Use an activity to break the ice

Invite your audience to get right into your topic by asking them to participate. Here's how one presenter got the attention of twenty CEOs when he was asked to speak with them about financial risk.

The CEOs were seated in groups of five at four separate tables. After handing each one a sheet of paper, the presenter asked them to write down the financial dangers they could see at their companies. He watched while they jotted down a few things and then asked them to crumple up their papers and toss them to one another.

Immediately, the group loosened up. The presenter asked them to take the papers that had been tossed their way and read them to each other. Their sharing then became the perfect way to introduce the dangers that his clients are seeing and to address them with the group.