Home Blog Presentation Ideas How to Start a Presentation: 5 Strong Opening Slides and 12 Tricks To Test
How to Start a Presentation: 5 Strong Opening Slides and 12 Tricks To Test
Knowing how to start a presentation is crucial: if you fail to capture the audience’s attention right off the bat, your entire presentation will flop. Few listeners will stick with you to the end and retain what you have told.
That is mildly unpleasant when you are doing an in-house presentation in front of your colleagues. But it can become utterly embarrassing when you present in front of larger audiences (e.g., at a conference) or worse – delivering a sales presentation to prospective customers.
Here is how most of us begin a presentation: give an awkward greeting, thank everyone for coming, clear our throats, tap the mic, and humbly start to mumble about our subject. The problem with such an opening performance? It effectively kills and buries even the best messages.
Table of Contents
- The Classic Trick: Open a Presentation with an Introduction
- Open a Presentation with a Hook
- Begin with a Captivating Visual
- Ask a “What if…” Question
- Use the Word “Imagine”
- Leverage The Curiosity Gap
- The Power of Silence
- Facts as Weapons of Communication
- Fact vs. Myths
- The Power of Music
- Physical Activity
- Acknowledging a Person
How to Start a PowerPoint Presentation The Right Way
Let’s say you have all of your presentation slides polished up (in case you don’t, check our quick & effective PowerPoint presentation design tips first). Your presentation has a clear storyline and agenda. Main ideas are broken into bite-sized statements for your slides and complemented with visuals. All you have left is to figure out how you begin presenting.
The best way is to appeal to and invoke certain emotions in your audience – curiosity, surprise, fear, or good old amusements. Also, it is recommended to present your main idea in the first 30 seconds of the presentation. And here’s how it’s done.
1. The Classic Trick: Open a Presentation with an Introduction
When you don’t feel like reinventing the wheel, use a classic trick from the book – start with a quick personal introduction. Don’t want to sound as boring as everyone else with your humble “Hi, I’m John, the head of the Customer Support Department”? Great, because we are all about promoting effective presentation techniques (hint: using a dull welcome slide isn’t one of them).
Here’s how to introduce yourself in a presentation the right way.
a. Use a link-back memory formula
To ace a presentation, you need to connect with your audience. The best way to do so is by throwing in a simple story showing who you are, where you came from, and why your words matter.
The human brain loves a good story, and we are more inclined to listen and retain the information told this way. Besides, when we can relate to the narrator (or story hero), we create an emotional bond with them, and, again – become more receptive, and less skeptical of the information that is about to be delivered.
So here are your presentation introduction lines:
My name is Joanne, and I’m the Head of Marketing at company XYZ. Five years ago I was working as a waitress, earning $10/hour and collecting rejection letters from editors. About ten letters every week landed to my mailbox. You see, I love words, but decent publisher thought mine were good enough. Except for the restaurant owner. I was very good at up-selling and recommending dishes to the customers. My boss even bumped my salary to $15/hour as a token of appreciation for my skill. And this made me realize: I should ditch creative writing and focus on copywriting instead. After loads of trial and error back in the day, I learned how to write persuasive copy. I was no longer getting rejection letters. I was receiving thousands of emails saying that someone just bought another product from our company. My sales copy pages generated over $1,500,000 in revenue over last year. And I want to teach you how to do the same”
b. Test the Stereotype Formula
This one’s simple and effective as well. Introduce yourself by sharing an obvious stereotype about your profession. This cue will help you connect with your audience better, make them chuckle a bit, and set a lighter mood for the speech to follow.
Here’s how you can frame your intro:
“My name is ___, and I am a lead software engineer at our platform [Your Job Title]. And yes, I’m that nerdy type who never liked presenting in front of large groups of people. I would rather stay in my den and write code all day long. [Stereotype]. But hey, since I have mustered enough courage…let’s talk today about the new product features my team is about to release….”
After sharing a quick, self-deprecating line, you transition back to your topic, reinforcing the audience’s attention . Both of these formulas help you set the “mood” for your further presentation, so try using them interchangeably on different occasions.
