Why do long introductions hurt a presentation?
A long warm-up tells the audience you’re stalling, and they lean back and lower the bar before you’ve said anything. Two words, thank you, then start. Gratitude lands better once you have the room.
What I say in the video
"Can everyone hear me okay? Uh, I wasn't sure if the mic was on yet, so I just wanted to check and see if it was. Uh, oh, okay. Hi, e- everyone. I, I wanna, uh, first thank the organizing committee, uh, my manager, Frank. I also wanna thank the management team, um, and HR for having me. Um, I'm really excited to present today."
Notice we haven't gotten to anything that matters yet? We're circling. And while you're circling, the audience is quietly lowering the bar.
Here's a simple rule that solves most of this. Before your opening line, you get two words: thank you. After that, you start.
That constraint forces you to stop circling and engage your audience right off the bat.
What I didn’t say in the video
"Cut the thank-yous" is easy to hear as "never thank anyone." That's not it at all.
There's nothing wrong with thanking people when you speak. Gratitude is warm and human, and in plenty of rooms it's the gracious thing to do. The problem isn't the thank-you. It's what the thank-you turns into: a windy warm-up lap you taxi down while your nerves settle, telling yourself you're being polite when really you're delaying the moment you have to say something that matters. An audience feels that. They can tell real gratitude from a stall, and a stall makes them lean back and wait for you to actually begin.
So the fix isn't to erase gratitude. It's to stop leading with a long one. Keep it short, mean it, and move. If you have real thank-yous to give, land your opening first, earn the room, then fold them in. Gratitude lands harder coming from someone who already has the room's attention than from someone still trying to get it.
Two words at the top. Thank you. Then start.
Try it today
Try it out loud once. Say "thank you," take a breath, and drop straight into your first real line. It feels abrupt the first time and confident every time after.
Bill Smartt is a New York executive presence and public speaking coach and the founder of Smartt Talk. He works with leaders in financial services, tech, advertising and startups.
