In my misspent youth, I had a Boy Scout leader with an uncanny knack for managing unruly teenagers. When he needed to bring some order to the chaos of our meetings, he wouldn’t shout or threaten, he would simply stand at the front of the room, calmly looking at us and waiting. One by one, a few boys would notice him and quiet down in anticipation. The decrease in the clamor would then get the attention of a few more boys, reducing the noise even more, until finally everyone noticed and the room would become absolutely silent. It’s a trick I have learned to use effectively with my university students.
Yet how many speakers do we see rushing right into their openings and trying to talk over the noise, hoping to wrest the attention of the audience away from their conversations. Sometimes they can, and usually they can’t, but either way, it costs them the vital impact of a good opener. The opener is where you set the stage for the rest of your talk, where you prepare them to accept your message.
How much more powerful would that opener be, if it had the complete and undivided attention of everyone in the room? Take a moment, before you begin. Force them notice you. Make them wait. Make them lean forward in anticipation of your first words.
And then hit them right between the ears.
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