Introducing Your Presentation

USE AN INTERESTING STATISTIC OR EXAMPLE

If you anticipate a problem gaining and maintaining your audience’s attention, an unusual, dramatic, or unexpected STATISTIC (135–36) or EXAMPLE (137–38) can help focus their eyes, ears, and minds on you and your message. Here’s an example:

How much did Bob Iger, the CEO of the Walt Disney Corporation make in 2023? Counting salary, incentives, and bonuses, he made $31.6 million.¹ That’s $607,000 a week. If he worked five days a week, he would only earn about $121,400 a day. Poor Bob! He’s not even close to the 25 wealthiest people in the United States.

QUOTE SOMEONE

Rather than trying to write the perfect beginning yourself, you may find that someone else has already done it for you. As you research your topic, you may uncover a dramatic statement or eloquent phrase that is an ideal beginning for your presentation. A well-chosen quotation can overcome audience doubts, especially when the quotation is from someone who is highly respected or an expert source of information.

When quoting someone, make sure you identify the writer or speaker with an ORAL CITATION (150). In some cases, you need to state only the name of the person you are quoting. In other cases, you may need to provide more information about the person, circumstances, or publication. Consider this example, in which a speaker quotes Warren Buffett:

Warren Buffett is the sixth-richest person in the United States. His net worth is more than $133 billion. When asked about the skill that was most important in improving and ensuring his success, he said, “You can improve your monetary value by 50 percent just by learning . . . public speaking.” Let’s take a closer look at why he is so adamant about the value of this skill and why you should heed his advice.

Depending on the length of the quotation and how well you’ve practiced the opening, you may be able to quote someone without looking at your notes. Otherwise, you can refer to your notes as a way of showing that you want to quote your source accurately.

TELL A STORY

Some speakers begin presentations with STORIES (323–32) about their personal hardships or triumphs. Others share stories they’ve read about or heard from others. The following example comes from a student presentation:

When I was fifteen, I was operated on to remove the deadliest form of skin cancer, a melanoma carcinoma. My doctors injected ten shots of steroids into each scar every three weeks to stop the scars from spreading. I now know that it wasn’t worth a couple of summers of being tan to go through all that pain and suffering. Take steps now to protect yourself from the harmful effects of the sun.

An introductory story doesn’t have to be personal or tragic—but it should be brief. Think of the lessons to be learned from your favorite books and films, from television characters, and from the biographies or autobiographies of important or historical figures. There are stories everywhere—just make sure the one you choose to tell is relevant to your purpose.

ASK A QUESTION

ASKING A QUESTION (343–44) can attract your audience’s attention and interest because it encourages them to think about possible answers. Although a few listeners may be able to answer the questions you pose, many more will think to themselves, “I have no idea!” and will be intrigued to hear more from you.

Sometimes one question can lead to a more important one. For example, you might ask a question that will help the majority of your audience identify with one another, such as:

How many of you have a driver’s license and regularly drive a car? How many of you have experienced or know someone who’s experienced a serious car accident?

Seeing hands go up or down causes the audience to look around. That curiosity can create interest in your topic, develop empathy, and stir emotion in audience members, who will then look to the speaker for more information.

ESTABLISH A PERSONAL LINK

Use your introduction to link your background to your audience. Although you may be very different, you likely have shared similar experiences. When Margaret Muller, a middle-school student with Down syndrome, made a presentation to seventh- and eighth-grade classes, here’s how she began:²

Today I’d like to tell you about Down syndrome. My purpose for talking about this is to be able to say, Yes, I have Down syndrome. Sometimes I have to work harder to learn things, but in many ways I am just like everyone else. I would like to tell people that having Down syndrome does not keep me from doing things I need to do or want to do. I just have to work harder.

REFER TO AN EVENT, PLACE, OR OCCASION

An obvious way to begin a presentation is to refer to the place where you are speaking or the OCCASION (61–68) for the gathering. Your audience’s memories and feelings about a specific place or event can conjure up the emotions needed to capture their attention and interest.

When Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, his first few words echoed Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (“Four score and seven years ago”). Here’s how he began: “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.”

Important events that occur shortly before a presentation or in the recent past can connect you with some of what your audience knows, thinks, and feels about an issue, as with this example:

Dr. Larry Nassar, a physician who worked with the US Olympic Gymnastics Team, was accused of more than 250 sexual assaults against minors. In January 2019, he was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in jail for criminal sexual conduct—adding to a previous child pornography conviction of 60 years. Sadly, there are many sexual predators disguised as healers, teachers, soldiers, and business executives who have never been prosecuted or jailed.

ADDRESS AUDIENCE NEEDS

In a crisis, a speaker may need to address an immediate problem. If budget cuts require salary reductions, audience members will want the details. They won’t want to hear a humorous story, a clever question, or an unusual statistic. When your listeners’ jobs or futures are threatened, don’t take up their time with a clever beginning. In fact, such introductions may even make the audience angry and damage your credibility. Get right to the point. Here’s an example:

As you know, our operating budget has been reduced by $2.7 million. It is important that you know this: All of you will have a job here next year—and the year after. There will be no layoffs. Instead there will be cutbacks in nonpersonnel budget lines, downsizing of programs, and, possibly, short furloughs.

This speaker went directly to the CENTRAL IDEA (156–57) and previewed the KEY POINTS (153–56) of their speech. After explaining that no one would be laid off, the speaker then described other measures that would offset the reduced budget.

MIX THE METHODS

Many speakers combine introductory methods to begin their presentations. For instance, this speaker offers a personal experience, statistics, and vivid examples as they begin their speech about funding medical research for Lou Gehrig’s disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS) among veterans:

My grandfather died from ALS. He used to stumble a lot and had difficulty pronouncing words. It’s a horrible disease. You can’t walk or talk. You choke on food, you can’t swallow. You often suffocate to death. Here is what’s odd. Four of his friends also suffered from ALS. Given that only about six thousand people get diagnosed with the disease each year, what are the odds that five people who all knew one another get the same diagnosis? What did they have in common? One thing—they all served in the army. In fact, serving in the military makes you 60 percent more likely to get this horrifying disease. But no one knows why. Today I want to speak about why this is happening and what we, as individuals and a nation, can do about it.