It takes an audience about 15 seconds (at most) to decide whether your presentation is worth their attention. Fritter away those fifteen seconds and your audience will either mentally check out or pull out their phones to start texting.

对一位观众而言，他最多只会用15秒钟来判断你的演示是否值得一听。如果你浪费了这15秒，你的观众就会开始神游四海或者掏出手机开始发短信。

Here's how to begin a presentation so that your audience really sits up and takes notice.

以下是如何做演示的一点技巧，能使你的观众们打起精神并集中注意。

1. Have somebody else introduce you.

1.让其他人来介绍你。

Don't waste time explaining who you are and why you're there. Write a short (100 word) bio and a short statement (50 words) of what you'll be talking about. If you were invited to speak, have whoever invited you read this information to the audience. If you called the meeting yourself, put that information in the invite.

不要浪费时间解释你是谁以及你来干什么。对你将要讲的东西写一段简短的介绍（大约100字左右）和陈述（大约50字）。假如你是受邀前来的，让邀请你的那个人来为观众读这段介绍。假如是你自己召开了这次会议，就把那些信息写在邀请函里。

2. Do not tell a "warm-up" joke.

2.不要说暖场笑话。

I have no idea how the "warm-up joke" became part of conventional business wisdom. Most of the time, the "joke" consists a weak attempt at situational humor (like "why are these meetings always on Monday?") that merely communicates that you're nervous and unsure of yourself. The rest of the time, the "joke" is a long story with an obvious punch line that tries everyone's patience.

我不知道为什么暖场笑话成为了传统商业智慧的一部分。大部分情况下，暖场笑话只是对即兴幽默的一种微弱尝试（比如“为什么这种会议总在礼拜一呢？”），这仅仅说明了你很紧张并且对自己缺乏自信。除此之外，如果暖场笑话是一个笑点明显又拖拖拉拉的长故事的话，那就是在挑战观众的耐心了。

3. Do not begin with "background."

3.不要用“背景介绍”开场。

Many presentations begin with a corporate background that's intended to build credibility. (Example: "Our company has 100 years of expertise!") The problem here is that at the start of a presentation nobody cares about your company. You're asking them to translate your background information into something that's meaningful to them and their business. Why should they bother?

许多演示都以企业背景信息开场，试图以此来建立信任（比如：“本公司是百年老店！”）。问题是，在演示的开始，根本没人在意你的公司。你在试图迫使他们将你的背景信息翻译成某种对他们和他们的公司有意义的东西。他们凭什么要这么做？

4. Open with a startling and relevant fact.

4.以一个令人吃惊的相关事实开场。

To get an audience focused on what you're going to tell them, you must first break through the "mental noise" that causes their attention to waver. This is best accomplished by a slide showing a fact that is new to the audience and important enough to capture their attention. Build the rest of your presentation to answer the business questions that this initial fact has raised in their minds.

要让观众关注于你将要告诉他们的东西，你必须突破那些会导致他们注意力动摇的“精神噪音”。做到这一点最好的办法就是用一张幻灯片展示一个对观众而言前所未闻而又有重大意义的东西来抓住他们的注意力。你接下来的演示就要回答那些由最初的事实吸引了观众眼球的相关商务问题。

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Here are two samples presentations to help explain these points:

以下是两个例子，它们能解释上述的观点：

BAD:

错误的方式：

"Hi, I'm John Doe from Acme and I've been working in the widget industry for 20 years. And boy, has it been an exiting time (just kidding!) Acme is the industry leader in widgets with over a million satisfied customers!! I'm here today to talk to you about how we can help you save big money on your purchases of high quality widgets."

“嗨，我是来自Acme的XXX，我在配件行业工作已经20年了。伙计们，是不是激动人心啊（开个玩笑）！Acme是配件业的行业领袖，拥有一百万忠实用户！我今天来这儿是为了向你们展示我们公司将如何在购买高质量配件方面为贵公司节省成本。”

BETTER:

更好的方式：

"Yes, one million dollars." (Pause.) "That's how much money you're losing every year because of widget failure. Fortunately, there IS a better way and I'm going to explain how you can easily save that money rather than waste it."

“没错，一百万美元。”（停顿）“那是每年你们因为配件收购上的失败而损失的钱。所幸的是，你们有更好的选择，而我接下来就要为你们解释你们能通过什么办法轻松地节省下那笔钱，而不是浪费掉。”

Needless to say, the slides in the above example are simplistic. The "better" example could probably be made more visually rich, perhaps with an illustration of money going down a drain (along with the $1m).

毫无疑问，以上展示的幻灯片都过于简单了。“更好的”那个例子可以做得更具有视觉效果，或许能做成钱币从排水管排走的图片。（保留原来的100万字样）

What's important here is that you realize why the surprising and relevant first slide is far more likely to capture the audience's attention than the typical rambling intro.

重要的是你必须意识到为什么惊人而又与观众有关的幻灯片比起那种典型的闲聊式的介绍更能够抓住他们的注意力。

Please note that the "startling and relevant" fact need not be an attempt to generate fear. The fact could just as easily be about possible opportunity, the achievement of a long held goal, or something else that inspires. As long as it's surprising and relevant, the audience will listen.

请记住，所谓的“惊人而又相关”的事实并不是要营造恐惧。这个事实可以是可能的机会、长期目标的实现，或者其他启发性的东西。只要它们足够惊人并与听众密切相关，他们会认真听的。