We've all seen the classical attention-over-time graph demonstrating the importance of Primacy (what you say first) and Recency (what you say last) in any lecture, speech or presentation. But how often do you see a strong opening? A really strong opening?
Most often, you hear either:
Not exactly attention-grabbing.
Let me ask the same question a different way. What are your first 10 words are going to be? What are you going to say, and in what tone, with your first lungful of air? The people who open as per our second example above, have no difficulty answering those questions, but unless you have something a bit more interesting (to your audience) and a bit more dramatic (to your audience) to say, I think I'd hold off on that kind of overblown, ham-fisted, delivery.
I remember many years ago watching a Karate training course being delivered in my old college sports hall. There must have been 250 black belts milling around on the floor, loosening out, chatting, largely oblivious to what was going on around them. And then the teacher walked in at one end of the hall.
His name was Kenosuke Enoeda, not a particularly tall man, but he had a massive presence. The whole hall fell instantly silent, which was very interesting to me as an observer, because only a very small number of people up near the door where the Sensei had come in could possibly have seen him. It wasn't that people had shushed each other or whispered, "He's here, pass it on" - they just knew.
Presence probably isn't a big enough word to describe what Enoeda Sensei exuded. His nickname was 'The Tiger' and you could instantly see why. It must be nice to be able to command that kind of attention when you step up to do your job.
Take another example. If you have ever seen the Riverdance show live, you will have heard the intake of breath as the lead male dancer comes on stage for the first time. It's a very steady, considered build, as Bill Whelan's Reel Around The Sun develops in pace and volume and then bam! He arrives:
Most often, you hear either:
" [mumble mumble] I'd like to thank Mr Last Speaker for the interminable series of bullet points he read out to us. And now, if you'd just wipe that crackly sleep goop from your eyes, I'd like to talk to you about [mumble mumble] exactly what it says here on my title slide and now I'm just going to take a minute or two to read out my very long, very small-fonted subtitle, which will effectively obviate the need for you to listen to anything further I have to say ..."Or :
"I'd like to TALK to you today about the MOST ASTOUNDING discovery in the history of the universe [dramatic pause] EVER! Without further ado ... ladies and gentlemen ... I give you ... the latest patch for Windows Vista!"When I talk to people in advance of their presentations and ask them what their opener is going to be, I typically get some version of the first speech above. Rambling, somewhat apologetic, heard-it-100-times-before obvious.
Not exactly attention-grabbing.
Let me ask the same question a different way. What are your first 10 words are going to be? What are you going to say, and in what tone, with your first lungful of air? The people who open as per our second example above, have no difficulty answering those questions, but unless you have something a bit more interesting (to your audience) and a bit more dramatic (to your audience) to say, I think I'd hold off on that kind of overblown, ham-fisted, delivery.
I remember many years ago watching a Karate training course being delivered in my old college sports hall. There must have been 250 black belts milling around on the floor, loosening out, chatting, largely oblivious to what was going on around them. And then the teacher walked in at one end of the hall.His name was Kenosuke Enoeda, not a particularly tall man, but he had a massive presence. The whole hall fell instantly silent, which was very interesting to me as an observer, because only a very small number of people up near the door where the Sensei had come in could possibly have seen him. It wasn't that people had shushed each other or whispered, "He's here, pass it on" - they just knew.
Presence probably isn't a big enough word to describe what Enoeda Sensei exuded. His nickname was 'The Tiger' and you could instantly see why. It must be nice to be able to command that kind of attention when you step up to do your job.
Take another example. If you have ever seen the Riverdance show live, you will have heard the intake of breath as the lead male dancer comes on stage for the first time. It's a very steady, considered build, as Bill Whelan's Reel Around The Sun develops in pace and volume and then bam! He arrives:
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Now, I'll grant you that Brendán has the advantage of being eagerly awaited (like Enoeda Sensei), and he's the Grand Champion of the Universe at what he does, plus he has Bill Whelan writing his backing music; so when he bursts onto the stage like a wild animal, he has certain advantages stacked on his side.
But, and this is a big but, the show's director still made sure to stack every possible element in Brendán's favour. A deeply-considered build of the voice-over, the lighting, the music, the dance troupe and the pace of the piece - all building so that Brendán has maximum impact each time he appears. And it works like magic every night. There is always the sharp collective intake of breath and the, "Ooooh" from the audience, just as there is always a standing ovation at the end of the show.
That's stagecraft. That's directing. That's sitting down in advance and determining what will have maximum effect on your audience. In a word, that is professionalism.
So there you are with your laptop, your remote clicker, your data projector and your so-so PowerPoint. Have you given yourself any chance of grabbing, and holding, the audience's attention?
Do yourself a favour. Think about your first 10 words. Think hard. Think hard about your first three clicks on the remote and the impact whatever you flash up on screen is going to have on your audience. How about thinking long and hard about your first 100 words? With no malice, no cruelty, no malign intention, your audience are going to decide whether you are worth listening to in the first few seconds of your talk. And if they decide you are not, they will tune you out. Because they are human and that's what human beings do to each other.
So give yourself a chance. T-h-i-n-k about your opening. Then try a version of it. Review and hone, review and hone. Statistically speaking, it's unlikely that you are a Kenosuke Enoeda, or a Brendán de Gallaí. That means you have to think harder, work harder and hone more to give yourself a chance.
Get to it.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this - openers that worked, openers that fell flat on their face, openers that you thought were going to be great, but just died. Please do share your experiences and thoughts in the comments.
But, and this is a big but, the show's director still made sure to stack every possible element in Brendán's favour. A deeply-considered build of the voice-over, the lighting, the music, the dance troupe and the pace of the piece - all building so that Brendán has maximum impact each time he appears. And it works like magic every night. There is always the sharp collective intake of breath and the, "Ooooh" from the audience, just as there is always a standing ovation at the end of the show.
