Presentation Skills: Opening your presentation with impact

Knowing how to open is not only the most important presentation skill, it's also the single most effective way to eliminate fear of public speaking.

For those of you who don't have a lot of time or who don't want to scroll down this entire page, let's cut right to the chase and look at why you should buy this course. It's because knowing how to open a presentation or speech powerfully and memorably is the most important presentation skill you can have. Because if you get the Opening wrong, the structure, the slide deck, the carefully-prepared argument .... all worthless. Because nobody's listening. They're checking their emails or their social media feeds on their phones.

So the very first words out of your mouth have to grab the audience by the throat and give them a compelling reason to give you the next 15, 20, 30 minutes of their lives because they WANT to, not because they feel OBLIGED to because you're at the front of the room with control of the slide deck.

It's a bit like the opening scene in a James Bond movie (the one that sometimes has nothing to do with the movie's plot, but is there purely to grab your attention and draw you in).

You need to get the audience to think, "Hey - this ISN'T going to be like all the other boring presentations I've been forced to endure today/this week/this month; this one's going to be interesting! I want to listen to this ..."

PLUS ... this will do wonders for your confidence. Any nerves or anxiety or fear about public speaking you may have will vanish, once you see the audience reacting to you in a positive way.

• But Nick ...... your course only deals with one small aspect of public speaking; I can get a course on here on Udemy that covers the whole thing!

You're right.  And I'd add the subject of public speaking and presenting is a huge one, and would take many days to cover in any detail. I run 2-full day seminars and still don't cover everything. So unless it's very, very, very long, any general course can only ever superficially scratch the surface. It'll be very broad in nature but also very shallow. My course is narrow but very, very deep.

This isn't a DIY course that just tells you the seven ways to open a speech or presentation and then leaves you to work out how to do it yourself. It's a do-it-with-you course that holds your hand and explains  how to do it. For each of them I give real, detailed advice and back that up with practical examples, so you can hit the ground running in your very next presentation!

It's 3.5 hours on how to open whereas the 'general' public speaking and presentation skills courses would probably spend 15-30 minutes on it.

My advice is to that if you want to become a great presenter rather than someone who just knows the basics ... If you want to take your presenting skills to the next level ... If you want to become the type of presenter who people actually look forward to listening to ... If you want to become a presenter whose words are impactful, powerful and memorable ... then you need to look IN DEPTH at a handful of what you consider to be the most important skills. The ones that will make you stand out head and shoulders above your colleagues. And the most important of all - as we've already seen - is ...... how to open.

• 90% of speakers and presenters  open with something boring, low-impact, predictable and instantly forgettable       

Most presenters lose their audience's attention in the first 60 seconds, simply because the first words out of their mouths aren't interesting enough to give them a reason to want to listen to the rest of the presentation.

The vast majority of presenters and public speakers usually open a speech or presentation with something completely boring and predictable like, "Good morning everyone, my name is Nick Skellon and I'd like to thank you for letting me present to you today ...." which generates an automatic reaction in the audience, i.e. "OMG, here we go again!"

Because opening a speech or presentation like that marks you down as exactly the same as the last 10, 15, 20 boring presenters they've had to endure, and you'll have them instantly reaching for their phones to check their emails or social media feeds.

You'll NEVER get the audience's attention by opening with "Good morning everyone, my name is Nick Skellon ..." You need something that's powerful, impactful and memorable.

• What is the link between a great opening and eliminating fear of public speaking?

When you get on your feet to speak or present and you feel 'Glossophobic' (that's the posh word for fear of public speaking), there's a dialogue going on in your head between the logical and the emotional sides of your brain.

The logical side is saying, "There's no need to worry, you've done this plenty of times before, you'll be fine." But the emotional side is reminding you, "The new CEO is in the audience and she's SCARY!" or "Remember that time in 8th grade when everybody laughed at you because you forgot what you are going to say?"

Your brain doesn't know which voice to believe, so it looks for evidence. And the only evidence available to it is the audience: how it looks and behaves.

If the audience aren't looking at you and are checking their phones, or if they look disinterested, bored and apathetic, it's going to believe the emotional argument. And this will reinforce your fear about public speaking.

But if they've put down the phones and you've got eye contact, they're smiling and actively listening as if they can't wait to hear what you have to say, it will believe the logical argument.

And that's where the opening comes in, because the first words out of your mouth set the scene for the presentation. If you have an opening that energises, engages and interests the audience, you'll get the response that will convince your brain that everything is OK. And your nerves will disappear like morning mist.

That's why I think having a great opening is the single, most effective thing you can do to eliminate fear of public speaking.

• What specific Presentation Skills will you learn?

You'll master the most important presentation skill of all: HOW TO OPEN a speech or presentation. This course gives you SEVEN great, impactful ways to open a presentation or speech in incredible detail with numerous examples and tips for each of the methods. I GUARANTEE it's the most in-depth treatment of the subject online today and that it will take your presentation skills to the next level.

1. First is how to open a speech or presentation with humour, one of the most powerful and impactful ways if used correctly. We’ll look at why most people are very wary of using it, and how to use it in a businesslike, professional manner to get the point of your presentation across. Knowing how to use humour is an essential presentation skill to have.

