Ways to Start Your Talk

There are many ways to start your talk that will engage the audience right from the start. I always recommend starting off with your personal story about how you got to be who you are today. Other ways to start your talk are sharing a story about a client, asking a question to engage the audience, sharing some current news story that would be of interest to the audience, or some startling statistic that relates to your talk.

For example, I sometimes start a talk about speaking by saying, “Did you know most people would rather be the person being eulogized than the person giving the eulogy?” I usually get a few chuckles and people nod their heads in agreement.