How to Open Presentations That Hold the Room

What is the best opening you have ever experienced? For me, it was an Eric Clapton concert on a warm July evening. At exactly 8:00, the house lights cut out. A full minute of eerie darkness passed. Then, without warning, a single chord rang out, the stage exploded into light, and the band came to life. Clapton had hooked the audience before anyone saw his face.

As a public speaker, whether in a meeting or on stage, you, too, need to grab your audience’s attention right at the start. If you don’t grab your listeners’ attention from the beginning, you will have to work especially hard to get them engaged. Look at the articles in any magazine or newspaper. Do authors thank the publisher for the chance to write? Do they confess they’re nervous? No. They get to the point.

How to Open Your Presentation

There are many ways to engage an audience quickly — a striking image, a startling statistic, a well-chosen quote. But the two most reliably powerful openings are a question and a story. Each has the power to captivate your listeners within seconds. Here is what each looks like in the rooms where association leaders actually work.

Open with a question (at a board meeting). Instead of the default — "Today’s agenda covers the strategic plan, the membership update, and Q3 financials" — open with a question that puts your board in the member’s seat: "When was the last time one of our members told you — unprompted — why they stayed?" Wait. Let the silence do its work. Whether or not hands go up, you have just made retention the unspoken subtext of every agenda item that follows.

Open with a story (at a donor event). Instead of beginning with your mission statement and last year’s impact numbers, open with one person. "Three weeks ago, I got a call from a member named David. He told me that without our advocacy work last spring, his business would have closed by June. Here is what that fight looked like and what your support made possible." Before the appetizers have cleared, your donors know exactly why they are in the room.

Open with a question plus a story (at a conference keynote). This is the combination I use to open most of my own presentations, and it is the most powerful of the three. It might sound like: "How many of you have walked out of a meeting you just led and thought, ‘I lost them, and I don’t know where’?" Pause. Let the hands go up. Then: "Six months ago, that was Rachel…" — and for the next two minutes, you tell Rachel’s story. By the time you reach your first teaching point, the audience is not just listening. They are invested.

Memorize Your Opening

If you are like most speakers, you are most nervous at the beginning of your presentations. It is when your adrenaline is rushing. Because of this, I strongly recommend that you memorize your opening. For everything else in your presentation, read why memorizing your whole presentation is a mistake — and what to do instead.

Memorizing your opening offers you several advantages, including reducing nervousness, allowing you to focus on connecting with your audience, and preparing you to deliver with impact.

Create an attention-grabbing opening every time you deliver a presentation. Only then will you have a significant opportunity for your listeners to be an integral part of your talk.