2. Open a Presentation with a Hook
Wow your audience straight off the bat by sharing something they would not expect to hear. This may be one of the popular first-time presentation tips but don’t rush to discard it.
Because here’s the thing: psychologically , we are more inclined to pay attention whenever presented with an unexpected cue. When we know what will happen next – someone flips the switch, and lights turn on – we don’t really pay much attention to that action.
But when we don’t know what to expect next – e.g., someone flips the switch and a bell starts ringing – we are likely to pay more attention to what will happen next. The same goes for words: everyone loves stories with unpredictable twists. So begin your presentation with a PowerPoint introduction slide or a line that no one expects to hear.
Here are a few hook examples you can swipe:
a. Open with a provocative statement
It creates an instant jolt and makes the audience intrigued to hear what you are about to say next – pedal back, continue with the provocation, or do something else that they will not expect.
“You will live seven and a half minutes longer than you would have otherwise, just because you watched this talk.”
That’s how Jane McGonigal opens one of her TED talks . Shocking and intriguing, right?
b. Ask a rhetorical, thought-provoking question
Seasoned presenters know that one good practice is to ask a question at the beginning of a presentation to increase audience engagement. Rhetorical questions have a great persuasive effect – instead of answering aloud, your audience will silently start musing over it during your presentation. They aroused curiosity and motivated the audience to remain attentive, as they did want to learn your answer to this question.
To reinforce your message throughout the presentation, you can further use the Rhetorical Triangle Concept – a rhetorical approach to building a persuasive argument based on Aristotle’s teachings.
c. Use a bold number, factor stat
A clean slide with some mind-boggling stat makes an undeniably strong impact. Here are a few opening statement examples you can use along with your slide:
- Shock them: “We are effectively wasting over $1.2 billion per year on producing clothes no one will ever purchase”
- Create empathy: “Are you among the 20% of people with undiagnosed ADHD?”
- Call to arms: “58% of marketing budgets are wasted due to poor landing page design. Let’s change this!”
- Spark curiosity: “Did you know that companies who invested in speech recognition have seen a 13% increase in ROI within just 3 years?”
3. Begin with a Captivating Visual
Compelling visuals are the ABC of presentation design – use them strategically to make an interesting statement at the beginning and throughout your presentation. Your first presentation slide can be text-free. Communicate your idea with a visual instead – a photo, a chart, an infographic, or another graphics asset.
Visuals are a powerful medium for communication as our brain needs just 13 milliseconds to render what our eyes see, whereas text comprehension requires more cognitive effort.
Relevant images add additional aesthetic appeal to your deck, bolster the audience’s imagination, and make your key message instantly more memorable.
Here’s an intro slide example. You want to make a strong presentation introduction to global pollution. Use the following slide to reinforce the statement you share:
“Seven of nine snow samples taken on land in Antarctica found chemicals known as PFAs, which are used in industrial products and can harm wildlife”
Source: Reuters
4. Ask a “What if…” Question
The “what if” combo carries massive power. It gives your audience a sense of what will happen if they choose to listen to you and follow your advice. Here are a few presentations with starting sentences + slides to illustrate this option:
Alternatively, you can work your way to this point using different questions:
- Ask the audience about their “Why.” Why are they attending this event, or why do they find this topic relevant?
- Use “How” as your question hook if you plan to introduce a potential solution to a problem.
- If your presentation has a persuasion factor associated, use “When” as a question to trigger the interest of the audience on, for example, when they are planning to take action regarding the topic being presented (if we talk about an inspirational presentation).
5. Use the Word “Imagine”
“Imagine,” “Picture This,” and “Think of” are better word choices for when you plan to begin your presentation with a quick story.
Our brain loves interacting with stories. In fact, a captivating story makes us more collaborative. Scientists have discovered that stories with tension during narrative make us:
- Pay more attention,
- Share emotions with the characters and even mimic the feelings and behaviors of those characters afterward.
That’s why good action movies often feel empowering and make us want to change the world too. By incorporating a good, persuasive story with a relatable hero, you can also create that “bond” with your audience and make them more perceptive to your pitch – donate money to support the cause; explore the solution you are offering, and so on.
