Tip 651: Introduce Your Presentation
From the Public Speaking Workshops: Introduce Your Presentation
We’ve been talking about speaking in public. About giving presentations.
Let’s talk about introducing the presentation. Getting into the presentation.
Three critical parts:
Gain your audience’s attention. Ask a question: “Why is keeping good employees such a challenge?” Or make a statement: “We can save up to twenty percent by adopting flex time.” Present a hook, something that will draw your audience into your presentation.
State your purpose. In a single, declarative sentence, say what you’re there to say: “I suggest three ways to keep good folks.” “Flex time will not only increase profits, but it will improve morale and make us a destination company.”
Preview your points. Let your audience know where you’re taking them. We’ve talked about this before. Anywhere between two and five points. Ideally three. “Those three ways are to engage with our employees, build a caring culture, and establish collaborated long-term goals.”
Two nice-but-not-critical parts:
Introduce yourself. This depends on your audience. If they don’t know who you are, share your name and a little of your background: “I’m Sarah Ramirez. I’m the Vice President of Strategic Planning at Clark Technologies.”
Establish any ground rules. “Ask your questions at any time. We hope to make this an interactive discussion.”
Next week, we’ll talk about ending the presentation. And that will end our discussion of public speaking.
We love this stuff.
This is fun.
Thank you for being here.