Most ineffective presenters and speakers I have heard commit the cardinal sin of spending too much time developing the body of their information. Sure, I know the body of your presentation is important; after all, that is where you give them all the details they need to take action. Unfortunately, by the time they get to the body, many presenters have lost the interest of their audience. Before you can expect your audience to pay attention to the main portion of your presentation, you have to give them a reason to care about it in the first place, which means you should carefully craft a great opening.

To put together a great opening, make sure to follow these four simple steps:

1. Start with an eye-popping statistic, a challenging statement, or a quick, funny story, any of which is directly related to the subject of your presentation.
2. Briefly introduce yourself and quickly explain why you have the authority to speak on this topic.
3. Tell them what you are about to tell them and why it is important; i.e., give them the bullet points for your presentation using a rapid fire, energetic tone.
4. Tell them what you expect them to be able to do – or what you are going to ask them to do – when the presentation is concluded.

You must move through these four steps in less than two minutes. Now, you are ready to transition into the body of your presentation, connecting each point back to the opening statement you have made.

A great opening certainly sets the stage for a great presentation, but if you want to hit a home run, make sure you also have a riveting closing. The last thing you say may be the most remembered. You must put as much time into selecting and practicing your closing as you put into any other part of your presentation. It could be motivational, challenging, or thoughtful, and it should restate your point in a different way. This ending segment will have a strong influence on what the audience takes home with them when you are done.

Remember, during your opening you told them that you were going to ask them to take a specific action when the presentation was done. Now is the time to return to that promise and flesh it out just a little bit. If the subject is appropriate, try to match this call to action with a humorous story. If you leave them laughing and applauding, they will not only remember what you said, but they will remember that they enjoyed it.

However, if the subject is not appropriate to end with laughter, you could end with a touching story or quotation that leaves the audience thoughtful and quiet. Either way, it is important to craft a closing that reinforces all your main points one more time. One simple method is to reiterate the bullet points that you set out in your opening, point out to the audience how you substantiated each one, and then clearly lay out a challenge or an opportunity and ask them to decide how they will respond.