Powerful Ways to Hook Your Audience

Check out Ms. Birzu's ideas for powerful ways to hook your audience. Consider using one in your presentation.

Role-Play

Perform a short skit.

Ask a few rhetorical questions

"How do you explain that this school pays a lot of money on energy bills? Have you ever thought of how much  energy is wasted in schools all over the world every year? Given how fast we run out of non-renewable resources, don’t we all deserve to save money instead of paying too much on electricity?”

Start with shocking data/statistics

“50.2% percentage of energy is wasted by the US economy every year”

Use the word “imagine”

“Please close your eyes and imagine you are walking the hallways. You are noticing empty classrooms. You’re also noticing lights that are turned on. Lots of lights. Imagine you could get involved. Now open your eyes. What about switching from using light bulbs to sensors?

Arouse curiosity

“I need to make a confession. My parents often do something at home that they are not proud of, something that in many ways I wish I will never do as an adult, but I feel I have to reveal that with you here. Several times every day, my parents leave the lights on in rooms where they don’t stay for long periods of time. And, yes, I’ve noticed teachers do the same in our school.”

Take the audience through a "what if" scenario.

“What if at the end of the month you will have more money left in your school account after paying the electricity bill? What if you could actually use that money to invest in teaching materials or...books for the library instead?”

Tell a story

“Linda is a 10-year old girl living in a poor village in Colombia. She lives with her parents and her 7 elder brothers. Linda tries hard to do her school work at home. However, it is not easy for her to work on it when parents decide to turn off the lights in the house to save energy. They can’t afford to pay the monthly bills. They use energy for 2 hours only. Two hours a day. Two hours every day. …….”