3 mistakes you’re making in the first 15 seconds of your presentations (& how Tinder can help you fix them)
Looking to quickly, and drastically, improve your presentations? Change this:
Your opening.
Yes, the very first words that come out of your mouth.
Hannah, why is my first sentence such a big deal?
Your first utterances are like a movie trailer. You want your audience to be absolutely transfixed. Eyes wide and super glued to you. Handfuls of popcorn halfway to their agape mouths. Phones silently tucked in their pockets. Ready for the show.
No slow burn romance. Hot and heavy sequel bait from the get go.
This only happens when you grab your audience’s attention right out of the gates with that first sentence.
Where dollars are your currency in the United States, your audience’s attention is your currency in a presentation.
You must have your audience’s attention in order to impact them, persuade them, compel them to take action, make them laugh, see results, and create change.
No attention = no action.
Here are common phrases that never grab your audience’s attention but are woefully exclaimed daily in conference rooms and Microsoft Teams meetings across the world:
“Hello, my name is (insert your name) and I’m a(n) (insert what you do).”
“Thank you for having me today.”
“Wow, I’m really nervous!”
Let me guess: You’re thinking, “but, I can’t cut that out. I have to tell the audience my name, and I have to thank the person that asked/invited me to speak!”
You’re right.
Those simply aren’t the FIRST sentences you want to share.
Let’s dissect these uninteresting debuts.
What’s wrong with starting my presentation with “hello my name is”?
It doesn’t grab your audience’s attention because it’s trite and commonplace. 93% of corporate presentations you’ll watch or listen to will open this way. You’re not trite, and you’re certainly not commonplace. You’re also not like everyone else. So why is your opening?
The point of a presentation isn’t to blend in with a 1980s motivational poster.
It’s to stand out like a Jackson Pollock painting.
If and when you begin to doubt this advice in 48 hours, remember that your opening is a movie trailer. “Hello my name is” will have your audience surreptitiously sliding their phones out of their pockets to scroll social media. You want them begging for the sequel yesterday.
What’s wrong with starting my presentation with “thank you”?
It doesn’t grab your audience’s attention because it’s routine and predictable. I mean this in the nicest way possible: Your audience doesn’t care that Iris in IT or Stan in sales or Mike in marketing asked you to speak. You can thank Iris, Stan, and Mike after you’ve grabbed your audience’s attention, don’t lead with it.
Think of your presentation like a dating profile. You wouldn’t start your bio with “Thank you so much to Tinder for creating this platform where I can create more than platonic relationships with other human beings.”
What’s wrong with starting my presentation with “I’m nervous”?
It doesn’t grab your audience’s attention because it states an obvious fact that doesn’t impact your listeners. They’re not nervous. Your presentation content — and opening — center around your listeners and what they want to hear. Sharing that you’ve got some nerves harms your credibility. Does Michelle Obama tell her audience that she’s nervous? Mel Robbins? Amanda Gorman? No one knew you were nervous until you said it. Now, your audience’s perspective of you may change.
This is like saying, “I’m hot” while sitting in the Arizona desert of 107 degrees without shade as drops of sweat run down your face.
Hopefully you’re still here, and hopefully I’ve made some compelling arguments as to why you need to pluck those openings out of your presentations forever like that pesky singular nostril hair.
I’m not one to give advice, say “see ya,” and ride off with the last horse in the stable stranding you without food, water, or transportation.
So what can you do instead?
Use an attention grabber. Copywriters call this a hook. Retail uses a BOGO.
You want to capture your audience’s attention — grab it — from the moment you start speaking. Entice them. Watch them physically lean forward. Razzle dazzle ’em with your first sentence or two.
Be the movie trailer.
Be the Jackson Pollock painting.
Be bold.