So, the first thing that we need to explore is what I call the ‘in‐motion’ start.

The secret to engaging the audience from the very start of any talk or presentation is to use an ‘in‐motion’ attention‐grabbing start.

The added benefit is that this will also help reduce any first‐minute anxiety if you suffer from this – and I know many people do.

Now, what do I mean by an ‘in‐motion’ start?

Well, first we need to talk about what happens before your presentation …

Before You Speak

Now, the first thing is that you really want to have it set up that somebody else introduces you, even if it's just a very brief introduction.

As the presenter, you don't really want to be the one that's having to get people to take their seats, be quiet and get ready, because you then risk having what I call a ‘hesitation gap’ and you don't have momentum at the start of your presentation.

The ‘In‐Motion’ Start

If, while you are being introduced, you're standing off to the side or at the rear of the room, then you've obviously got to walk – whether it's five steps or 100+ steps – from where you are to where you're going to present from.

Basically, after you've been introduced, if you don't start talking until you get in position there's likely to be a silence, this gap that I call the hesitation gap. Usually, most people in the ‘gap’ – even if they are at the front of the room – are then fiddling with their notes, their laptop, etc., while the audience watches and waits in silence …

For instance, the person introducing you says: ‘Here is Mary’, or ‘Here is Jack’ – and then there will be this silence, or maybe the audience clap for a bit but then go silent until you get in position, during which time nobody is speaking at the front of the room.

You'll probably have to move into position, put your notes down, sort out your water and then go to start.

It's that gap between the audience being ready and you starting that is the hesitation gap.

So, what I always do, and what I get everybody that I coach and help with public speaking and presentations to do, is the ‘in‐motion’ start.

As soon as they introduce you – as you're walking up – you want to start with the opening line of your presentation.

Now, if the audience do start clapping, then you need to just wait for that to die down slightly so that you can talk over any noise going on.

This simple technique doesn't leave a gap for the hesitation to occur.

It doesn't leave a gap for the audience to start thinking and wondering about you or your presentation, because you catch them off guard. You catch them unaware, because they're probably used to the gap; but you've been announced, you start walking and all of a sudden you're talking – and so they're listening and they're engaged.

Of course, the real power when they're engaged from the start is to begin with something really interesting. You start with either an interesting fact, an interesting story or a question for them to think about, something that captures their imagination.

What I use a lot when I speak is when the introducer says ‘Now, we're going to hear from Mark Rhodes’, and while there is clapping, I'll start walking up. As I get near the front of the room, at the point where the applause is starting to die down a bit so I know that I'll be heard, I'll just start talking and will often say:

‘You know what I love about speaking? What I love about speaking is it used to be my biggest fear.’

Now, all of a sudden, I've got the audience, because they're thinking:

‘Hey, he's up there speaking. He's doing a presentation. This used to be his biggest fear. What happened?’

Now, I know what you're probably thinking is: ‘Well, that's all right for Mark. He does his talks about mindset. That story links really well with mindset. What am I going to do? It's easy for him.’

Well, you come up with something yourself. You think about your presentation, and you come up with something from your content that's really, really interesting. And you deliver that at the start, so that it captures their imagination and makes them listen and become engaged.

Here is a real‐life example from a client. I was helping a lady who is an accountant, and she had a presentation to do to a room of GPs, i.e. doctors. When I looked at her presentation and her content, I found that her original opening was the typical sort of line that somebody does in the professions when they do a talk like this; something along the lines of:

‘Hi, my name's Jane. I'm here today to talk to you from XYZ Accountants. We have got offices in town A, town B, and town C, and we've been established since 1827.’

… at which point most of the audience are just disengaged, because it's the same old boring information, and they're not really interested in how many offices Jane's firm's got or even where they're based at this stage or when they were formed. They might be interested in that as a bit of credibility later, if they know Jane can do something for them.

So, when I looked through the presentation – and I've obviously changed the names to protect the not‐so innocent here – I found that way, way, way down somewhere at the end of the presentation, Jane was saying that they'd helped over 200 GP practices.

I thought: ‘Wow, that sounds like a good number. That sounds like a very good number.’

I said: ‘Jane, you need to start with that’. When you're introduced – as you walk up – you want to say:

‘The reason I'm excited to be here is that over the last couple of years, we've helped over 200 GPs to run better practices, make more profit, and enable them to withdraw more drawings from the practice. And I'd like to share some of that with you today.’

