Interesting ways to start a presentation to engage your audience

Did you know that the members of your audience decide within the first minute or two of your presentation if they will tune in or tune out? 

Once they determine that your presentation is going to be slow or dull (or both!) you may lose them, with little chance of pulling them back from the brink.

Although they are physically there in the same room with you, or on the same zoom video call you are hosting, their minds could be a million miles away…

The audience has given you their time, but you have to earn their attention.

That’s why it is vital that you do your best to arouse your audience’s interest in those first few critical minutes, with a great hook.

Read on for 8 ways to start your speech or presentation with a bang!

A quote

To source quotes on your special subject, simply go to Google or your favourite search engine and enter your search terms.

Let's say I was preparing a presentation about public speaking confidence, I could type:"public speaking" quotes into the search engine, and Voila, a list of public speaking quotes is displayed.

Then, I could choose one that I wanted to share with my audience.

A Question

Pose a question – for the audience to answer - in one of 3 different ways:

• verbally

• with a show of hands

• in their heads.

Asking your audience a question at the start is a great way to create immediate interest and engagement.

Back to my example of a presentation I am giving on public speaking confidence.

Here are some examples of different types of questions I could ask my audience.

Verbal Question

"What are some of the reasons do you think that people get nervous when speaking in public?"

I could record the audience's answers on a whiteboard or flipchart and then refer back to this list during the presentation.

Show of hands question

"With a show of hands, how many people have delivered presentations to one or more people?"

Then, I could have a follow-up show of hands question:

"Do you think your nerves affected your performance?"

In their heads question

"Think about some of the situations you could put today's tips into practice, say presenting to colleagues at work, pitching for new business or in your personal life, say with an upcoming speech at a wedding or to a community group".

A Story

You could regale your audience with a short, relevant, interesting or amusing personal story. People love stories - Our brains are actually wired for them, and we enjoy them no matter what our age!

Think about it - people read novels, watch TV shows and flock to the movies - all to escape from the daily grind and immerse themselves in other people's stories.

People may forget the dry stuff – the facts, figures and supporting information.

But what they will remember are your stories!

If you're thinking that you don't have any personal stories, think again!

Divide your life up into all its parts - childhood, teenage years, young adult years, adult years - right up until the present day.

Start recording the events in your life that are significant to you in some way - for example - where you learnt some valuable lesson, or something funny or sad or life-changing happened.

This is a living document - always keep it up to date with your stories.

They could also be stories about other people, such as friends or family or stories about people you read about in the Media.

You never know when the story will come in handy to make your presentation come alive.

Think of these personal stories as the gold that you can mine in the future.

A Statistic

You could start with a fact or statistic that surprises people, shocks people or refutes a commonly held belief.

When you present your statistics, make them relatable and simple to understand.

Back to my presentation on public speaking confidence, I could start by asking the audience a question and quoting a statistic:

"Did you know that 75% of adults are estimated to be affected by a fear of public speaking? That's 3 in 4 people!!!"

A Compliment

If it applies, you could start your presentation by congratulating your audience, say if they have won any awards or accolades or if they are one of the top performers in their field.

As long as you are sincere and authentic, the people in the audience will get a kick out of you acknowledging their success.

A Visual

As the saying goes: A picture is worth 1,000 words.

When you start your presentation with an interesting photo, prop, short video, a graph or explanatory diagram, people will be intrigued from the get-go.

Another great advantage of starting with a visual is that it takes the pressure off you when you first start the presentation!

So, if you tend to feel a little nervous at the start, showing the visual will help ease you into your presentation gently.

Humour

Humour can be a fabulous way to start a presentation and relax your audience.

I'm not talking about you being a stand-up comedian here. Just to bring a smile to people's faces with something that is amusing, relevant and of course in good taste!

When a person smiles or laughs, feel-good chemicals called endorphins are released in their brain.

And to top it off, when people are relaxed, they feel more connected to you and are more receptive to your message!

An Activity

Get the members of your audience doing something.

This will really engage them, especially when your presentation is straight after lunch and the drowsiness has begun to set in!

You could ask the audience members to get into pairs or small groups and discuss their perspectives on a question you pose.

You could even go one step further and ask a spokesperson from each group to share the group's answers with the entire audience.

I hope this list gives you some food for thought on how to start your next presentation or speech.

Remember, when determining how to start a speech or presentation, your aim should always be to hook your audience in.

So they are riveted from the get go.

© 2023 Susan Weser.  All rights reserved.

Susan Weser is the Founder of Speaking2Win, a boutique public speaking and presentation skills consultancy, based in Melbourne, Australia. Susan’s mission is to demystify public speaking and presenting. She loves to fast-track her clients’ public speaking success, empowering them with the skills and confidence to excel in all their public speaking endeavours.