Three Opening Strategies to Grab the Audience and Make them Yours

by Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE

You have thirty seconds to command the attention of your audience. Don't waste it!

Certain speech openings captivate, mystify, and create an emotional bond that keeps an audience in the palm of the speaker's hand. What would you give to learn those essential opening moves? Those great ways to bond instantly with an audience so you never see them dozing off or wandering out of the room?

Here are 3 sure-fire ways to start, whether you are a sales trainer, keynoter, breakout presenter, or anyone who speaks in front of a group or would like to. There's no right or wrong way to open, and these techniques are not presented in any preferred order. The best way to start depends on your style and the purpose of your message.

1. USE A STORY.

A story can provide a strong opening--but only if it transitions logically and comfortably into the objective of your speech. I recommend using a true story, personal if possible, that you have polished until you are confident it will always be a success. An added advantage to a true story, well told, is that it doesn't matter whether you get a laugh. For best results, your story needs to be tied into your premise or purpose.

2. USE A QUOTE.

General Eisenhower said, "Leadership is the ability to decide what has to be done and then to get people to want to do it." When I talk on leadership, I might start with that quote. I'm also a believer in quoting others besides 'Dead White Men'--not that some of them haven't said wonderful things. Consider quoting live ones! When I'm talking about getting and keeping customers, I mention, "As Bill Gates said, 'When you lose a customer, you lose two ways. First, you don't get their money. And second, your competitor does.'" And pantomime stabbing myself in the heart, which usually gets a laugh. Quotes can be both informative and surprising. As the great philosopher Raquel Welch said, "Style is being yourself, but on purpose."

3. USE AN INTERESTING STATISTIC.

I was on a program with Newt Gingrich for YPO, (Young President's Organization) in Atlanta. He gave one of the best written, best delivered speeches I've ever heard. It doesn't matter what your politics are, he had a great opening. He walked out and said, "If you were born today, you would already owe $186,000 to payoff your share of the national debt." He was immediately compelling.

What also made it so good was his use of what I call a high I/You factor. He used "you" and "your" three times in his opening sentence, rather than "I" or "me." How often do you include your listeners in your speech? Everyone in that audience sat forward. I didn't write his opening down, but I've never forgotten it.

This article is part of a series on openings which appears in SpeakerFrippNews. To subscribe to SpeakerFrippNews visit: http://www.fripp.com/newsletter.html Or send an email to Subscribe@Fripp.com

Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE is a San Francisco-based executive speech coach, sales trainer, and award-winning professional speaker on Change, Customer Service, Promoting Business, and Communication Skills. She is the author of Get What You Want!, Make It, SoYou Don't Have to Fake It!, and Past-President of the National Speakers Association. She can be reached at: PFripp@Fripp.com, 1-800 634-3035, http://www.fripp.com