Now, with an opening like that, a room of GPs are interested. They're paying attention. Here we have an opening statement that has got benefits that are relevant to the audience about what they're going to learn, and so the audience are interested.

It's a bit like the difference between me saying, ‘I am going to do a webinar on public speaking’, which still may get some interest, versus, ‘I'm going to do a webinar on how to deliver presentations without fear that both you and your audience will love’.

It's a lot more interesting. It's a lot more compelling. It's a lot more engaging.

So, if I was doing a talk on public speaking, I wouldn't get up and say: ‘Hi, I'm Mark Rhodes. I'm going to talk about public speaking.’ Instead, on the way up, I'd be saying something like:

‘So how many here would love to be doing presentations without fear, that you and your audience would love to hear?’

That's going to capture and engage the audience a lot more.

The key to this is for you to look for an opening story or an opening comment that's going to engage your audience.

If someone has introduced you by name, then you don't need to say it. If you haven't been introduced by someone else, I would still start with the same in‐motion start and at the end of that, before going into my main content, I would then say something like: ‘So. Hi everyone, I'm Mark Rhodes and let's dive in and see how we can achieve that amazing claim I just made.’

Engage them at the Start or Lose them Forever

The whole secret to getting the audience engaged and getting the audience's attention is to do it early on. You've got to do it at the very start.

It's harder to get people engaged if they have already disengaged. So you've got to get them at the beginning with the ‘in‐motion’ start – a great opening, a great story, an interesting fact or situation or something like that; something that people are going to be curious about and want to listen to – and then the audience will think either that's very intriguing or that's very relevant to me.

Either of those, and the audience are going be engaged and listen to you.

Whereas, if you start with something boring, or you have a major hesitation gap, then what's going to happen is the audience are likely to disengage before you say your first word or most likely by the end of your first sentence. Worse still, they will start talking amongst themselves!

Once that happens you are going to have to do an awful lot to turn them around, because once they've gone it's very hard to pull them back.

So always have a great ‘in‐motion’ start.

An Added Benefit …

An added benefit is that we feel less nervous when we are walking than when we are standing still. So, starting to present while in motion also helps to reduce any negative feelings; plus, knowing that what you are starting your presentation with is going to engage your listeners makes it so much easier for you every time. We are all excited when we have great news to share. That is what your opening should be like.

Even if you don't think you have anything fantastic to use, I bet you do; you just need to think a little deeper about something amazing, interesting or fascinating you could share with the audience at the start.

Here is another example. I was helping an energy company that do energy efficiency reports for very large building developments. I was helping them with a presentation and we were looking at what they would use for an opening.

Yet again – just like Jane from the earlier example – buried way down in their presentation was something about a project they'd been involved in or been called in to have a look at. This project involved a very big and famous upmarket hotel in London, we'll just call it the ABC Hotel for the purposes of this exercise.

They'd been called into the ABC Hotel and they'd noticed that the plans that they had for their development weren't going to be compliant with the new energy legislation when it was finished. They pointed this out to the hotel and, as a result, the ABC Hotel avoided wasting over £4,000,000. I told them, that's what you've got to open with. You've got to open your presentation with that story as soon as you're walking up, after they've introduced you and the clapping is starting to die down.

You've got to say something like:

‘What we're going to share with you this evening is information that saved the ABC Hotel over £4,000,000. It stopped them making a major mistake in their development and I want to make sure that you don't make any of these mistakes with your clients, just because you're not fully aware of some of the intricacies of the latest energy legislation.’

You see, with an opening like that, all of a sudden that audience is most likely thinking, ‘Hey, we need to listen to this. Not only do we need to listen to this because the topic sounds interesting, but also because it sounds like this person that's going to be speaking has got huge credibility. After all, they've just saved the ABC Hotel over £4,000,000. Maybe we need to pay attention here.’

I always learn and practise my starts like this many times before the presentation. If I need to sort my notes on the table once on stage, or position my stopwatch, I do all of that while I am talking. I don't stop once I have started. I never start with who I am or what I do, that just isn't as interesting as the ‘in‐motion’ start. I usually get the person introducing me to say who I am and what I do and, if I do need to say it myself, I will say it after I have finished the ‘in‐motion’ start and the audience are engaged with me.