As an English speaker, you have to start your presentation in English, so the audience can understand what you say about your product or service. If you don’t grab their attention from the start, your work will have been in vain and they will not be engaged in what you’re saying. But how do you do this? That’s where this article comes in; it provides 5 tips on how to start a presentation in English and grab your audience’s attention right away. Let’s dive right in!
Create Impact
Every successful presentation has an effective beginning. The beginning of a speech, business meeting or networking event should create an impact by: piquing your audience’s interest by describing what is wrong or right about their current situation; setting out both challenges that need to be overcome and opportunities that can be exploited. Remember, no matter how hard you try, people will never care about what you have to say until they first understand why it matters. In other words: how does it affect them? It is vitally important to make sure that audiences know why they should listen before you tell them anything else. Then, do not waste time on facts that everybody already knows – get straight down to business!
Engage the Audience Immediately
If you want to make an impact on the first slide of your PowerPoint presentation, you have about 5 seconds to get the audience’s attention. Start by using one of these 21 powerful tips for grabbing their interest. One that is particularly effective is: Introduce the subject by showing a question or problem. For example, What keeps you up at night? Another good technique is: Begin with provocative statistics or facts from outside sources. You can even use humor to engage your audience immediately (as long as it’s appropriate). Just do it well! It takes just seconds for people to judge if something is funny or not, so if you think humor will help, be sure it’s really funny!
Get Through Names Fast
At many conferences, people speak on stages not only because they have something of value to say but also because they want their slides projected up on huge screens for all in attendance. When you’re addressing an auditorium full of several hundred people, it can be difficult to remember who is who—especially if there are numerous heads of state or high-ranking employees from various organizations. Make sure you get through names fast and early. One tip: Look for key players by noticing where hands go up when you ask questions from large groups.
Start With The Main Point
The reason you start with an engaging opening is so that you don’t waste time going down rabbit holes with information that’s interesting but doesn’t directly relate to why you’re presenting. The main point is all about addressing any issues, challenges or questions that your prospect may have and then providing information that helps put those issues, challenges or questions into perspective. You’ll want to spend most of your time on what I call the problem statement. Make sure you clearly explain what it is and why it’s a problem for you specifically, not just anyone reading your proposal. Once you’ve done that, tell them how much money it’s costing them.
Use The KISS Method (Keep It Short & Simple)
KISS is more than just an acronym; it’s a philosophy. The acronym has been defined as, Keep It Simple, Stupid, but that doesn’t really paint an accurate picture of KISS. The word stupid implies that KISS is something you do because you’re dumb, but many companies have found success using KISS methodologies. KISS is all about keeping things simple by eliminating unnecessary complexity (although keeping things simple can be very hard). It’s important to keep your presentations short—less than 15 minutes if possible—and avoid overwhelming your audience with extraneous details. Too much information will lose people’s interest; instead, focus on key ideas and make sure those are presented clearly from beginning to end.
Don’t Give Examples Right Away
Studies have shown that information becomes much more memorable when it’s introduced with an interesting example or story rather than just as a general statement. If you’re giving a business presentation, it may be tempting to dive right into examples of how well your product works. However, including examples right away tends to cause people’s brains to shut down; they begin waiting for more data points instead of thinking about what you’ve already presented. Try changing up how you deliver data—for example, by showing them side-by-side comparisons before providing specific data points—and see if that gets your audience more involved.
Keep Eye Contact High
Eye contact is important when speaking with someone face-to-face, but it can be even more critical when speaking to a crowd. Eye contact with everyone (even if you have to look away momentarily) keeps people engaged and helps them stay focused on what you’re saying. Another plus? Eye contact keeps energy levels high because it shows that you care about your message. And if it’s helpful, try thinking of eye contact as talking with someone instead of staring at them—that way you’ll remember to keep up those glances around the room. [2]
Use Movement & Gestures To Clarify Points
Movement and gestures help you clarify points for people who may not be able to hear or follow along. Your gestures can also fill in any gaps created by awkward silences. Use them sparingly, though: You want to give enough movement so that people understand what you’re saying, but adding too much will distract from your content. And whatever you do, keep your hands above shoulder level—the last thing you want is for them to cover up important information on a slide. Make sure they are no more than an inch apart with palms facing forward. This will create an open body language that welcomes other’s participation as well as establish eye contact with listeners.
Know How To Answer Questions
It is really important that you practice your speech. Once you know it by heart, practice answering questions. Not only will it make you look smarter, but it will also help you deal with unexpected questions once you are up on stage. Also, make sure that whenever possible, answer questions with answers that give more information about yourself. And if you can answer positively without saying too much, go for it! People like hearing good things about themselves – it helps build trust between them and whoever is speaking to them. It helps when they have something positive to think about rather than asking another question which may or may not be answered fully by their speaker! This way they can spend less time worrying about whether or not they are getting all of their questions answered during presentations.