6. Leverage The Curiosity Gap
The curiosity gap is another psychological trick frequently used by marketers to solicit more clicks, reads, and other interactions from the audience. In essence, it’s the trick you see behind all those clickbait, Buzzfeed-style headlines:
Not everyone is a fan of such titles. But the truth is – they do the trick and instantly capture attention. The curiosity gap sparks our desire to dig deeper into the matter. We are explicitly told that we don’t know something important, and now we crave to change that. Curiosity is an incredibly strong driving force for action – think Eve, think Pandora’s Box.
So consider incorporating these attention grabbers for your presentation speech to shock the audience. You can open with one, or strategically weave them in the middle of your presentation when you feel like your audience is getting tired and may lose their focus.
Here’s how you can use the curiosity gap during your presentation:
- Start telling a story, pause in the middle, and delay the conclusion of it.
- Withhold the key information (e.g., the best solution to the problem you have described) for a bit – but not for too long, as this can reduce the initial curiosity.
- Introduce an idea or concept and link it with an unexpected outcome or subject – this is the best opening for a presentation tip.
7. The Power of Silence
What would you do if you attended a presentation in which the speaker remains silent for 30 seconds after the presentation starts? Just the presenter, standing in front of the audience, in absolute silence.
Most likely, your mind starts racing with thoughts, expecting something of vital importance to be disclosed. The surprise factor with this effect is for us to acknowledge things we tend to take for granted.
It is a powerful resource to introduce a product or to start an inspirational presentation if followed by a fact.
8. Facts as Weapons of Communication
In some niches, using statistics as the icebreaker is the best method to retain the audience’s interest.
Say your presentation is about climate change. Why not introduce a not-so-common fact, such as the amount of wool that can be produced out of oceanic plastic waste per month? And since you have to base your introduction on facts, research manufacturers that work with Oceanic fabrics from recycled plastic bottles .
Using facts helps to build a better narrative, and also gives leverage to your presentation as you are speaking not just from emotional elements but from actually recorded data backed up by research.
9. Fact vs. Myths
Related to our previous point, we make quite an interesting speech if we contrast a fact vs. a myth in a non-conventional way: using a myth to question a well-accepted fact, then introducing a new point of view or theory, backed on sufficient research, that proves the fact wrong. This technique, when used in niches related to academia, can significantly increase the audience’s interest, and it will highlight your presentation as innovative.
Another approach is to debunk a myth using a fact. This contrast immediately piques interest because it promises to overturn commonly held beliefs, and people naturally find it compelling when their existing knowledge is put to the test. An example of this is when a nutritionist wishes to speak about how to lose weight via diet, and debunks the myth that all carbohydrates are “bad”.
10. The Power of Music
Think about a presentation that discusses the benefits of using alternative therapies to treat anxiety, reducing the need to rely on benzodiazepines. Rather than going technical and introducing facts, the presenter can play a soothing tune and invite the audience to follow an exercise that teaches how to practice breathing meditation . Perhaps, in less than 2 minutes, the presenter can accomplish the goal of exposing the advantages of this practice with a live case study fueled by the proper ambiance (due to the music played in the beginning).
11. Physical Activity
Let’s picture ourselves in an in-company presentation about workspace wellness. For this company, the sedentary lifestyle their employees engage in is a worrying factor, so they brought a personal trainer to coach the employees on a basic flexibility routine they can practice in 5 minutes after a couple of hours of desk time.
“Before we dive in, let’s all stand up for a moment.” This simple instruction breaks the ice and creates a moment of shared experience among the attendees. You could then lead them through a brief stretching routine, saying something like, “Let’s reach up high, and stretch out those muscles that get so tight sitting at our desks all day.” With this action, you’re not just talking about workplace wellness, you’re giving them a direct, personal experience of it.
This approach has several advantages. Firstly, it infuses energy into the room and increases the oxygen flow to the brain, potentially boosting the audience’s concentration and retention. Secondly, it sets a precedent that your presentation is not going to be a standard lecture, but rather an interactive experience. This can raise the level of anticipation for what’s to come, and make the presentation a topic for future conversation between coworkers.
