How can you create a speech opening that boosts your confidence?

Interestingly, I would counter that step 1 is know your audience. I often see speakers so caught up in the point they wish to make that they forget who they're talking to! In fact I can guess that many of you have been in those rooms. Once you've decided you are giving a speech or have been asked to give a speech, the general topic and purpose is often determined. Before you figure out what your key points are, get as much information as you can about who the audience is - your message or thesis is only as important as how it is heard and understood. Pro-Tip: as you continue to hone other points 1-5 be prepared to pivot. Not only are you learning about the audience in advance but you're also watching the audience as you proceed along.

You really need to feel passionate about your message. Mean what you say. When your sure of your message confidence will be natural. Your first few sentences establish your credibility. Understand why you were chosen to speak. Know that you are qualified to give this speech.

Ask yourself this: if you were sitting in the audience, what are the first 10 words you want the speaker to say? What 10 words will hook you?

Some ways to get started: 1. Try as much as you can to have a general understanding of the category of people you'll be addressing. 2. Having this in mind helps you craft your words carefully. 3. Be passionate about your topic and do proper reading and research to boost your knowledge and ideas. 4. Use the best relatable examples to pass your knowledge across to your audience. 5. Be as simple as possible.    

One thing I have found helpful is that story telling is timeless. In a TEDX talk I delivered earlier this year, I shared a story that caught on with the audience and that made the presentation much easier to connect with . Live an interesting life and use your life stories as your speech cues. It is always appropriate to remember the variability of audience and to adapt as required.

Confidence, is the key to success in any endeavor we undertake. It is the driving force that propels us forward, pushing us beyond our limitations and inspiring us to reach new heights. In a world that constantly challenges us, it is imperative that we project an unwavering sense of assurance and self-belief. Confidence is the armor that shields us from doubts and insecurities. It enables us to take risks, embrace change, and seize opportunities that lie before us. It begins with recognizing and embracing our unique strengths, talents, and experiences. Additionally, surrounding ourselves with positive influences, seeking out mentors who inspire us, and continuously expanding our knowledge will help fortify our confidence.

Establishing eye contact early during your presentation is critical. Don’t be afraid to change your voice volume to emphasize a key point. Don’t rush or speed up during important parts of your talks. Let your words develop a flow. Scan the crowd while maintaining eye contact.

I love to tell a story right in the beginning. Literally, right in the beginning - I don't say hi or thanks for having me or I'm excited to be with you today. My first words are telling a story... that also has a question in it to which people can raise their hands. So maybe there's a slide of a dejected staff person and I start with, This used to be me at work. I would try to be positive and upbeat. But I was (dealing with whatever I'm going to be talking about). Who can relate? And then I put my hand up - way up - in the air - and always many others do too. It's a great way to get going and make sure you're connecting with your audience... and it completely boosts my confidence. I start on a roll that doesn't end.

Commencer un discours par l'ebauche de la conclusion, pour donner à entendre l'intérêt d'écouter. Des phrases courtes. Une idée par phrase centrée sur les valeurs. L'hypothèse qui permet de continuer avec une anecdote.

Depending of the type of speech, the audience and the topic, one could: - use a hook: We are getting old - ask what you want and explain after: I need your input on the Enron case: we need to speed up the delivery because the client received a notification from the regulator. Professionals often phrase it the other way around by starting with the why rather than the what. - tell what you want to say: I will provide you a different perspective on the corporate life. My profession as a project manager often influences my public speaking style. My communication tends to lack adjectives, my phrases are short and usually the main message comes first while the explanations and the context will follow.

Story telling is powerful. The truth is you will never know how much of a responsive audience you do have until you share an experience be it imagined or real that they can relate to. The truth about public speaking is this, it is the best way to earn the trust of your audience and as the speaker you much create a desire to connect deeply with your audience. In doing so, your audience will connect deeply with you.

A great storytelling I recently learnt from Margaret Atwood is starting from the middle of an action or situation. Instead of starting with "I once had a friend who got 56 rejections...", you can start with "By the time my friend got his 30th rejection...". This method engages the audience in action or emotion, posing questions that provide you with the chance to maintain their attention. Use this skill wisely.

