Engaging your Audience – Part Two – The Opening

Engaging your Audience – Part Two – The Opening

Conflict #1: How do I attract an audience?

Teachers and writers face the same problem when they have something to say: they need to attract and interest their audience.

When they fail, the consequences are obvious. Writers lose sales and teachers are faced with a disengaged mob of adolescents who are unable to leave. It’s not pretty.

In order to resolve this problem, we’ll look at some common wisdom and review some field tests from the front lines.

Remember: We’re examining these methods in the context of a writer’s drafting of a single piece and a teacher’s delivery of a single lesson or unit.

The irrefutable truth is that the opening statement or action must attract and hold the audience’s attention.

There are several methods and they all hinge on the immediacy of the first few moments.

1. Surprise/Shock – Teachers are limited in the amount of shock they can use in the classroom. They can’t have explosions or gunshots at the start of a lesson. Writers aren’t so tightly bound. Try to give your audience something that they wouldn’t expect. 
2. Quotations – Using a quote that is relevant to your lesson is a great way to introduce the content without being obvious or boring. This term takes on a different meaning for writers, since the quote can come from one of the characters you are introducing. Quotes bring life, voice, and perspective. 
3. Poetic – These lines take time to create. Think of them as less of a poetic structure and more of the intent of poetry, which is to evoke strong feelings. The powerful images set tone quickly and save you precious time when introducing ideas. 
4. Humor – The best advice I ever got was: “If you are not funny, don’t try to be.” Writing humor, just like comedic acting, is far more difficult than drama. Humor is topical, personal, and requires timing that not everyone has. If you feel comfortable starting with a joke or a witty observation, keep it short and relevant. 
5. Question – Rhetorical questions are common literary techniques because they lead the audience into a sense of urgency. This is different than the standard “Do Now” that teachers often write on the board and have students answer quietly at their seats while attendance is taken. These questions can’t be answered quickly and should challenge the audience’s natural state of apathy. 

There are other methods in the resources I have linked below, but these are the five that I use in my teaching and writing.

Using one of these approaches will help you attract your audience and hold their attention… for at least the first five minutes. Keeping their focus is a completely different story.

Continued in Engaging your Audience – Part Three – The Middle

Resources:

For Writers: Christopher Jackson wrote a great post, titled "The Most Important Sentence: How to Write a Killer Opening," in which he bullets four musts in opening lines.

For Teachers: Education Week Teacher posted “The ‘Do Now’ or ‘Do Never’?” as a commentary on standard approach. Iowa State University posted a “101 Ideas for a Great Start.” (Basics)