What’s your hook?
Late last year when we started paying close attention to good opening hooks, we started noting those TED talks that had particularly good ones. In this 3 minute video we produced below, we’ve spliced out 6 really notable ones, and what we consider a represenative sample of the different types of hooks you can deploy. From self-deprecating and provocative to extremely unexpected and wholly unrealistic (can you tell which one that is?), you might be inspired to try a different approach in your next talk.
See which one grab you best?
Great Opening Hooks from Articulation on Vimeo.
No CommentsThe heavy lifting is yours
A client engaged us recently to architect a brand-new signature presentation. So we got out our very sophisticated tools: some markers, flip charts and a whole bucket of post it notes.
But we find the questions we ask at every step aren’t so simple: What insight can you reveal? So what? Why will your audience care? How will these points support your mission statement? Can you find a visual example to prove that point? And are you strong enough to know that lots of these ideas will end up in the trash?
It’s a messy process. But as we always like to say, make sure you don’t leave any of the heavy lifting for your audience.
No CommentsHook ’em.
Everyone has their pet peeves. I have my pet loves. Among them, really awesome opening hooks. As in, how do you grab your audience from the first words out of your mouth. That means, ‘Thank you for having me,” or,
“I’m here to discuss an idea…” are no where to be heard.
This week at TEDGlobal, among the 12 or so talks that I got to hear live (via our TEDxLive@Columbus livestream), two grabbed me:
Pamela Meyer’s talk on Lies. She opened by accusing essentially everyone in the audience of being a liar: “The person to the right of you is a liar. The person to the left of you is a liar. And the person sitting in your seat is a liar.” (paraphrased since the talk is not published yet. I’ll link it here when it is.)
Aside from an artfully chosen opening, her talk continued the same engaging cadence, weaving story and fact, detail and reason. Not to mention, she provided some great tips on how to spot a liar (hence the name of her book, Lie Spotting).
Now, if we believed in the rules of PERP (the sequence that helps audiences overcome the communication bias — Point, Example, Reason, Point), the next TEDTalk by Tim Harford, also a TEDGlobal speaker this week, violates them. We aren’t exactly sure what his point is since he starts with his example, and he risks losing the audience by not sharing where he’s headed at the start.
But it matters not.
His opening hook story and his engaging storytelling style keeps you rapt to want to know more. And in particular, how he’s going to weave it into a poignancy to which we’ll relate and want to hear more. Watch it here:
Lesson is: Make sure you have your opening hook planned carefully. Usually I suggest writing it last after the rest of your talk is complete. Those nervous jitters can lock you down for the first few minutes of any talk — which is when you need to be most engaged and captivating.
No CommentsYou sure you got the right analogy?
Last week during one of our Influential Storytelling trainings, a participant was proud of herself for using an analogy to get a point across to the COO of her company. It was the week the Mavericks beat the Heat, and if you aren’t into sports, that meant that the basketball season was over and LeBron lost.
Just so happens that her COO wasn’t into basketball either. “Though everyone else at the presentation was,” she claimed. “But I guess next time we need to use an example from Glee,” she admitted.
So the COO loved Glee but she used LeBron. Ooops.
The solution is easy.
Make sure you know thy audience. And really, the most important person in the audience. The one that is the decision maker.
And while she reported that he did “get it” – it did have some “rocky resonance” as I say. Sure, they may ultimately find the light but there were some clouds that could have been avoided.
So which ones do you use?
Well, first, stick with topics that you know the whole audience can associate. Homebuilding, high school, babies, food/cooking, learning to walk, driving, mother nature, NASA, checkers, medicine, Scrabble, colors, chocolate, heating/cooling, hiking, and I could go on — are all to which everyone can relate.
In the next category, I’d consider sports, movies, TV shows and books. But be careful, as evidenced by this list of the most popular movies. You might be surprised that your favorite Eastern Promises or Roshomon probably won’t be on top. Or LeBron, in more ways than one.
(Editor’s Note: This post marks my return from a break I took in June. Something had to give in the skyscraper-full list of things on my plate and in my life. Happy to be here again.)
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