‘Highly engaging’ people use this 3-word phrase to get people to listen, says public peaking expert
Giving a presentation would be so much easier if your topic was always something enticing like: “How to make $10 million in 30 seconds.” Even if you’re not a great speaker, you know people will lean in and listen.
But most of us are asked to speak about far less flashy topics. And if you want anyone to pay attention you need to be organized, succinct, authentic and persuasive.
Still, given short attention spans, it never seems like enough. So how do you keep people from looking at their phone or staring into space? As a public speaking expert, I use one phrase that gets audiences to instantly perk up and pay attention. It works every time: “Imagine this scenario…”
The 3-word phrase that highly engaging people use
Let’s break it down:
- “Imagine” is a direct command. It shifts your presentation into the second person (“you”), pulling your audience in and prompting them to visualize what you’re about to say.
- “This” anchors the story in the present moment. It adds urgency and specificity, keeping the audience focused on what’s happening now.
- “Scenario” primes listeners for a story that’s going to have details, images, characters, and events. All these things are more compelling than data or abstract talking points (the usual stuff people get during speeches and presentations).
Together, these words engage attention, evoke curiosity, and invite your listeners into a shared mental space where they can feel and experience what you’re talking about.
Of course, this isn’t the only phrase that works. Here are a few other attention-grabbing openers:
- “What if you…”
- “Imagine yourself…”
- “Think of the last time you”
- “Have you ever found yourself…”
People care about themselves more than your topic
From Aristotle to Dale Carnegie, communication experts have said the same thing: The audience is the most important part of any talk. People are their own favorite subject, and if you frame your message around their worldview, not yours, they’ll find it more relatable, more memorable, and far easier to understand.
I’ll give you an example. I once worked with a group of young game designers preparing to pitch their projects for funding. They were incredible coders, but struggled with storytelling. Their initial drafts were heavy on technical talk: descriptions of hardware, software, development tools, coding. Nothing about how the look, the story, the characters, sounds, feeling or emotions of how it felt it felt to play their game.
So I told them: “Try thinking inside out.”
Instead of describing how the game was built, I instructed them to describe to a potential player what it will be like to play the game once it’s built: “Forget the nuts and bolts. Talk about what it’ll be like to play your game for the very first time. How will it feel? What do you do when you’re playing it? Start every sentence with ‘you,’ and tell them what they see and do next.”
Suddenly, their passion came through. Their explanations became clear, dynamic, and easy to follow. The shift was night and day.
The same principle works in any industry
- Pitching an app? Don’t just explain what it is or how it might perform economically. Walk your audience through the user experience.
- Selling a building design? Talk about how it feels to walk into the space you’re pitching, not just its square footage.
- Proposing a new policy? Don’t get lost in the weeds of rationale or implementation scheduling. Describe how employees will feel the change day-to-day.
If people can see themselves in a story or presentation, they’ll stay with you. They might even ignore their phone for a whole five minutes.
John Bowe is a speech trainer, award-winning journalist, and author of “I Have Something to Say: Mastering the Art of Public Speaking in an Age of Disconnection.” He has contributed to The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, This American Life, and many others. Visit his website here.
Want to be a successful, confident communicator? Take CNBC’s online course Become an Effective Communicator: Master Public Speaking. We’ll teach you how to speak clearly and confidently, calm your nerves, what to say and not say, and body language techniques to make a great first impression. Get started today.
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