Tips to begin an office presentation

We all know how important it is to impress your audience at the beginning of a presentation. If you fail at this, your entire presentation is a waste because no one’s going to pay attention to it. You must, therefore, begin your presentation with the intention to capture the audience’s attention.

· Grab the attention of the audience

It is very important for you to grab the attention of the members sitting in the room so that they listen to you. Your confidence, smile and your opening statement will grab their attention.

· Welcome them

Firstly welcome your audience and thank them. This sends a good impression about you and they would like you as a person and this might, in turn, grab their attention.

· Introduce yourself

You must introduce yourself quickly and effectively. Your introduction also affects the attention you’ll get. If you are well qualified and experienced people tend to listen to you more, however only your qualifications don’t matter, sometimes how you introduce also affects the attention of the audience. Writing about you in the slides can also help.

· Introduce your topic

Introduce your topic in a unique way. Don’t begin with ‘Today I am going to speak about….’ Instead begin with a question that will make the audience think. You can also introduce your topic with facts and statistics.

· Begin with a story or incident

Begin your presentation with a story or incident from the past or a dream from the future. This will make your audience stick to your presentation and listen carefully. You can then connect the story with your topic.

· Use an attractive image or video

Use an attractive image or video or a chart in the presentation slides. Communicating with the help of visuals is very much impressive and much easier to understand while to communicate the same through text can be time consuming and boring. Avoid text on your first slide.