Is the first impression really the most deciding factor of a speech?

Read more thoughts on the art of communicating week-daily at https://michaelgerharz.com/blog

Mentioned in this episode:

My new book is out now

You’ve got a bold vision and a strategy to achieve it! But why does your company seem to be standing still? Why is the gap between what strategy promises and what it delivers so vast and disheartening? And what to do about it? Find out in my new book “The PATH to Strategic Impact”: https://geni.us/the-path

New book

Every once in a while, a study pops out that proves the importance of

the first few seconds of a speech.

Often the conclusion is that the first impression would be the most

important part of your speech.

Yet, one crucial aspect usually gets overlooked by these studies.

And here it is.

Great speeches are often great from the start.

Not the other way around.

As humans, we are quite good at estimating the quality of

a talk from a few impressions.

Body signals, voice signals, but also the clarity and the text.

We're super quick to make first estimations based on these signals.

Amazingly often these estimations prove to be correct.

Here's the pitfall.

The speech is not great because it begins great.

The beginning is just an accurate snapshot that we base our estimation on.

Judging from a short snapshot of the middle or the ending of a great speech

would quite likely predict the quality of the speech just as accurately.

So, great speeches are usually great throughout the entire

duration of the speech.

Because the speaker cares, actually knows what they're talking about,

prepares well, and rehearses thoroughly.

It's a mistake to focus on the beginning of the speech as the deciding factor.

If only because great speeches exist, that started poorly and vice versa.

So the better strategy is to make a great speech and make it great from the start.