The Opening Gambit. Presenting to Win. 5. Capturing Your Audience Immediately. 5.1 Seven Classic Opening Gambits

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "The Opening Gambit. Presenting to Win. 5. Capturing Your Audience Immediately. 5.1 Seven Classic Opening Gambits"

Byron Singleton
5 years ago
Views:

1 The Opening Gambit Presenting to Win a short statement you use to seize the attention of your audience Jeffy Weissman 5. Capturing Your Audience Immediately 5.1 Seven Classic Opening Gambits 5.1 Seven Classic Opening Gambits 5.2 Compound Opening Gambits 5.3 Linking to Point B 5.4 Tell em What You re Gonna Tell em Seconds to Launch 5.6 Winning Over the Toughest Crowd Question Factoid Retrospective / Prospective Anecdote Quotation Aphorism Analogy A question directed at the members of the audience. A striking statistic or little-known fact. A look backward or forward. A short human interest story. An endorsement about your business from a respected source. A familiar saying. A comparison between two seemingly unrelated items that helps to illustrate a complex, arcane, or obscure topic 1

2 The Question a question directed at the audience A well-chosen, relevant question evokes an immediate response, involves the audience, breaks down barrier, and gets the audience thinking about how your message applies to them. the call-for-a-show-of-hands question May I see a show of hands? hand go up / hand go down Be careful with the call-for-a-show-of-hands question. It can be considered invasive. What if you don t get the show of hands you expect? An effective variation that avoids these dangers is to ask your audience a rhetorical question that is meaningful and relevant to them, and then to promptly provide them with an answer. The Retrospective/Prospective View A retrospective (backward) or prospective (forward) look allows you to grab your audience s attention by moving them in one direction or another, away from their present, immediate concerns. You could refer to the way things used to be done, the way they are done now, and the way you project them being done in the future. The contrast can highlight the value of your company s product or service offerings, thereby framing an effective lead-in to your presentation s main themes and your Point B. technology company The Factoid a simple, striking statistic or factual statement: a market growth figure, or a detail about an economic, demographic, or social trend with which your audience may not be familiar This Factoid must be closely related to the main themes of your presentation, and to your Point B. The more unusual, striking, and surprising your factoid, the better. The Anecdote a very short story, usually one with a human interest angle not a joke Its effectiveness as an Opening Gambit lies in our natural tendency to be interested in and care about other people. 2

3 The Quotation If you can provide an endorsement or positive comment about you, your products, or your services from The Wall Street Journal of the industry press, then the quotation provides relevant value. An endorsing quotation can capture your audience s interest and give you credibility at the outset of your presentation. The Analogy An analogy is a comparison between two seemingly unrelated items. A well-devised analogy is an excellent way of explaining anything that is arcane, obscure, or complicated. The simpler and clearer the analogy, the better. The Aphorism Be sure to select one that relates naturally and credibly to your main theme, and to your Point B. 5.2 Compound Opening Gambits You can actually combine some of the preceding options for your Opening Gambit. 3

4 5.3 Linking to Point B To make the opening of your presentation its most effective, you need to do more than capture the interest of your audience. The optimal Opening Gambit goes further by linking to your Point B. The presenter continues beyond the Opening Gambit, and the hops, skips, and jumps along a path that concludes with Point B. You ll need two additional stepping stones: the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) and the Proof of Concept. Proof of Concept a single telling point that validates your USP. The Proof of Concept is optional: sometimes you can start with the Opening Gambit, link through the USP, and then go directly to Point B without the extra beat. Think of your Opening Gambit, your USP, your Proof of Concept, and your Point B as dynamic inflection points. By power-launching your presentation with your Opening Gambit, your USP, your Proof of Concept, and your Point B, your audience will have no doubt about what they re going. Now it s time for you to tell them how you intend to navigate them there. USP a very succinct summary of your business, the basic premise that describes what you or your company does, makes, or offers. The USP should be one, or at most, two sentences long. 5.4 Tell em What You re Gonna Tell em First you take a moment to give your audience a preview of outline of your major ideas. the classic Tell em What You re Gonna Tell em The technique for helping your audience become oriented and track the flow of your ideas. In most business presentation, this preview is expressed in the Overview or Agenda slide. In an IPO road show, it s in the Investment Highlights slide. It summarizes the chief attractions of a company s offering. You and your audience can see all the major clusters and the Flow Structure that unifies them. 4

5 5.6 Winning Over the Toughest Crowd You can extend your narrative string with two more dynamic inflection points: Linking forward from Point B Forecasting the running time of your presentation State the amount of time your presentation will take. By providing your audidence with a roadmap and a forecast of the time, you are giving them a plan and a schedule Seconds to Launch The Opening Gambit, the USP, a forward link to Point B, another forward link to Tell em, and on emore forward link into the Overview are the first important steps of any presentation. It s important that you hit these points, in that order, within the first 90 seconds of your presentation, at the maximum. 5

Write an Opinion Essay

Skill: Opinion Essay, page 1 of 5 Name: Class: Date: Write an Opinion Essay Directions: Read Is Technology Messing With Your Brain? on pages 20-21 of the January 10, 2011, issue of Scope. Fill in the chart