Let’s start with the idea that we need to introduce ourselves to our listeners.
Even before social distancing, we couldn’t shake hands with them unless we went quickly, offering a nod or a grunt, like the Duke of Kent at Wimbledon.
I like to chat with as many people as possible before I take the stage. It’s a good thing to do because we may very well end up using one of our new-found friends at some point in our talk. And I have found that these chats help ease any pre-talk jitters.
Now that we have introduced ourselves informally, the first of the two main functions of the introduction is to inform the audience of the end or subject of our talk.
In doing this we are seeking to orient the audience, but even more important, we are seeking to convince our audience that our subject is worthy of their attention. We can do this by showing that it is important, or momentous, or relevant to their interests.
But we can also keep the audience happy and attentive by starting with a bang, such as telling them a funny story, or a wild story, or telling them exactly what they are not going to hear from you.
To show that his subject was important, curious, or interesting, Arnold Toynbee once asked a provocative question that sought to gain the interest of the reader by suggesting the importance to the modern world of the answer to a question.
He stepped up to the lectern and asked, “Does history repeat itself?”
This is called the Introduction Inquisitive. In our Western world during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this question used to be debated as an academic exercise.
It’s a good way to start a speech or presentation. We are immediately trying to wrap our heads around this very large question, and we suspect that we are in the presence of a supremely sharp mind, one that has thought long and hard about the question, and one that might lead us on a wonderful intellectual journey.
Getting off to a good start is arguably the most important thing in our presentations because first impressions are lasting. According to science, people are most attentive at the beginning and at the end of any speech or presentation. In fact, we should all avoid the hammock speech, which is a speech that sags in the middle.
And in addition, we should beware of the Texas Long Horn speech, which consists of a point here, a point there, and a lot of bull in between.