The First Two Seconds Will Make or Break You

Do you have a big speech or presentation coming up?

Your first two seconds on stage count. Nalini Ambady and Robert Rosenthal’s 1992 research at Harvard revealed student’s very first impressions of professors rarely changed, even after a whole semester of teaching. To make an immediate impact:

– Use the whole stage. Maximize your body space. Look like a winner.

– However, you don’t have to be a high-energy, Tony Robbins type. Ex. Steve Jobs had “quiet power.”

– Make sure you look at the whole audience, not just the front few rows. Scan the audience with a figure 8 view.

– Don’t shrink your head into your shoulders.

– Vocal power is vital. Speak on the lower end of your natural range.

Other ways you can improve your impact on audiences in the first two seconds include:

– Rain $100 bills on the front row.

– Use a T-shirt cannon to launch shirts into the audience that say, “I’m a Winner! I think.”

– Start yelling loudly the following phrase, “Who let the dogs out? I did! Now what are you going to do about it?”

– Take off all your clothes and run through the crowd, stopping to rub the top of the head of each person wearing a blue blazer.

– Proclaim this day will be forever known henceforth as “Curly Fries at El Pollo Loco Day!”