Have you ever attended a presentation that you assumed would be boring? Or have you been asked to deliver a presentation that you feared would put your audience to sleep?
Well, we can say with confidence that a creative opening, one that surprises and even entertains the audience, can turn a mundane topic into an informational masterpiece that engages the audience for the entire presentation.
Educator Riley Moynes proved our point with a Ted Talk on dealing with retirement. Doesn’t sound like an exciting topic, right? Moynes certainly understood that. But he went to work on a creative and informative presentation that grabbed the audience’s attention from the beginning with a superb opening. Moynes talked about “squeezing all the Juice out of retirement.” Check out his opening in the clip below.
In this presentation, Moynes used several techniques that we highly recommend. He delivered facts, asked rhetorical questions, made analogies, and told a story, in this case about his walking group.
His demeanor was conversational. Moynes smiled, made appropriate gestures and paused for effect.
In just over a minute-and-a-half, he engaged the audience and created interest in his messaging. Moynes took a mundane topic and squeezed the juice out of it. And he looked and sounded interested in his topic.
Follow the example of Riley Moynes and you will succeed in your next presentation, regardless of the topic.