I always emphasise the importance of the beginning in any form of communication.
Attention spans are short, so whether it’s a report, a briefing, even an email...
And of course public speaking and presenting, getting the start right is critical.
If you don’t engage your audience from the outset, you risk not getting their attention at all.
Regular sufferers of my musings will have heard plenty of thoughts on that topic.
But in this blog I want to address something a little more subtle:
– the start before the start
What do I mean by that?
Let me give you an example.
This week, I had a splendid time on my first visit to the beautiful Babraham Institute on the outskirts of Cambridge.
It’s home to dozens of up-and-coming companies who specialise in life sciences, and I was holding a business communication workshop.
Because I knew absolutely no one there, and wanted to make a good impression from the beginning, I used my start before the start trick.
I made sure to get to the venue in plenty of time, as I always do.
But, instead of sitting in the lecture theatre waiting, as is usually the case when I know the audience…
This time, I stood outside to welcome everyone attending in person and introduce myself as they arrived.
It was interesting what impact that had.
Initially, people were a little surprised, it’s true.
I suppose it's because I'm tall, ungainly, and could have looked like a bouncer!
But with a little chat about the weather (this was an event in England, after all), and some other pleasantries, the ice was broken before we even began.
My trick allowed me to launch straight into the session without anything much in the way of preamble, which immediately hooked the group, made it pacey and interesting…
It also meant I had everyone’s name, so whenever we did interactions I could refer to them in person.
And as those who have endured my teaching will know, there are lots of interactions.
The result was we had a very enjoyable and useful workshop, with lots of good feedback from the attendees.
And that was certainly helped by using the start before the start trick.
Okay, I know it’s impractical if you’re talking to a large group.
But if it’s a select audience of just a few potential customers, or investors, or people coming to a talk or workshop…
Think about the start before the start, and how you can use it to your advantage.
By the way, don’t forget the ending of your session either.
If the start (or the start before the start) is the most important part, the ending is next on your list of priorities.
I always make sure to finish workshops, teaching, or any form of presentation memorably.
And as smart phone photography was part of this particular session…
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the exercise in the picture, which we used for putting it into action, proved very popular!