7 Interesting Ways To Begin Your Presentation
Whenever you
have to begin a presentation, you have merely a minute to create a forceful impact
on the audience, capture their attention, and establish your credibility. A
good start will instill confidence inside you and make the audience more
engaged with your content. Getting on the wrong foot by making inappropriate
jokes, showing nervousness, or simply parroting your PowerPoint slides is a sure
shot recipe for disaster. How can you get off to the perfect start and make
your presentation a resounding success? There are several ingenious ways in
which you can do that. Here are some of them:
1) Narrate a captivating story
Stories capture the imagination of people like nothing else. Narrate an interesting anecdote or a hard-hitting story that the audience can relate to on a personal level. For example, if you are speaking on safety measures for women in personal and professional life, there are many shocking incidents of rapes as well as instances of sexual harassment that you can state at the start of your speech.
2) State a shocking statistic or headline
Before you do this,
make sure that any figures you quote or headlines you mention are directly
related to the content of your presentation, and will persuade the audience to
listen and respond to what you have to say. For instance, if you want to highlight
the Indian economy and speak at length about it, you can bring the attention of
the audience to where India stands in the hunger index and HDI. This can create
a parallel narrative for the content, stressing that despite a robust GDP
outlook, India actually lags behind many countries in areas that actually
matter.
3) Share a compelling visual
A compelling image triggers
a powerful and immediate emotional response in the audience, enhances the aesthetic
appeal and makes the message of your presentation more memorable. Visuals are
processed by the brain way faster than text or audio, so make sure you harness
the power of images well to create a lasting impact.
4) Play a short video
Videos can evoke
more significant emotional responses in human beings than even an image. Playing
a relevant video e.g. one depicting poverty in a particular village of an
Indian state will definitely pack a powerful punch than some bullet points on a
slide.
5) Use a powerful quote
Using the wise words of a famous and revered personality allows you to leverage that person’s credibility, likeability, and notoriety. Again, the quotes that you use should be relevant to your overall topic and message.
6) Use a prop or a visual aid
A prop or a visual aid can grab the attention of the audience more than words. For example, if you are talking about a working holiday in Turkey, wouldn’t it be better if you get to see some Turkish artefacts and souvenirs, and some carefully chosen photographs, rather than just hearing encomiums about it?
7) Ask a rhetorical, thought-provoking question
Rhetorical questions
that provoke the audience to think hard about the topic at hand, its associated
nuances in public and social life, and its personal impact on people are a very
effective way to begin your presentation. Any well-crafted question will ensure
the audience listens to you in rapt attention for the rest of your
presentation.
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