12. Acknowledging a Person
How many times have you heard the phrase: “Before we begin, I’d like to dedicate a few words to …” . The speaker could be referring to a mentor figure, a prominent person in the local community, or a group of people who performed charity work or obtained a prize for their hard work and dedication. Whichever is the reason behind this, acknowledgment is a powerful force to use as a method of starting a presentation. It builds a connection with the audience, it speaks about your values and who you admire, and it can transmit what the conversation is going to be about based on who the acknowledged person is.
Closing Thoughts
Now you know how to start your presentation – you have the opening lines, you have the slides to use, and you can browse even more attractive PowerPoint presentation slides and templates on our website. Also, we recommend you visit our article on how to make a PowerPoint Presentation to get familiarized with the best tactics for professional presentation design and delivery, or if you need to save time preparing your presentation, we highly recommend you check our AI Presentation Maker to pair these concepts with cutting-edge slide design powered by AI.
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How to record a PowerPoint presentation with audio for sharing
- October 12, 2023
- Last updated: February 26, 2024
Wondering how to make a video with PowerPoint? If you want to create a video presentation from your PowerPoint slides, you can use PowerPoint's in-built recording feature. The feature allows you to narrate your slides, add annotations, and insert webcam video. You can then export your recording as a video file that you can share with your audience.
This article explains how to record your PowerPoint slideshow and how to share the recorded presentation via Teams or Zoom. We'll also give you some tips on how to avoid common pitfalls and glitches that you might encounter.
Here's our step by step guide to record a PowerPoint slide show:
- Open your PowerPoint presentation and click on the Slide Show tab.
- From the PowerPoint Set Up group, click on Record Slide Show button. You can choose to record from the beginning, or from the current slide.
- A new window will open with your PowerPoint presentation in full screen mode. You will see a Recording toolbar at the top left corner of your PowerPoint screen if you are on a single monitor, or at the top of your main monitor if you are working on dual screens (as pictured in the screenshot below). You can use this toolbar to control your recording in PowerPoint, such as start, pause, stop, rewind, and forward. You can also use the pen, highlighter, and eraser tools to annotate your slides.
- To start recording your PowerPoint presentation, click on the Record button (the red circle). You will see a countdown from 3 to 1 before the recording begins.
- As you record, you can speak into your microphone to narrate your PowerPoint slides. You can also click on the Camera button (the camera icon) to turn on your webcam and insert a video of yourself in the corner of your slide.
- To move to the next or previous slide, you can use the arrow keys on your keyboard or click the Next or Previous buttons on the Recording toolbar.
- When you get to the end of your PowerPoint slideshow, you can export the video immediately by selecting export and following the prompts, or you can end your recording to review, before exporting to video format. To end your recording in PowerPoint, click the Stop button (the square icon) or press Esc on your keyboard.
- You will be taken back to the normal view of your PowerPoint presentation. You will see a speaker icon and a camera icon on each slide that has audio or video recording. You can click on these icons to preview, edit, or delete your PowerPoint recordings.
- To export your PowerPoint recording as a video file, click the File tab and select Export.
- In the Export window, choose Create a Video from the menu on the left.
- In the Create a Video panel, you can adjust the video quality, resolution, and file size. You can also choose whether to use recorded timings and narrations or not.
- Click on Create Video and choose a location and a file name for your video.
- Wait for PowerPoint to create your video. You can see the progress bar at the bottom of your screen.
- Once your PowerPoint video is ready, you can play it with any media player or upload it to any online platform.
Troubleshooting issues that may arise when recording a PowerPoint presentation
If you want to record a PowerPoint presentation with narration, annotations, or video, you may encounter some issues depending on your device, software, and settings. Here are some common problems and how to fix them:
- If your microphone is not working, make sure it is plugged in, turned on, and selected as the default recording device in your system settings (for example sometimes your monitor or webcam can also have a microphone, and the wrong device has been selected). You can test your microphone in PowerPoint by going to Slide Show > Record Slide Show > Settings > Microphone.
- If your video camera is not working, make sure it is plugged in, turned on, and selected as the default camera in your system settings. You can also test your camera in the PowerPoint app by going to Slide Show > Record Slide Show > Settings > Camera.
