Key Learnings

  • Open with a simple question – it engages your audience and provides your opening with a structure
  • Including an impressive fact/statistic, a well-known quote or a relevant story can wake up and hook your audience
  • Try to include something unexpected
Gordon Adams of Toastmasters International

How do I... Open my presentation so everyone will listen?

Gordon Adams of Toastmasters International shares his failsafe ways to get your presentation off to a winning start.

I believe the most important words in your presentation are your opening words. Grab people’s attention and they will stay with you. Here are seven ways to get off to the best possible start.

1. Hook them with a question

Many of the best presentations and speeches begin with a simple question. Why? Because a good question immediately engages your audience. It also provides a simple structure. You have asked them a question and can then go on to answer.

I began a recent speech by asking my audience: “Which is the world’s happiest country?” Other openings I’ve used include: “Did you choose your career or did your career choose you?”

Clearly, the more interesting, intriguing and relevant the question you begin with, the more your audience will be engrossed by it.

2. Start by quoting

To add extra authority to your presentation it can be helpful to open it with a quotation from a well-known and respected figure. For example: “Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: ‘What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.’ I’ve always believed that’s true: each of us has within us a vast well of untapped potential.”

You can also play around with a familiar quote. For example:

“Einstein once remarked that ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge.’ Speaking personally, when I heard that imagination is more important than knowledge, I immediately felt a whole lot better about my own schooldays. All those happy hours I spent in history lessons, gazing out of the window and dreaming I was a professional footballer…”

3. An impactful fact

A startling fact can have the same effect on your audience as an interesting question. It wakes them up!

For a speech about public health, you might start with: “Tobacco has killed more people worldwide than the First and Second World Wars combined.” You can then go on to comment on ways public health can be improved and the important role of preventative medicine.

4. A relevant story

People love to hear a story. It is particularly helpful if you can start your story with a dramatic incident. If you open it with: “I have never believed in ghosts, until recently when I stayed in a 17th century hotel that was rumoured to be haunted.” If you begin by taking your audience straight into an interesting story, you can be pretty sure everyone will listen from that moment on.

If you have a dry and serious subject to talk about, your need for a personal story to enliven it is all the greater.

5. Link to historical date or other references

Look at the date of your presentation as it may be the anniversary of a historical event such as the first Moon landing or a famous person’s birthday. It might be a National Day of some kind, as most days are. National Days in the UK include: National Men Make Dinners Day, National Parents as Teachers Day, National Philanthropy Day and National Day of Listening.

Find a way to reference the occasion at the start of your speech and you can then weave that reference into the narrative of your speech. 

6. Some drama

Using a visual aid dramatically can get your audience to sit up in their seats. Your visual aid might be your costume itself or some hand-held item.

For a great example, watch Dananjaya Hettiarachchi give his winning speech in the Toastmasters International 2014 World Champion of Public Speaking. He starts by taking a red rose from his pocket, breathing in the scent. It provides a powerful metaphor which he revisits at the end of his speech. Using a great visual aid is likely to make your words more memorable.

7. A twist

Begin with the unexpected. For instance, I once began a speech with: “I have a confession for you tonight.” I explained that I belong to a group which is in a small minority within the population and that people like me have been persecuted over the ages. From that opening, the room was listening intently. This was a speech about left-handedness and how, thankfully, we are no longer persecuting left-handed people as was the case in the Middle Ages. The opening led me directly into the key point of my speech: a plea for greater tolerance of those in our society who are different.

Why try using these different suggestions? You’ll get off to a flying start and your audience will listen intently.


Contributed by Gordon Adams
Kate Shaw
Article by Kate Shaw
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