How to Start a Presentation: Engaging Techniques to Hook Your Audience

Read Time: 4 minutes

Delivering a presentation is a task many dread. Whether you’re a student who’s not a fan of assignments that require presenting in front of the class, or an employee who would rather like to work weekends than deliver another team presentation, you’re not alone if speaking in front of others isn’t among your favorite activities.

There are various reasons you might not enjoy giving presentations. One may be that you feel it’s challenging to maintain an audience’s attention throughout a speech.

This is understandable. Luckily, if you know how to start a presentation in such a way that you capture an audience’s attention from the start, you’ll find that delivering the rest of the presentation is much easier than you expected. Consider the following tips:

Start With a Video

A presentation doesn’t need to begin with you talking to your audience. Instead, you could grab their attention by starting a presentation with a dynamic video.

Doing so allows you to “prime” an audience with impressive visuals and audio content. By starting a presentation this way, you can be confident you already have your audience’s attention by the time you start talking.

(Tip: To ensure a video is as dynamic as possible, consider using animation instead of live action.)

Make a Controversial Statement

You need to be careful here! You don’t want to say something too controversial and turn your audience against you right from the start. Nor do you want to make a controversial statement that doesn’t reflect your values.

That said if you want to learn how to start a presentation in a way that will get everyone listening, saying something controversial (that’s relevant to your presentation’s content!) is a strategy to consider.

Again, what you say doesn’t need to be too controversial. For example, maybe you’re delivering a presentation to potential business investors, and starting a presentation with a statement that conflicts with generally-accepted industry wisdom could get their ears to perk up.

(Of course, you need to be able to back up your statement with evidence! Consider this when deciding what type of controversial statement you might begin a presentation with.)

Ask a Thought-Provoking Question

This is an alternative to the above method. If you’re uncomfortable saying anything controversial in front of your audience, you can begin your presentation with a question instead.

You need to ensure the question you ask is reasonably thought-provoking while also relating to your presentation.

For example, maybe you’re giving a business presentation about the ways artificial intelligence could impact your industry in the years to come. You might begin such a presentation by asking your audience members (who’ve likely been exposed to much anxiety-inducing coverage of AI in the news!) what they think AI could do for their field if it were used solely for beneficial reasons.

This question may be effective because it’s open-ended and is likely the type of question the audience in this scenario would have an opinion on. When preparing for your next presentation, consider what types of questions might serve the same purpose.

Consider Comedy

Knowing your audience is essential when deciding how to start a presentation. For instance, if you’re delivering a work presentation explaining the fiscal consequences of a recent project, it might not be the ideal time or place for jokes.

However, maybe you’re delivering a more informal presentation to potential customers in which your goal is to illustrate the value of your products and services. If so, you might grab your audience’s attention by starting off with a comedy skit or some jokes to highlight the nature of the problem your company can solve for them.

Tell a Story

Any marketer knows that generating an emotional connection with an audience is key to their success. Because the link between emotion and memory is so strong if a marketer can reach an audience on an emotional level, the audience members are not only more likely to be engaged—they’re more likely to remember the piece of marketing content they engaged with.

This same principle applies to delivering a presentation. If you can do away with boring data and figures at the start, focusing instead on triggering an emotional reaction in your audience, you might have better luck keeping their attention when you transition into the more “boring” content of your presentation.

There are various ways you can reach an audience on an emotional level. One is to tell a relevant story that you can tie into your presentation. In marketing, storytelling has been shown to drive high levels of engagement. It can serve the same purpose in the context of a presentation.

Don’t Say Anything

It’s a very simple tip for how to start a presentation, but it earns a spot here mainly because it’s often surprisingly effective!

People generally expect you to start talking when you stand in front of an audience to deliver a presentation. Consider waiting a few moments before you say anything. Perhaps ironically, your silence will capture the attention of your audience members simply because it’s so unexpected.

Surprise the Audience With a Fact or Data Point

Starting your presentation with facts and figures isn’t always a bad idea. Although this approach can sometimes bore your audience, if you begin a presentation by sharing a fact that surprises them, they’ll likely want to learn more about the topic. This is similar to the effect you may achieve from starting a presentation with a controversial statement.

Keep Practicing

Applying these tips for how to start a presentation will help you capture your audience’s attention if you make a point of applying them consistently. Becoming a strong public speaker takes practice! However, with the right strategies, you’ll find that delivering compelling presentations is much less challenging than it may have been up until now.

(Bonus tip: Using the right fonts in your presentation slides and videos can be a surprisingly helpful way to generate more interest among an audience.)

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If you think starting a presentation with a video would be an effective way to get the attention of your next audience, be aware that Powtoon makes generating quality videos and presentations easy, regardless of your experience level and video production budget. Sign up today to get started!

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Hanna Abitbul

Hanna is Powtoon's Content Marketing Strategist. She joined Powtoon as a copywriter in 2019, after graduating from university with a specialized degree in marketing and business. She continues to inspire people to create incredible video content with blog posts, videos, guides, and more. Hanna's passions include reading, singing, and caring for animals (#proudvegan). Nothing makes her happier than waking up to her two black kitties who, contrary to popular belief, are good luck!