Hook is the most powerful as the attention span is really low , hook with a quote or anecdote also pause and silence Hook creates the attention

Crafting a killer speech opening comes down to nailing your hook. Pick something that's not just interesting but directly ties into your message. Make it a bit surprising, maybe even add a dash of humor if it fits. Practice delivering it until it feels like second nature. Your hook is like your grand entrance—it sets the tone. Just be yourself, let your personality shine, and watch your confidence soar as your audience gets hooked, ready for what's next in your speech.

The most successful hook I've used is to entitle my talk "Autism - Straight from the Horse's Mouth" (ie. talking about autism from lived experience), then walking onto the stage wearing a horse mask. Not only does it engage people immediately, but it gives a brilliant first impression!

This is the first opportunity to make a connection with audience and give a glimpse of an authentic side of yourself. This moment is your “differentiator”. If people are in the room, there is a general consensus of “What”. I like to use this icebreaker/hook moment to elude to the “Why”. You can usually gauge how the rest of the presentation will go based on the engagement at this point.

We're born to love stories - storytelling engages a primitive part of the brain. As Chris Anderson puts it, "When you can pull together humor, self-deprecation, and insight into a single story, you have yourself a winning start."

The art of story telling is becoming more and more popular and for good reason. The last few remarkable speeches I heard started with a well crafted, passionate story that I connected with. Learning the ins and outs of story telling and implementing into a speech opening will be a game changer.

I've always used humor as a way to connect to the audience. Usually at my own expense. Laughter has a way of getting everyone's guard down and opening up to the new idea or ideas I'm discussing.

When you get up to speak, pause for a few seconds. Find a friendly face, and then begin. Audiences make up their minds about your speech in those opening moments. You should prepare your speech and then come back to decide the opening statement.

Connecting with your audience as a speaker is key to make your topic more interesting. There are different approaches to connect with your audience while speaking: - Understanding your audience and crafting your message from the point of what audience would like to listen to and take away - Giving eyes contact with the audience - Using inclusive language based on the nature of the audience - Asking questions or asking audience to participate by raising their hands or doing quizz - Providing time for Q & A Audience will connect with the speaker not only during the event but also after the event if a speaker provides value to the audience from the topic.

You will automatically feel confident if you get instant audience engagement. You have only 30 seconds to do this though so it's of critical importance how you handle those first 30 seconds. I aim to have people laughing within 5 seconds and hooked on the topic by 30 seconds

Connecting with your audience is key! I have found that one of the best ways to do that is to find something that everyone has in common. Often, a bit of self-deprecation in the form of “let me tell you about what happened to me on the way over here”, or something to that effect. A little anecdote that shows how human we all are - it doesn’t even have to be a true story, as long as it is believable and is something that the members of your audience can relate to. A little comic relief is a great way to break the ice.

Bien connaître son public est important pour une véritable alliance lors d'un discours. Se connecter véritablement avec son public, c'est travailler et étudier en amont les points avancés dans le discours mais aussi pouvoir aborder les problématiques rencontrées par ce public, pouvoir anticiper leurs réactions mais aussi leurs éventuelles questions. Se connecter avec le public, c'est parfois aussi oser aller vers les participants et tendre le micro pour les faire participer autrement que par un hochement de tête ! Recueillir des avis, faire pourquoi pas un sondage à main levée, c'est aussi cela entrer en contact avec le public. Enfin le rire est toujours un moyen simple et efficace de créer une ambiance unique et propice à l'échange.

Connect with your audience by first getting their attention with a strong opening. Make a statement. Ask a question. Keep it brief and make it bold. When you open with this direct and confident energy, you implicitly express your respect for audience members' intelligence as well as your appreciation for their time and attention. Remember that the audience has chosen to actively listen to you rather than passively scrolling their phones. It is not the information they're entirely interested in, it's your unique interpretation of it.

If you research your audience and their needs or pain points, you lead with information (a story) to connect your research and your authority on the subject. In other words, I always start with the mystery shopper statistics on the audience's businesses. We connect and share not to embarrass but to engage with them immediately. They know out of the gate that it is not another "canned" presentation. It is specific to them. For me, healthcare and dentistry it is researching the host's referral base practices. Learning how they treat a potential patient is vital for specialists and generalists. Immediately, they're connected because the information and systems benefit them. It is all about the audience, not me. BTW, meeting planners love this!

I start with a statement or joke that people laugh or nod too. Getting the audience 'with' me in the first minute boosts my confidence and adds to connection to what I'm saying.

