Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “Grab Attention”
When you reach out to a podcast host with your first message, you are creating your first impression. What can you do to make the best first impression? If you don’t care about your first impression, why would the podcast host care about inviting you on their show?
Do you want to be a guest on a podcast? Would you like to know what to say to the host in your initial message when pitching your story? What are the boxes you need to check to get noticed, respected and invited?
Your first words are important because your audience is judging you. They are scrolling through questions in their mind:
Should I listen? How long will this take? Do I trust the person? How painful will this be? When will we get to the relevant part? What does this mean to me?
The purpose of your opening is to grab their attention, establish rapport and set the direction.
Most importantly – grab attention. How might you do that?
How to open your presentation
Your first words are important because your audience is judging you. They are scrolling through questions in their mind:
Should I listen? How long will this take? Do I trust the person? How painful will this be? When will we get to the relevant part? What does this mean to me?
The purpose of your opening is to grab their attention, establish rapport and set the direction.
Most importantly – grab attention. How might you do that?
People say silly and ridicules things in their Linkend profile.
This is an example of both silly and ridicules. Would you hire this person? Would you even invite this person to have a conversation? The Linkedin profile is vague, cliché and lacking in accomplishments.
This could easily be text that was lifted from a university text book.
Notice that not a single accomplishment is stated nor measured.
Spend more time and effort getting your opening and close right.
When creating your opening and close, consider the possibility that they might only remember these two parts. If that was true, would they have received your intended message? If not, revise your opening and close. The body is the detail, the opening and close provide the motivation and the direction.
Another silly Linkedin profile. About
Entrepreneur, innovator, visionary, embracer of change elements, and pursuer of higher learning with tenacity, patience, and judgement in decision-making resulting in a great deal of stamina and resolve mentally and physically.
Entrepreneur – So What? Innovator – So What? What did you innovate? Visionary – So What? What does this mean?
A results driven professional with business and human resources mangement experience in a global environment. What mistakes do you see with this opening statement on their profile?
You might notice that it’s full of vague terms. There’s nothing specific. What has this person accomplished? Nothing that we can see. It feels cliché and nothing grabs your attention.
It appears that they have written their profile to attract “click bait”. Key words that they believe recruiters might be looking for.
Nothing specific, nothing about their accomplishments. Simple click bait or so they hope.
Introduce Your Guest Speaker with Bravado
When you are asked to introduce a guest speaker, grab the opportunity because it’s a chance to practice your speaking skills and connect with the speaker.
An introduction is a mini speech. Remember you are not the star so don’t try to steal the stage from the guest speaker. The audience didn’t show up to listen to your introduction so don’t try to be the entertainment. The speaker will appreciate a warm and inviting introduction.
I asked him to clarify the purpose of this presentation. That’s the first place for you to start when designing, reviewing and adapting your presentation. That’s also how you should measure the success of your presentation. He paused briefly to think about that, then started to ramble. I smiled and cut him off. “What do you want people to think, feel or do after your presentation?” I could see the light bulb go on in his mind.
Think, feel or do?
