Introducing yourself can be such a routine, mundane task. But it doesn’t have to be. In fact, it can be a way to capture your audience’s attention for the rest of your presentation.
To which of the following introductions would you be more likely to pay attention?
Example 1:
[slideshare id=27003293&doc=intro1-131008235257-phpapp01]
Example 2 (go ahead and check it out – even though the cover slide is the same, I promise there is different content underneath that cover slide):
[slideshare id=27003062&doc=intro2-131008233958-phpapp01]
In the second example, you’ll notice two strategies designed to hold the audience’s attention:
- Don’t just tell. Tell a story. It’s too easy to simply speak mindlessly about your topic, especially if you know it well. It’s more engaging if you can create a storyline for your audience to follow. In this example I teased my topic by dressing it up in three secrets. When I actually gave this talk, I was hoping to cash in on most people’s innate desire to be let in on another person’s secrets.
- Make the audience feel special. In this example, I was willing to share something with my audience that not even my wife knew about. I could actually see the audience’s eyes get bigger when they unexpectedly found that they were going to hear something so unique that not even my wife had heard before.
In his very entertaining book How To Be A Presentation God, Scott Schwertly repeatedly says that a presentation can change the world. I believe this to be true… as long as you’re able to get your audience to pay attention to your world changing thoughts.
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