How to Use a Soft Start for Your Presentations

Many years ago, I learnt a very clever way of starting talks and presentations that I’ve been sharing ever since. It’s called the ABCD of Introductions and it helps you make a great start and get over any nerves you might have at the start of a talk. You can read more about this approach in a newsletter that one of my clients wrote – and there’s a link to a video about it too.

This approach works and is favoured by many speakers, as the A stands for Attention. It’s about starting with a line that really grabs the attention of your audience. Controversial statements, questions and statistics all work very well.

However, for this approach to get you off to a great start, you need to plan your opening very carefully and thoroughly research your audience. I once saw an inexperienced speaker open with a question, to which she was expecting the majority of the audience to answer “Yes”. When most of us answered “No” she became really flustered and didn’t know quite what to do next. It didn’t create a very good impression.

Recently I was introduced to a different way of opening a talk or presentation, by the very clever Tom Balmont. (You can meet Tom here.) Tom suggested opening with a ‘soft start’ rather than with an attention grabbing statement. This is a much more conversational way of opening your talk and works particularly well at networking events, where you might be introduced by someone who doesn’t give you a proper introduction. Instead of leaping onto the stage (or space from which you’ll speak) and wowing your audience with a stunning opening line, you can just walk on, say something welcoming and start engaging with your audience right from the start.

Let me give you some examples:

• At a networking meeting one Friday morning, I had been asked to give a talk about how to survive the first 10 years in business. After a slightly mumbled introduction from the host, I walked and said “Good morning. Aren’t you pleased it’s Friday?” Almost the entire audience laughed and seemed to visibly relax. Then I was able to carry on with B, C and D of my opening.

• At another talk I gave, this time about the top 10 marketing tactics that every business needs to use, I started by asking if everyone was sitting comfortably. This time, most of the audience laughed – and relaxed.

So the next time you’re thinking about what to say at the start of your talk, will you take the ‘hard’ approach and hope that you get it right? Or will you give the ‘soft’ start a go and see how quickly you can engage your audience and make a great impression?