Make Marketing Suck Less

Day 5: The Dullest Presentation Opening Ever!

Today, I would like to talk to you about the dullest presentation opening ever.

Which is….drum roll please…

Day 5: Today, I would like to talk to you about…

I taught public speaking classes at the college level for over 12 years. If I had a dime for every time I heard this used as an attention getter, I would be retired and living a very posh life in London.

This opening says 3 things about a speaker's presentation:

1. I don't care about my topic.
2. I don't care about my audience.
3. I didn't expend an ounce of creativity trying to engage the audience.

How do we fix this? Quite honestly ANY opening is better than this one. I'd rather hear the dictionary defines, a corny joke, an endless bio or a startling statistic than this presentation opening.

Speech openings are all about finding a creative way to engage the audience. Tell a story. Tell us why this topic matters to you or to your audience. The attention getter is an oppotunity for a speaker to connect with the audience. What kind of relationship do you want with your audience? Dull and boring? Or rich and rewarding?

Now it's your turn, what other presentation opening misteps have you witnessed?