2. Next is how to open a speech or presentation with a story or anecdote. Wrapping your message in a story is an extremely powerful way to get it listened to and remembered. I’ll show you how to use stories from history, politics, science, art, showbiz and sports, with tips on how to make them interesting so that the audience hangs on every word.

3. We’ll look at how to open a speech or presentation with personalisation, either to the date by looking at famous events that happened on that day in history and linking them to your presentation, or to the location, be that the country, state, city, or even building you’re presenting in.

4. I’ll teach you how to open a speech or presentation with a 'Fascinating Fact' - something interesting or intriguing that’s seemingly unrelated to your presentation … until you reveal the link.

5. After that we'll learn how to open a speech o presentation with a 'Startling Statistic' - a big, impressive number or piece of data - from the body of your presentation and use it upfront at the beginning to grab the audience’s attention, and also how to frame that number so your audience can understand and relate to it.

6. The penultimate method is how to open a speech or presentation with a quotation. I’ll show you how to select the right quotation, how to edit it if necessary, how to illustrate it with a visual aid and several different ways to deliver it.

7. And finally … we’ll cover how to open a speech or presentation with 'Priming', which is tapping into the audience’s subconscious thoughts to make them think along certain lines to make them more receptive to your message or argument. Some people have said it’s a bit like a Jedi mind trick, but it’s based on serious neuroscientific research … and it works. It's one of the most powerful presentation skills of all.

Each of the videos is accompanied by a word and pdf document so you can read through it time and again until your presentation skills are where you want them to be.

                                                             Student Reviews for this course:

• "Excellent course with some very insightful tips. The presenter has some really logic arguments for his ideas and conveys his message using some great analogies and ... humour" - Andy Fairbrother

• "This content is wonderful" - Kylee Maloney

• "Excellent relevant material expressed with credibility and freshness! A pleasure to watch and learn from" - Bryan Woolf

• "Nick Skellon clearly knows his stuff. I have both given and been on the receiving end of so many presentations that have started exactly the way Nick says. I will be using all the techniques here to make sure that the next time I deliver a presentation I “Grab” my audience right from the start!" - Steve Darlington

• "I met Nick a couple of years ago at one of his courses and immediately used his advice at our next company conference. People were queuing at the end of my presentation to compliment me. My co-speakers were all envious and asked me where my new-found skills came from. Selfishly, i refused to tell them, but now they'll be able to get his material online (lol)." - Margaret Roberts

• "I highly recommend this course from Nick Skellon. He has a wealth of experience in both giving, and teaching how to give, impressive presentations and you can tell from the start that he really knows what he's talking about!" - Toni MacKenzie

• "... a detailed presentation of how to open and grab the audiences attention - no gimmicks, just solid information based upon the presenter's many years experience of working with leading companies. If you thought you knew how to open a presentation this will probably open your eyes. Highly recommended" - Simon Warren

• "I give lots of presentations but felt I was in bit of a rut, and they were starting to become a bit mechanical. This course has motivated me to completely change my approach. My only regret is that this course only deals with opening. I would have liked Nick’s views on the whole subject of presenting" - Lucy Gibson

• "This is a great series if you are looking to become a more effective speaker, and I highly recommend it!" - Chris Ramthun

• "I was cringing when Nick critiqued the boring, unimaginative ways most people use to open presentations as I’ve used every one, sometimes several at one go! Never again now I know how to do it properly!" - Joseph Swift

• "Love the way Nick manages to be relaxed and enthusiastic at the same time! Hopefully it’s a skill I can copy. I would definitely recommend his course" - Liana's Duxbury

• "I enjoyed the course immensely. Nick clearly has years of experienced that he has condensed into this course. It is engaging and easy to follow. I would recommend this course to anyone that would like to improve their speaking skills" - Zoe Turner

  
  

                                              What people have said about Nick's 2-day seminars:

• “Honestly it was the best class/workshop I’ve ever attended. I see no room for improvements. Nick was amazing on how he delivered the material and how he was able to keep everyone’s attention for the duration of the 2 day course. Kudos to Nick!” – John Chomko, McKesson

• "I'm quite experienced as a speaker, but always felt that something was missing and wanted to do more. This workshop was an eye-opener for me, especially the bit on how to use rhetoric ... I feel I've improved by leaps and bounds" ... Jeremy Waterhouse, Citibank

• "Probably the most enjoyable course I've been on. Loved the relaxed, humorous approach Nick uses to get his points across" ... Julie Walsh, HSBC

• "This workshop really sorts the men from the boys. Can't wait for the next company conference to impress everyone"... Paul White, HP

• "Absolutely loved the bit on using humour. As an engineer I have a logical, detailed mind and am not much of a comedian, but this gave me some great tips I can't wait to try out" ... Martin Branston, BA

• "I learned so much over the course of 2 days. I have already been integrating many of Nick's tactics into my presentations and can see and hear the difference in how I come across" - Kristin Hunt, First American

• "You really re-adjusted my thinking in how I approach my talks. It is depressing to know that I have been doing it wrong all these years, but on the other hand I am looking forward to using your techniques on my next presentation" - Gary Charleston, McDonald's