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Top 5 – Grab the Attention of Your Audience
Grab Your Audience
You have about 20-40 seconds to convince your audience you’re worth listening to — can you do it? If you start out by talking about yourself, you’ve lost them already.
- Start by talking about the audience - of course. What’s the one thing they are most concerned about? What can you say that will cause some of the audience to nod their heads “yes” and agree with you?
- Planning your speech or presentation is key. It takes time and hard work to figure out what is most important to your audience and to organize your thoughts.
- Use a little drama. Don’t rush in and start talking fast. Look at the audience, smile, breathe, pause, then make a nice impactful statement. Pause again. There. Now you’ve made a nice first impression. Oh yes, stand up straight!
- Tell a story or example that illustrates the main point of your speech. This is especially helpful when your topic is complex. An illustration will help everyone understand what you’re talking about — before they get confused and stop listening.
- Tell the audience members why they should listen. As clearly and as specifically as possible, tell them the likely impact on them of what you’re saying. For example, “This new regulation means small insurers will have to begin financial controls reporting that can cost upwards of $1 million per year, per insurer.” Now you have their attention!
Marsha Redmon
