In this video, learn how to start a presentation using a story, why you should use stories to start a presentation, and a basic story format you can use. How to start a presentation is one of the biggest headaches for anybody giving a presentation. We live in a high-speed, short attention span world, so we have to engage our audience quickly when giving a presentation; otherwise, they can quickly disappear into their iPhones or Blackberries during your presentation.

So, instead of just using a typical topic overview slide to start your presentation, start by telling a story. In the video I describe the type of story, but I’ll explain why a little bit here.

For one thing, it’s uncommon to start a presentation with a story. If you do, it creates a stronger impression on your audience. The other thing is that the audience relaxes when you tell a story. The trick is to tell a story the audience will find relevant and that you can link back to your overall presentation. This is NOT easy! It takes practice and some creative thinking, but I think it’s well worth the effort because people like people that tell good stories.

So, you can follow basic story writing techniques like using an introduction, middle, and end. For a presentation, the introduction can describe a common situation or problem that you faced and that the audience can relate to. The middle can be about how you struggled and how you tried to deal with that problem you faced. Then the end can be your solution or how you overcame the situation or problem.

Anyway, hope this helps and good luck.

Carl