That's stagecraft. That's directing. That's sitting down in advance and determining what will have maximum effect on your audience. In a word, that is professionalism.
So there you are with your laptop, your remote clicker, your data projector and your so-so PowerPoint. Have you given yourself any chance of grabbing, and holding, the audience's attention?
Do yourself a favour. Think about your first 10 words. Think hard. Think hard about your first three clicks on the remote and the impact whatever you flash up on screen is going to have on your audience. How about thinking long and hard about your first 100 words? With no malice, no cruelty, no malign intention, your audience are going to decide whether you are worth listening to in the first few seconds of your talk. And if they decide you are not, they will tune you out. Because they are human and that's what human beings do to each other.
So give yourself a chance. T-h-i-n-k about your opening. Then try a version of it. Review and hone, review and hone. Statistically speaking, it's unlikely that you are a Kenosuke Enoeda, or a Brendán de Gallaí. That means you have to think harder, work harder and hone more to give yourself a chance.
Get to it.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this - openers that worked, openers that fell flat on their face, openers that you thought were going to be great, but just died. Please do share your experiences and thoughts in the comments.
7 comments:
Hi Rowan
I'm a contrarian on this subject. I don't think it's necessary for non-professional speakers delivering everyday business presentations to be so focused on the first few words (though I would agree on avoiding your first example). There's 3 reasons for this:
1. Many people are most nervous at the start of a presentation and I don't think it helps them to be thinking "I must get my first 10 words absolutely right".
2. I interpret the graph you've shown as saying people are already paying attention at the beginning of your presentation (therefore you don't have to grab their attention). But you do need to hold it through the middle of the presentation when attention is likely to flag.
3. I think for a normal business presentation it's more effective to start in a conversational tone and build rapport with the audience.
Olivia
Thanks, as always, for your thoughtful points Olivia. My thinking:
(1) It is precisely because so many people are nervous at the outset of their talks that they should have their opening so carefully worked out. A well-scripted and well-rehearsed opener means the presenter can focus where he/she should be focusing - on the audience.
It's like when you get into an unfamiliar car and spend time fiddling with the ignition key, the light switches and learning where reverse gear is - rather than keeping your eyes on the road.
(2) In my experience, that classical U-shaped graph rarely happens in the real world. The audience has the potential for highest attention at the outset, but presenter after presenter blows that potential with a weak opening. In the age of 500 TV channels, audience tolerance is a thing of the past - particularly in business settings. I'll be posting separately about the other end of that graph and how the high attention is rarely achieved at the closing either.
(3) For an internal update or low-key presentation, I agree with you. Conversational is probably the route to go. But if it is a presentation with a serious business purpose, if there's the potential for significant gain (or loss) as a result of the presentation, then I would argue that your opener should feel natural and relaxed to the audience, but that they should find themselves captivated without really knowing why ...
And I've encountered few, if any, presenters who can do that without giving the matter deep consideration.
To paraphrase Mark Twain: "It usually takes me about three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech."
Hi Rowan
Yes, I do agree that a nervous presenter should thoroughly prepare their opening so that they can start smoothly.
What I find interesting about this debate is that I believe we got into the whole "you must grab their attention" thing because public speaking borrowed from advertising. For instance in Toastmasters many years ago I was taught to use the AIDA structure (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) which is borrowed straight from advertising. In advertising you do have to grab the prospect's attention to get them to read the rest of your ad - but not in speaking/presenting. Your audience is right there waiting to hear you speak. So although I agree that the audience will switch off if your presentation is going nowhere, public speaking advice tends to overdo the "attention-grabbing opening".
BTW I recently researched that excellent Mark Twain quote and found that it was Blaise Pascal who originally said "I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had time to make it shorter."
Olivia
I would not necessarily agree with Olivia that the audience is waiting to hear you speak.
I suspect business audiences are often jaded. They have had too much Death-by-Powerpoint. They are expecting to be bored and are therefore not automatically on the presenter's side at the start of the presentation.
Some time ago I was employed by a company that asked me to design and deliver a three day course to a mixed audience, some of whom were employees of my company’s customer, one of whom was a senior manager with our customer. This manager had asked for a course on a particular topic, which, given the short lead time, my company could not provide. However, both my company and I felt everyone could benefit from an introduction to my field of expertise and I knew that working evenings and weekends I could put together a good course given the time frame. I kept key people up to date as I prepared the course, including my customer’s senior manager, so everyone knew what the purpose of the course was and what topics it would cover. Everyone said that sounded fine, including the customer.
The first day of the course came. I set up the equipment and laid out the materials. The participants assembled. I drew breath to welcome them when the senior customer piped up: "Now you explain to me how come I’m not getting the course I asked for."
It’s hard to come back from that.
I just pointed out that I was delivering the course I had been asked to deliver and that he had been aware of the course content for several weeks.
That person spent most of the next three days on his laptop doing e-mails, despite the fact that a key aspect of the course was partner work.
But the customer is always right.
Olivia's comment about a ready audience jumped out at me too, because I know from experience that many people in a business environment are there because they have to be and would much rather be elsewhere - whether it's the golf course or finishing up that big project at work.
They tune out before you even start. By and large, they aren't thinking, "Will this speaker be good or bad?" They're thinking, "Will this presentation be short?" And society is becoming increasingly A.D.D. so the keys are interactive elements, a relatively short presentation with breaks if appropriate, and yes, an attention-grabbing opener.
Oh dear, Declan C! Oh dear, dear, dear! Nice composure retention, sir!
This is a great topic, Rowan M. As someone who has to present later this year in an uber-professional context, I can start thinking of a nice punchy beginning.
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