Last week, in New Jersey, Denver, and New York City I ran into the\u00a0exact same problem in three different industries–a\u00a0consulting firm, a pharmaceutical company, and a hedge fund.\u00a0 The problem was this:\u00a0 People were having trouble beginning their presentations<\/strong>\u00a0so that they inspired curiosity and interest in their listeners.<\/p>\n

Of course I saw the obligatory title slide<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0What I heard was something like the following.\u00a0 “Thank you for having me.\u00a0 I’d like to share with you a little bit of the data we’ve put together as a result of our work on the XYZ project.”\u00a0 Then they would click to the second slide and begin talking about the data.<\/p>\n

This is one of the most common problems in scientific and technical presentations.\u00a0 Presenters do not take the time to arouse interest and curiosity\u00a0in the topic.\u00a0 Instead, they jump to the facts and figures and fail to put their content<\/em> into context!<\/em><\/p>\n

Churchill said that in order to deliver a good speech<\/strong>, we need a strong opening and a dynamic ending and we need to put those two things as close together as possible.<\/p>\n

Openings should introduce the topic, but should convince the audience to listen too.\u00a0 Listeners need to know why they should invest their precious time, and devote their attention to you, rather than to the thousand other enticements available–e-mail, the funny guy in the next seat, or their thoughts of lunch.<\/p>\n

To open well,\u00a0\u00a0quickly define\u00a0the situation the audience is in,\u00a0including the problem or opportunity, ask the question that needs to be answered (it’s probably one of the Six Brothers: Who, What, Why, When, Where or How?) and the get busy with your answer.<\/p>\n

If you can do this, you can seize and focus that primordial interest we humans display when confronted with puzzles and problems.<\/p>\n

And that fuel of curiosity and wonder will keep us engaged even when your talk gets technical and complex.<\/p>\n

It’s a paradox–the key to\u00a0communicating complex scientific and technical material is the ability to arouse passion–the passion of curiosity and wonder.<\/p>\n