Public Speaking is a sub-set of Communication. In Public speaking we tend to focus more on the verbal aspect, the speech- this is essential but the non-verbal aspect has a much larger impact than even what you say. Words like connection, confidence, empathy, showing inclusiveness, credibility are spoken about more in terms of infusing them into the verbal, your speech. This is good but all of these have to be first brought in non-verbally through one's body language ( gait, head movements, hand movements, smile etc). Your audience subconsciously judges you first on the way you dress, your body language and then by HOW you say something. True connection happens or not even before the first word is uttered. Perception is the key!

I believe that building instant rapport is essential at the beginning of a keynote or presentation. But from a place of authenticity and honesty. I do this by really preparing in advance - knowing who my audience are, their demographics, and the key ‘take-aways’ that will uniquely serve ‘that’ audience on ‘that’ day. I aim to build rapport early, by engaging the audience with questions, feedback - a show of hands on thoughts and feelings, eye contact etc., but also really listening to their needs, processing, and taking time to respond. Finally, I give a lot. I give a lot in value, ideas for them to take away and utilise in their lives straightaway. These are the three main things that I have found to give me confidence when speaking.

Be mindful of your gaze and direct statements to each person in the audience, one by one. Connection is built, partly, through eye contact and it greatly helps to build this for a few seconds with specific (near random) audience members who will absorb those few seconds much more powerfully.

When I was preparing for my TEDx talk, I learnt a great tip I will share here. Write out your talk in different colour cards based on the content - is it a story (red) is it a statistic (green) for example. And learn it in chunks rather than memorising pages and pages of text. It works!

Practice to the point to where you know your material, but do not focus on repeating it word for word. Be ready for the fact that you will say something different when you are in front of the audience, and that is OK. If you expect to memorize it, then when you deviate, it may cause an internal alarm... go with the flow, always. Practice so you don't need to devote 100% of your attention to the presentation and you can be looking to the audience for clues of connection, and be ready to pivot. If they didn't laugh at your first joke, perhaps skip the next one. If a key attendee perked up at a particular point, you may need to revisit that topic. Practice so that you are comfortable, not more rigid by memorization.

Your rehearsal could begin as a work in progress and can happen together as you write a piece of content. While you read what you've written or content given to you, you begin to move into 'performance' mode - hand movements, head, pauses etc. You will begin to feel the content like an actor. Keep performing it several times. While you are at it, you will instinctively get a feel of flow - you may want to use a different word, an expression, replace a line or realise quickly that the content needs to change altogether. Write a paragraph, start performing it. Do the above and it will switch your motor on into writing further cohesively. Keep doing this with larger chunks and with your final speech. Write, perform, repeat!

In my experience, when I practice using my body and non verbal language BEFORE the speech, I find it loosens the nerves and the stress to perform perfectly. 55%*of what we communicate is non verbal language versus 7%* of actual words (Dr. Albert Merahbian) Rehearsing what you will do with your body on D-Day is one of the biggest confidence boosters and allies in delivering a message.

Remember to practice your whole entrance not just the opening words. Where are you entering the stage from? Are there stairs? How are you walking (in what you're wearing)? Where do you stop? How long do you pause before starting? These critical moments before the opening words can make or break the speech.

The more comfortable you are with what you are going to say, the better the performance will be. This isn't about scripting exactly what you will say, but more about building your own confidence in the story flow, knowing where you want to really emphasise and also where you want to pause so your audience can consider what you have said (or maybe even laugh!)

In 40 years, I never recommended using a mirror to rehearse a speech in front of. Too distracting. Hair, blemish, light, all tend to create questions and interrupt your mental preparation. Use sense memory to visualize the space. Try to rehearse, in the space and be very prepared and organized. You have your audience undivided attention as long as you continue to earn it. Humor, or a quiz, or creative use of slide or hand-out will capture. Your delivery, with dynamics and energy, will contain. Engagement, especially with varied eye contact, will demand respect and active listening. I use questions to open. Here is the path to our shared goal. Follow me. Please. Right this way.

Through practice, you can identify and address weak points in your speech. This might include stumbling over certain phrases, unclear transitions, or areas where additional explanation is needed. Also having Familiarity with your speech reduces anxiety. The more you practice, the more comfortable and in control you will feel when facing an audience.

