I recently dropped my 18-year old daughter off at the Mall to do some Christmas shopping.  My wife and I then went off to do some shopping of our own by ourselves…I guess you can call that a date.

About 10 minutes after dropping her off, she calls on the cell phone in need of something.  Her pitch starts like this – “Okay, I’m at the Mall and I’m shopping, right…”

I cut her off (Dad’s prerogative) and say, “I know, I just dropped you off there.  Get to the point…”

Here’s my point, as business presenters we often make this same mistake my daughter did.  We make a supercilious statement already known to our audience.  Things like…

“Good afternoon, my name is Dan Weedin…” (After having already had your name introduced)

“I’m very happy to be here with you today…” (Really)

“Boy, how about this weather…” (Unless your a weatherman, nobody came to hear you speak on it)

After you’re introduced, start your presentation in one of four ways – a story, a quote, an interesting fact, or a bold statement.  I prefer starting with a story because I believe stories are the best way to capture your audiences’ attention and connect with them.  If you don’t do either of those very early, you’ve lost them. 

By the way, look how I started off this post – with a story.  If you’ve read this far it obviously worked.  That’s what you want to do with your presentations.  Make an impact right away…Get to the Point!

Cheers.

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