The Importance of a Strong First Impression in Writing and Presentations

First impressions are everything. This statement applies to every aspect of life, including writing and presentations. Kathy Sierra, the founder of Creating Passionate Users, emphasizes the importance of a strong beginning in keeping your audience or readers’ attention. As I prepare for an upcoming presentation, I am reminded of Sierra’s tips on writing books, articles, and presentations.

Sierra’s stance on first impressions is clear: “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” Through her experience as a trainer, public speaker, and writer, she has developed and shared a few tips to help individuals not only catch but keep their audience’s attention.

One of Sierra’s main tips is to cut the chase and throw away the first chapter of a book or presentation. This tip can be controversial, but Sierra argues that audiences and readers are short on attention spans. Therefore, it’s essential to get to the point quickly and efficiently. Starting with the second chapter, where the primary focus is on the main content, is a way to do this. It allows a writer or presenter to introduce their audience to the core of their work and keep their interest.

Another tip that Sierra shares is not to start a presentation, article, or book with background material or history. She highlights that many technical articles make this mistake by starting with detailed historical context that most of the audience may not care about or want. Additionally, this type of presentation or writing turns the reader or audience away, leaving them uninterested and disengaged. Instead, Sierra suggests starting with the most relevant part of the material and working backward.

While there are instances where historical data may be useful or essential, Sierra recommends using an appendix or a web page to contain such details. This method can help to maintain the focus on the main topic, which is what your audience came to learn or read about.

When it comes to presentations, Sierra suggests starting with a statement or a rhetorical question to pique the audience’s curiosity. This technique can quickly grab the attention of the listeners while engaging them in the subject matter. Furthermore, Sierra recommends the use of analogies or examples to help the audience visualize the content.

Apart from avoiding history and starting strongly, Sierra also suggests incorporating a personal story or anecdote. She argues that personal stories can help to create an emotional connection between the presenter or writer and their audience or readers. This connection can help to keep the audience engaged and interested in the materials being presented.

The art of creating a strong first impression is not limited to just the words that you use but also the way you present them. For example, when drafting presentations, Sierra recommends using bigger fonts, shorter sentences, and more visuals. This practice helps to make the presentation more visible and accessible to the audience. Similarly, when writing articles, using headers, subheaders, and bullet points can help to break up big blocks of text and make the content more digestible.

In conclusion, a strong first impression is critical in writing and presenting, and every effort should be made to get it right. According to Sierra’s tips, to achieve a good beginning, we need to cut to the chase and throw away irrelevant background information, start with attention-grabbing statements or questions, utilize analogies or examples, and add personal touches to create an emotional connection. Additionally, we should use fonts, visuals, headers, subheaders, and bullet points to make the content more accessible and easy to digest. By following these tips, we can create materials that will not only catch, but keep the attention of our readers or audience.