“Sure,” I said after I heard what the occasion was, “and may I ask who the other speakers are?”
“Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor, former West Bengal Governor Gopalakrishna Gandhi, who is also Gandhiji’s grandson, and tennis legend Vijay Amritraj!”
“Whoa! Whoa!” I whispered, as I put down the phone and wondered what my speech would be, then realized with such huge personalities sharing the dais with me, I needed to not just work on my talk but work on my opening. And that’s exactly what I worked on. Not one, but three openings, why?
The opening of a talk, like the opening of a lawyer’s argument, makes the judge or jury either listen to you or tune off. Once your audience has switched off, it’s very difficult to get them back to giving you an ear, try as you may, and even if you do succeed by using impactful content, they’ve lost the beginning of your talk which could have carried some important points.
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