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Look at this chart.
The figures show percent changes in maternal mortality over a century long
period, starting in 1784.
And if you focus on AKH Vienna, you'll see that there was actually a precipitous drop
somewhere in the mid-century.
When we isolate for several factors, we discover that it probably had something to
do with the discovery of the infectious properties of medical equipment by Dr.
Ignaz Semmelweis in the mid-century.
This had a major effect on women everywhere.
[LAUGH] >> That opening was just awful.
[LAUGH] I started tuning Garett out probably within the first few
seconds of his speech and I'm guessing most of you did too.
So, why are openings so important?
Well, it turns out, multiple studies have shown that we have about ten seconds
to make a good first impression.
That means if our first slide and our first few sentences out of our
mouth don't capture our audience attention, we've probably lost them.
Now, is Akash Karia's book How to Deliver a Great TED Talk, he suggests
three techniques to open your speech to capture your audience's attention.
Now one technique is to open with a story.
Melody Hobson started her TED talk with a story about being mistaken for
a server at an event in which she was a panelist.
Our brains are wired for storytelling.
When we hear a story, we create a connection between us and the speaker.
It makes that speech that much more memorable for us.
Another technique is to begin with a quote.
Elizabeth Pasany started her Ted talk with a quote,
people do stupid things, that's what spreads HIV.
The quote was short, relevant, provocative but not one that's been overused.
And it was impactful, because it was from an authority on HIV, and it was her words.
A third technique is to start your talk with a question.
Kelli McGonigal began her TED talk with questions on how much stress
each person in the audience had experienced in the past year.
By asking questions and giving people the time to think of a response,
she engaged her audience and made her talk more relevant for them.
Now, you don't need to utilize all of these techniques in your speech, but
incorporating just one of these elements into your talk
will help you capture your audience's attention, and
make it more memorable, impactful, and engaging from the start.
So Garrett, do you wanna give it another shot?
>> Sure.
I'll try.
Imagine it's 1849 and you're lying in a hospital bed.
It's actually a very uncomfortable bed, more like a cart.
And you look to your left and to your right and you see a row of women who,
like you, have been pregnant for about nine months, and
you know that today is going to be a very important day in your life.
A nurse carts you into a smaller room, it's very cramped, and you smell iodine.
It's a pungent horrible odor.
You hear cries and screams from a hallway, and
you wonder as the doctor comes in with giant forceps and
this scary metal device, is this going to be my last day on earth?
Actually the question is a very relevant one.
If you're a woman in Vienna in 1849 and you're expecting a child,
your chance of dying in the next 48 hours is one in five.
That means that if there are 50 women giving birth,
10 of them will be dead within the next 48 hours.
But that all changed in the next year with the discovery
of the infectious properties of medical equipment.
That sharing medical equipment from corpses to live women giving birth
caused infection, which killed mothers.
This caused maternal mortality rates to drop to one in 50.
It was very significant.
But this was all contingent on the communication skills of
one doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis.
Now I think that we can all agree that that was a much better opening.
Strong openings allow us to connect with our audience, and
set the tone for the rest of our presentation.
Strong closings, however, are no less important.
Allow me to demonstrate by finishing the story.
Dr. Semmelweis was an early pioneer of antiseptic practices in hospitals.
However, he waited ten years to publish his results.
His results were rejected by the medical community because they had no
basis in current theory.
He castigated his colleagues, accusing them of murder.
And they, in turn, conspired to have him committed
to a mental institution where he died two weeks later of an infection.
Thank you so much.
It's been a pleasure presenting for you today.
>> Woah, woah, woah.
>> [LAUGH] >> Wait a minute.
Dr. Semmelweis' story may have had an abrupt and bad ending,
but that's no way to end a presentation.
>> [LAUGH] >> Conclusions are just as
important as introductions.
Oftentimes, we spend so much time designing and preparing our beginnings but
then we rush through and forget our endings.
But, the last words out of your mouth are gonna be what your audience remember
when they walk out of the door, so your conclusion should contain your
central message, so it's freshest in your listener's mind.
In his book,
Karia also gives us three techniques we can use to end presentations effectively.
Can anyone tell me where this quote is from?
>> Abraham Lincoln?
>> That's right.
This is the last line of the Gettysburg Address.
In this speech, which is now cited as one of the most famous speeches in all of
history, Lincoln ended and left his listeners with a message
of hope as big and bright as the civil war was dark and painful.
200 years later, we still remember this message of hope.
The first pass that Karia gives
us to end with hope for a better future.
Second, sell the benefits.
1,000 songs in your pocket.
We all remember this catchphrase from Steve Jobs,
Apple product launch that we watched earlier this quarter.
By repeating this line with 1,000 pop songs in your pocket,
over and over, he made sure that his audience knew the benefit
they would get if they bought that iPod nano.
And three, call to action.
Ultimately, your conclusion should have some sort of instructions for
your audience to take away and act on.
Whether that's to learn CPR, to submit your self-critique on time or to wash your
hands before surgery, your call to action should be simple and easy to remember.
>> Simple and easy to remember.
That's not exactly how I would describe the previous slide.
[LAUGH] When I say the words,
business presentation, what connotations come to mind?
Boring, difficult to remember, maybe death by PowerPoint?
We can do much better than that.
By using these simple techniques,
we can create beginnings that compel our audiences and
endings that leave our audiences with what we want them to remember.
To me, the moral of the story of Doctor Semmelweis is that
how we communicate really matters.
He was right, but he failed to persuade.
The way you communicate is important.
Your life may not depend on it, but
your effectiveness as a business person surely does.
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