- If your annotations are not showing up in your PowerPoint recording, make sure you have enabled the pen and laser pointer tools in the PowerPoint app. You can do this by going to Slide Show > Record Slide Show > Settings > Pen and Laser Pointer Tools.
- If your PowerPoint recording is not saving or playing back correctly, make sure you have enough disk space and memory on your device. You can also try saving your PowerPoint presentation as a video file by going to File > Export > Create a Video.
Can I share my recorded PowerPoint presentation via Zoom or Microsoft Teams?
If you have recorded a PowerPoint presentation, you can share it with your audience via Zoom or Microsoft Teams. Here's how to share your recorded PowerPoint presentation in both platforms.
How to share recorded PowerPoint Presentations via Zoom To share your recorded PowerPoint presentation on Zoom, you need to have the Zoom app installed on your computer and the PowerPoint file saved on your device or on OneDrive. Here are the steps to follow:
- Start or join a Zoom meeting and click Share Screen in the meeting controls.
- Select your primary monitor then click Share. If you are not sure which monitor is your primary, select the one that PowerPoint opens in.
- Switch back to PowerPoint and click the Slide Show tab. Begin playing the recorded PowerPoint presentation by selecting the Play from Start or Play from Current Slide options.
- If you have recorded narration or video for your PowerPoint presentation, make sure to check the Play Narrations and Use Timings option in the Set Up group on the Slide Show tab.
- Your participants will see your PowerPoint presentation in slide show view with your narration and video playing along.
- To stop sharing your recorded PowerPoint presentation, click Stop Share on the Zoom toolbar.
How to share recorded PowerPoint Presentations via Microsoft Teams To share your recorded PowerPoint presentation on Teams, you need to have the Microsoft Teams app installed on your computer and the PowerPoint file saved either on OneDrive or your local computer. Here are the steps to follow:
- Start or join a Teams meeting and click Share content in the meeting controls.
- In the share content menu ensure 'include computer sound' is turn on
- Select Browse OneDrive or Browse my computer at the bottom of the 'share content' menu.
- Navigate to the folder where you have saved your PowerPoint presentation file and select it.
- To stop sharing, click Stop presenting on the Teams toolbar.
Troubleshooting issues when sharing recorded PowerPoint presentations via Teams or Zoom
If you want to share a recorded PowerPoint presentation with your audience via Zoom or Teams, you may encounter some issues that can affect the quality or the delivery of your presentation. Here are some common problems and how to solve them:
- If your recorded PowerPoint presentation has audio or video embedded, make sure you check the option to share computer sound when you start sharing your screen. Otherwise, your audience will not hear the sound from your presentation.
- If your recorded PowerPoint presentation has animations or transitions, make sure you play it in slideshow mode and not in editing mode. Otherwise, your audience will see the editing tools and the slides will not advance automatically.
- If your PowerPoint presentation has hyperlinks or action buttons, make sure you click on them during the presentation and not before. Otherwise, your audience will not see the linked content or the action result.
- If your PowerPoint presentation is too large or has high-resolution images or videos, make sure you compress it before sharing it. Otherwise, your presentation may lag or freeze during the presentation due to bandwidth limitations.
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With a microphone, speakers, and a sound card, you can record your presentation and capture your voice narration, slide timings, and laser pointer gestures.
Open the slide you want to start recording from. Near the upper right corner of the PowerPoint window, select Record. When you're ready, select the round, red Record button, wait for the countdown, then start speaking. To record from a specific slide, go to it, and then select Record.
You can record your PowerPoint presentation—or just a single slide—and capture voice, ink gestures, and your video presence. The completed recording is like any other presentation. You can play it for your audience in Slide Show or you can export it as a video file.
Record narration and timings: 1. Select Slide Show -- Record Slide Show. 2. Choose from two options: 3. When you're ready, select Record and start speaking. To record from a specific...
Discover effective strategies for starting a presentation. Learn how to grab attention with hooks, visuals, and storytelling. Ideal for improving your presentation openings at conferences, meetings, or sales pitches.
This article explains how to record your PowerPoint slideshow and how to share the recorded presentation via Teams or Zoom. We'll also give you some tips on how to avoid common pitfalls and glitches that you might encounter. From the PowerPoint Set Up group, click on Record Slide Show button.