In trainings, meetings, presentations, speeches and encounters it is always very important to get the introduction right. There are three reasons for that:
- people generally remember the beginning the most (together with the end);
- people will judge whether it is worth listening to you within the first 1 to 2 minutes
- and because depending on the interest you raise, you will recruit more or less brain capability in our interlocutor.
“If you are trying to get information across to someone, your ability to create a compelling introduction may be the most important single factor in the later success of your mission. Why this emphasis on the initial moments? Because the memory of an event is stored in the same places that were initially recruited to perceive the learning event. The more brain structures recruited— the more door handles created— at the moment the learning, the easier it is to gain access to the information” – John Medina in ‘Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School‘.
If you don’t have time to rehearse and optimize your entire presentation, at least do it for the first 1 to 2 minutes of your performance. Just these few seconds can make a dramatic difference in your overall impact!
