How to Create a Powerful Presentation Introduction
Struggling to keep your audience engaged during presentations?
In today’s busy world, your audience’s time is precious—and chances are, they’ve already sat through countless meetings before yours.
To truly capture their attention, you need to focus not just on what they need to know, but on why it matters to them.
Your slides can display the facts, but it’s your job to explain the value behind those facts.
How will this information benefit them? Why should they care?
By framing your presentation around these questions, you’ll not only respect their time but also create a more engaging and impactful experience.
Think of your introduction as a sales pitch for a product—except the product is your presentation.
Here are the key questions to guide you in crafting an introduction that hooks your audience and keeps them engaged throughout:
Why is this important to them?
What’s in it for them?
How will it impact their work?
Answering these questions will set the stage for a presentation that resonates and delivers value.
Example 1
BEFORE
Focusing only on the “what”:
Today, I'm going to describe a new process we've developed to expedite shipping.
Identify the “why”:
Why should my audience care?
Faster shipping means better customer reviews.What's in it for them?
Better reviews means more sales.How will it impact their work?
More sales means they need to improve production, and they will also have bigger bonuses at the end of the year.
AFTER
Crafting an engaging opener that combines the “what” and the “why”:
I’m sure you can all agree that we’ve had some pretty serious issues with our shipping process. I understand that you had concerns regarding the terrible reviews we've received because of these issues and how that has had a negative impact on our sales.
Because of that, we've developed a more streamlined shipping process that will ensure better customer satisfaction and help us get our numbers up in time for the year-end bonus. Today, I'm going to explain the three main components of this new process while highlighting how it will impact each of your departments.
Example 2
BEFORE
Focusing only on the “what”:
Today, I'm going to talk about how we can focus our research to better define our target customer.
AFTER
Using an unexpected story:
My inspiration for this meeting came from a fortune cookie. I ordered some Chinese takeout last week, and when I cracked open the fortune cookie, I felt like it would be the perfect guide for us today. It said, "A man who chases two rabbits catches neither."
I'm sure you can all agree that we've been trying to speak to too many people, and by doing so, reached none effectively. So today, we're going to review our data to identify how we can best focus our message to attract the right buyer and increase our sales.
Notice how much more interesting it is and how it really gets your attention because you aren’t expecting to hear the presenter talk about a fortune cookie.
It takes time and practice to be able to craft effective introduction, but it is absolutely worth it. If you can engage your audience from the beginning, imagine how much more effective the rest of your presentation will be.
Instead of dreading presentations, appreciate them as opportunities to show off your leadership skills. Remember, you're there to add value because of your expertise.
Remember, if you just share the what, you may as well have just emailed everyone a copy of your presentation. The reason you're there is to interpret the what and make them see why the information matters.
This will set you apart and people will take notice of your strong presentation and communication skills.
Good Communication Makes You More Valuable
Technical skills get you hired, but soft skills get you promoted. Effective communication, in particular, is a soft skill that plays a crucial role in career advancement.
Invest in your future by investing time and effort to improve your communication skills. You got this!
Keep Learning
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Quick and Effective Presentation Techniques for Non-Native Speakers