdotes and accolades will gain even more credibility and respect.

For the local government official, researching the audience prior to the occasion may help to head off excess anger. For example, preface the talk with:

“We know that the road will disrupt the lives of several residents. I personally contacted as many of you as I could prior to tonight to make sure that I fully understood your concerns and, although we can’t fix everything, we became aware of some measures that would help to minimise the impact on you.”

While there are no guarantees of success in these situations, you give yourself the best chance of earning trust and respect.

Engaging with the audience before you speak is invaluable; it is as valuable as what you say on the day. What’s the point of having a great speech if you have no connection with your audience?

Our presentability programs cover the key aspects of successful presenting, using techniques like these to help you increase your speaking impact in the shortest possible time.

Listen to our FREE Webinar - Overcoming Speaking Nerves

We held an online Webinar called Overcoming Speaking Nerves, and were delighted at the number of guests who attended the call.

If you missed out, don’t worry!  We’ve made it available for you so you can listen to it at a time that suits you.

Please click on the appropriate link below to listen and enjoy:

MP4 File: Webinar – Overcoming Speaking Nerves

MOV File: Webinar – Overcoming Speaking Nerves 

Upcoming courses and events

We run public programs, tailor in-house solutions and remote coaching. 

Our next public one-day course is in Sydney on September 18 and you can take advantage of our super early bird rate of $395 (saving of $255) if you register by August 17.

Click here to find out more

Your presentability matters  

We trust you found some valuable tips in this edition and we would be more than happy for you to forward it on to friends and colleagues.We’d love to get your feedback, and  respond to your burning questions in future editions.



Until next time, keep improving your presentability.
  

Phil Preston and Michael Neaylon

On behalf of the presentability team
www.presentability.com.au
support@presentability.com.au