Know your opening, like you know your email address as example. You've probably shared your email address many, many, times. Here's why this is relevant to knowing and practicing your opening. In sharing your email: -You had to say it out loud to someone. -The WAY you said it, adapted to the situation and the person. -You weren't thinking about what to say (you know this) your focus was on clarity. Practice your opening means you feel focused, prepared and able to adapt when it's time.

Whatever your topic is, your speech should tie back to your own experience. You are the expert on your story and you know it like the back of your hand, so make your personal story the backbone of your speeches. If you do that, it won’t matter if you forget to mention a statistic or a quote you meant to. Your talks will also seem more intimate, authentic, and natural if you share how you learned what you know instead of just telling the audience what you know.

Do not start by introducing yourself and what you do, instead tell your story in a way that resonates with people due to its authenticity. Share what is hard. Share what is real. Once people care about the story, they will care about who you are.

For everyone that dreads public speaking and/or presenting, you must do it until you feel comfortable or you can pay others to do it for you. Anyone that has natural abilities in speaking, developed those abilities and skills over time and through practice and repetition, paying attention to the audience, relating to current events, telling a good story, having a sense of humor, and understanding that if you try to be a speaker that you would want to listen to, then that's at least a few more people out there that will be interested in listening to you, too. Don't underestimate yourself, and there's no such thing as being too prepared.

Be yourself. There is so much advice on how to speak but the best speeches I’ve done have been when I completely broken the rules and showed up as my authentic disabled neurodivergent self. Last year I spoke at a conference where every speaker stood behind a lecturn and use a (death by) PowerPoint presentation. When I spoke, I pulled a chair into the middle of the stage and had a conversation with the thousands of humans sitting in front of me. After I spoke, there was a line the entire length of the auditorium of people queuing up to talk to me, ask me questions and share how much my speech impacted them. Break the rules, be yourself.

The presentation you make does not have to be feared! Some just don't like to speak in public, and that is fine! But it's something you can learn over time, and I promise it won't be painful. Craft some words, add a hook, look and act the way you need to and get it done! I remember being asked to lecture in China. I'm from the South, and folks above the Mason Dixon Line don't think we speak English, much less Chinese! Thank God for interpreters, and I found that even in China, a smile means the same there. Modulation on my voice was effective. Just go and do, and soon you'll lose that fear!

The first thing I say is a joke about them/their event. Since I promise humor, I hit it big right out of the gate with a line that they all relate to!

To create a speech opening that boosts your confidence, consider the following tips: 1. Start with a Strong Hook 2. Know Your Audience 3. Practice, Practice, Practice 4. Use Positive Affirmations 5. Visualize Success 6. Start with Gratitude 7. Establish Credibility 8. Inject Humor (if appropriate) 9. Speak Slowly and Clearly 10. Maintain Eye Contact Remember, confidence comes with preparation and a positive mindset. Craft your opening thoughtfully, practice diligently, and approach the stage with the belief that you have valuable insights to share with your audience.

Your speech needs to be about the audience. Even if it’s your story. It’s you sharing with the audience. Separate your confidence, and make it about the audience. And that will give you confidence. Think about the journey for the audience. The opening. Or hook as people love to call it. The teasers. The tributaries that demonstrate and bring you back to the core message. Practise. Sure. Get help. Rehearse in front of people. Visualise yourself giving your speech. Do what you need to, to feel confident. Just make your speech about your audiences experience. That will give them the experience that will fill your boots with confidence.

Tell a story, and tell it well. Know the beginning, middle, and end. Hook them in the beginning, and build their excitement throughout the middle. Give them personal anecdotes. Share parts of yourself the audience can connect to - those universal parts of ourselves. End it in a powerful way so they remember the key message of your speech.

The most engaging speakers I've experienced are those that can effortlessly tell a story that makes you picture YOUR life/situations as they speak. When writing an opening, you don't want them to think about YOUR company's problems, or YOUR difficult professional relationships, etc. People are much more likely to stick with your speech or presentation to the end if they are the main characters in their own minds. If you can introduce/describe/explain your main idea or topic in a way that is not only relatable, but also able to activate an emotional response in your audience members as individuals, you won't have to worry about what they think of you. They'll be too busy starring as the main character in the Mental Movie you've prompted.