While there are many strategies to consider in opening your pitch, those first 5 minutes can make or break you. The direction of what you want to say should be heavily influenced by the benefits you are proposing.

Develop the benefit by learning what challenges that audience is most concerned about.  How will those challenges hurt the audience’s success? When you find a legitimate challenge that you can overcome, you have the basis for your opening. They will be all ears.

You have their attention, but not for long. Make the most of it. There are four or five different strategies for an opening and one easy rule: the opening is never about you or the company you represent.   The opening is always about the prospect. Everything you say in the opening should be aimed at making the prospect’s life easier, richer and more successful.

One strategy for an opening is problem-solution.  Start by discussing an issue you know is important to the prospect (you know because you’ve asked enough questions previously) and talk about how your solution solves that problem.  If you can convey that information by way of an interesting story, even better.

Richie Havens was a folk rocker and the first performer at Woodstock.  He was asked how he puts his concerts together. He said he only rehearses the first song he’ll open with and the last song he’ll close with.  Everything in the middle just “rolls out”.

That’s excellent advice if you’re preparing a presentation.  Focus on the first thing you’ll say because it gets most of the attention and sets the table for the rest of the pitch. Then, know how you’re going to close the pitch.  The middle will take care of itself.

Make sure to rehearse your opening number and your closer before you take the show on the road.

In a trial, the jury sometimes decides innocent or guilty in the first five minutes after hearing each lawyer’s opening remarks. The deciding factor for the jury is which lawyer seems most confident. Two important lessons come from this: juries or prospects or clients make their decisions very early in the process, so put your best stuff into the open.  Secondly, learn the techniques that confident speakers use.

These techniques are relatively easy to master: strong eye contact, powerful voice, good posture, animated face, arms and body, the use of storytelling, command of material, and speaking with passion.  Practice 2 or 3 of these techniques in each rehearsal and you will be a much better presenter and win more often in front of your jury.

Sometimes in a presentation you need to deliver bad news. Perhaps the budget isn’t going to work, or some facet of the plan can’t happen, or a valued partner changed his mind.  When is the best time in the presentation to deliver bad news? In the beginning.

Getting bad news out early positions you as an honest person with nothing to hide. It allows the client to evaluate whatever you are presenting in light of this bad news.  It gives you a chance to use the news to build your case in the pitch.

If your presentation is reporting on the status of things rather than a pitch or formal presentation, use the 6 O’clock News opening technique.

Give all the headlines first then dive into the specifics, usually starting with either the biggest story or the most controversial.

None other than The Great Communicator himself, Ronald Reagan, said “You begin with a hell of an opening, you coast for a while, and you end with a hell of a closing.”

• Introductions of your team/company

• Agenda

Instead, start dramatically with the challenge you are solving for the client then circle back to all of these housekeeping items.

When you open with “This might be a bad idea, but…,” or “I’m not an expert, however, ….” or ”I’m sorry this took so long…” it gives the audience permission to dislike your presentation.

While it is true that you need to get attention, being funny is a risky way to do that.  Grab the audiences’ hearts and minds by telling them something that will make their job easier, or make them more money, or make them look better in their boss’s eyes.

Then they will be mesmerized.

You’ve all heard presentations that start with “Today I was asked to speak about…”

 That kind of opening has at least two major problems: 

The audience must wonder just how passionate and committed you are to the subject.  You were asked to speak? What did you really wish to speak about?

The opening softens your body language too much.  You’re not strong and passionate, you are motionless and unsmiling. 

Lots of speakers start talking as soon as they get to the front of the room and leave immediately when they finish.

The power of the speaker would be much stronger by pausing four seconds before you start speaking to settle and make eye contact. Then, after delivering your closing line, take another four seconds to look at the audience again before you turn and leave.

If you are making a presentation on Zoom, don’t follow this advice.  No pauses.  Get into the subject quickly.