4 Ways to Start a Speech to Get Your Audience’s Attention!

Anyone who has seen Jim Carrey’s commencement address at the Maharishi University of Management received a great lesson on how to start a speech.

Carey began his speech:

Faculty, Parents, Friends, Dignitaries… Graduating Class of 2014, and all the dead baseball players coming out of the corn to be with us today. (laughter) After the harvest there’s no place to hide — the fields are empty — there is no cover there! (laughter)

I am here to plant a seed that will inspire you to move forward in life with enthusiastic hearts and a clear sense of wholeness. The question is, will that seed have a chance to take root, or will I be sued by Monsanto and forced to use their seed, which may not be totally “Ayurvedic.” (laughter)

 … But when I look at this group here today, I feel really safe! I do! I’m just going to say it — my room is not locked! My room is not locked! (laughter) No doubt some of you will turn out to be crooks! But white-collar stuff — Wall St. ya’ know, that type of thing — crimes committed by people with self-esteem! Stuff a parent can still be proud of in a weird way. (laughter)

Now, clearly few of us possess the comedic genius of Jim Carrey, but luckily, using humor is not the only way to start a speech.

It’s A Battle – a Battle for Attention!

As Chris Anderson says in TED Talks: The Official Guide to Public Speaking:

“Remember that every piece of content in our modern era is part of an attention war. It’s fighting against thousands of other claims on people’s time and energy. This is true when you’re standing on a stage in front of a seated audience. They have deadly distractors in their pockets called smartphones, which they can use to summon to their eyes a thousand outside alternatives. Once emails and text make their claims your talk may be doomed. And then there’s that lurking demon of modern life, fatigue. All these are lethal enemies. You may never want to provide someone with an excuse to zone out. You have to be a savvy general directing the war’s outcome. Starting strong is one of your most important weapons.” ¹

For all of you non-comedians, Anderson provides 4 other ways to start a speech that we can all use in our presentations.

4 Ways to Start A Speech to Lay Claim to Your Audience’s Attention!

Let’s now go through each of those 4 ways to start your speech on a high note to immediately grab the audience’s attention:

(1)  Deliver a Dose of Drama

One of the most memorable opening lines of a TED Talk came from Comic Maysoon Zayid, a woman who suffers from cerebral palsy due to a botched medical procedure during her birth.

As she came on stage shaking, she said:

“I am not drunk…but the doctor who delivered me was.”

Boom! After that unexpected opener, she owned every eyeball and brain cell in the room for the remainder of her talk.

As Anderson advises with respect to using drama:

“In planning your opening, let your talk’s throughline be your guide. How can you tease up the idea of your talk in the most compelling way imaginable? Ask yourself: if your talk were a movie or novel, how would it open? That doesn’t mean you have to cram something dramatic into the opening sentence; you definitely have a few moments of audience attention. But by the end of the first paragraph, something needs to land.” ¹

(2)  Ignite Curiosity

Another way to start a speech is by igniting curiosity. Igniting curiosity can be the most versatile tool that you can use to engage your audience. But why?

According to Anderson:

“If a talk’s goal is to build an idea in listeners’ minds, then curiosity is the fuel that powers listeners’ active participation. Neuroscientists speak of questions creating a knowledge gap that the brain fights to close. The only way the brains of the audience can do that is by having their owners listen hard to what you have to say. This is good.” ¹

But what is the best way to spark their curiosity? The obvious answer is to ask them a question, but not just any question – a surprising question!

And many times, you don’t even have to explicitly ask a question at all, but rather paint a picture that generates curiosity.

For example, V.S. Ramachandran in his TED Talk about the brain creates curiosity without explicitly asking a question:

“I study the human brain, the functions, and structure of the human brain. And I just want you to think for a minute about what this entails. Here is this three-pound mass of jelly you can hold in the palm of your hand, and it can contemplate the vastness of interstellar space. It can contemplate the meaning of infinity and it can contemplate itself contemplating on the meaning of infinity.” ¹

I’m intrigued, are you? Curiosity is magnetic and can be a great way to pull an audience with you during your talk. If the topic of your talk is a challenging one, igniting curiosity can be your best technique for audience engagement.

(3)  Show a Compelling Slide, Video or Object

Many times, the best way to hook an audience early is by using an impactful, intriguing or glorious video or image.

As Anderson advises:

“If you have the right material, this is clearly a great way to start a talk. Instead of saying, “Today I plan to talk to you about my work, but first I need to give you some background…”, you can just start by saying: “Let me show you something.” ¹

There is no doubt a beautiful image grabs people’s attention. However, the full impact typically comes when you reveal something interesting or surprising about it.

For example, in his TED Talk, Carl Zimmer started with an incredible image of a jewel wasp. However, he then revealed that it operated by transforming cockroaches into zombies and then laying its eggs within their comatose bodies.

(4)  Tease, But Don’t Give It Away

The final way to start a speech is to utilize language that seduces the audience into wanting to ride along for the rest of the speech. So, instead of bringing too much too early and giving away the punchline, give them a reason to step out of their comfort zone and compel them to follow you.

A great example Anderson gives is from a movie:

“As J.J. Abrams pointed out in his TED Talk on the power of mystery, the movie Jaws owes a lot of its impact to the fact that director Steven Spielberg hid the shark for the first half of the movie. You knew it was coming, for sure. But its invisibility helped keep you on the edge of your seat…If you decide to tease a little, please note that it’s still very important to indicate where you’re going and why. You don’t have to show the shark, but we do need to know it’s coming. Every talk needs mapping—a sense of where you’re going and where you’ve been. If your listeners don’t know where they are in the structure of the talk, they will quickly get lost.” ¹

The Battle Consists of 2 Parts…

When starting a speech there are two parts:

(1)  The first 10 seconds: doing something right off the bat to grab their eager attention.

(2)  The first minute: being able to use that first minute to ensure they join you on the full journey of your talk.

The 4 ways to start a speech that we just discussed can be used for both parts of the battle and Anderson says you may want to even combine a couple of them. However, he also advises not to try to use all of them, instead simply use the ones that make the most sense for you.

And While We Saw a Great Way to Use Scripted Humor…

…with Jim Carrey’s commencement speech earlier, there are also unexpected incidents which provide the opportunity for ad-lib humor if we are quick-witted enough.

A great example of this comes courtesy of the great Will Ferrell. As he accepted his Mark Twain award in 2011, he accidentally dropped and shattered it.

Well, it’s a good thing that he is so adept at turning embarrassing situations into hilarious punchlines, as he immediately quipped:

“As I stare at this magnificent bust of Mark Twain, I am reminded of how humbled I am to receive such an honor and how I vow very much to take very special care of it.”

Until next time, use one of the 4 ways above to start a speech, keep a tight grip, and as always…PYMFP!
–Rick

P.S. Wanna know more? Check out the entire book!

Use it Or Lose It

The 4 ways to start a speech to lay claim to your audience’s attention that we discussed above are:

(1)  Deliver a Dose of Drama
(2)  Ignite Curiosity
(3)  Show a Compelling Slide, Video or Object
(4)  Tease, But Don’t Give It Away

When to Use It

Use these techniques to start a speech in a way that will grab the audience’s attention immediately.

What Do You Think?

Have you used any of these ways to start a speech successfully? Are there any other ways to start a speech that we did not cover? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

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References

1 TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking