Most presentations are lost before slide 2

    Not because the speaker is terrible and says “uh” a hundred times. Not because the content is wrong or mind-numbingly boring (although that happens too…). But because the first 90 seconds fail to answer one crucial question: Why Should I listen?

    1998

    I recently spoke in front of about a hundred people at a BAM event, telling the story of nayan; 25 years of e-commerce.

    I didn’t start by introducing myself. I started with a question:

    “Who was born after 2000?”
    Two hands, somewhere near the back, slightly apologetic.

    “Before 2000?”
    Ninety hands, confident, almost proud

    “Before 1990?”
    Eighty hands, still going.

    “Before 1980?”
    I stopped. Not because there were no more hands but because the entire room was already laughing before I could finish the sentence.

    What I wanted to know was who remembered 1998. The year France won the World Cup. The year Windows 98 was born. And the year nayan was founded. Nice segue, right?

    In ten seconds, the room was laughing and mentally back in 1998. I hadn’t told them a single thing about nayan yet. But I already had them.

    And that’s exactly where most speakers go wrong. Not in the middle of the talk. Not during the Q&A. No — in those first 90 seconds, where they open with: “Good afternoon, my name is X and today I’ll be talking about Y.”

    Boring.

    Don't start by introducing yourself.

    An audience doesn’t wait for you to warm up. They decide immediately… unconsciously, instinctively. And if you waste those first 90 seconds introducing yourself, you’ve lost them. They’ll sit there politely, scrolling through their phone, quietly counting down to the next coffee break.

    The fix is simpler than you think:
    𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 — 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺.

    A question. A moment. Something they recognise or didn’t see coming. Something that makes the audience feel like they’re already part of it — before you’ve said a single word about your topic.

    👉 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺.

    Oh, and 1998 really was a vintage year. Britney Spears also debuted with Baby One More Time — and had everyone hooked from the first note. No introduction. No build-up. Just straight to the point. Audience captured before they knew what hit them.

    Coincidence? I think not.