The Secrets to Starting a Presentation Strong | Tim Newman Speaks

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Have you ever wondered why those first few seconds of a presentation seem to matter so much—and what you can do to make an unforgettable first impression? That’s exactly what we’re diving into in today’s episode of Speaking with Confidence.

As your host, I’m Tim Newman—a recovering college professor turned communication coach—here to help you transform how you show up in critical professional moments. In this solo episode, I dig deep into the pivotal opening seconds of any conversation or presentation, explaining just how quickly our audiences form judgments about us, often before we’ve even said a word. If you’ve ever stumbled over your opening line, tossed out a nervous “um,” or rushed an apology, you’re not alone. But research shows those tiny signals have an outsized impact on how credible and confident we come across.

We kick off this episode looking at the science behind first impressions and what’s actually happening in your audience’s mind before you’ve begun to speak. I break down how nonverbal cues—like body language, eye contact, and breath—are unconsciously evaluated, leading listeners to decide, in milliseconds, whether you’re someone worth tuning into. Whether you’re entering a boardroom or joining a casual conversation, those early moments count more than we often realize.

Here’s the game changer: I introduce a simple, research-backed technique called the “silent transformation.” At its heart, this approach asks you to pause—intentionally—for a few seconds before you speak. What feels awkward from the speaker’s side actually signals steadiness and control to everyone watching. I walk you through why this pause lowers your anxiety, helps focus your thoughts, and sets the stage for a much stronger connection with your audience.

Of course, how you follow that pause is just as important as the pause itself. I share the elements of crafting a memorable first line, offering examples of surprising statistics, bold questions, and vivid short stories that instantly generate curiosity and relevance. You'll hear practical routines to make silence feel natural, concise strategies to build anticipation, and methods to ensure your opening words have real impact.

By the end of this episode, you’ll have a clear, actionable plan for your next presentation:

• The psychological evidence behind snap judgments in opening seconds
• How nervous habits derail your credibility, and what to do instead
• The silent transformation technique: why a deliberate pause works wonders
• How to practice silence so it feels empowering, not awkward
• The three reliable ways to open with impact (statistic, question, or story)
• Connecting your opener to your audience for immediate relevance
• Why concise, rehearsed beginnings make you appear more confident and thoughtful
• A challenge for your next presentation, and a routine for daily practice

This episode is perfect for anyone who wants to move beyond shaky introductions and truly command attention from the moment they step into the room. If you’re ready to transform your presence and make every word count, start with these tools—and don’t forget to visit speakingwithconfidencepodcast.com for your free eBook and resources to keep building your skills.

Let’s keep progressing together. Your voice

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Episode Transcript

Tim Newman (00:08):
Welcome back to Speaking with Confidence, a
podcast that helps you build thesoft skills that lead to real
results.
Communication, storytelling,public speaking, and showing up
with confidence in everyconversation that counts.
I'm Tim Newman, a recoveringcollege professor turned
communication coach, and I'mthrilled to guide you on a
journey to becoming a powerfulcommunicator.
Have you ever started apresentation with an um, a

(00:30):
rushed sorry, or by fumblingwith a clicker?
Little signals like fillerwords, nervous apologies, or
awkward pauses may feelharmless, but research shows
people form impressionsextremely quickly, in fractions
of a second to just a fewseconds, and those first moments
can matter more than anythingyou'll say later.
In the next few minutes, you'llwalk away with one exact step

(00:55):
you can use to cut out thoseshaky openings and step into the
room with presence from yourvery first breath.
And to see why this one stepworks so powerfully, we first
need to look at what's happeningin those critical opening
seconds.
When you step into a room oronto a stage, your audience's
minds don't wait for your firstwords.
They begin assessing youinstantly.

(01:17):
Lab studies show people sufferwhen we snap judgments in a
fraction of a second, sometimeswithin just a hundred
milliseconds, and those earlyimpressions can stick, subtly
shaping how everything you sayafterward is received.
Whether it's a professionalsetting or a casual
introduction, those first visualand nonverbal cues carry
surprising weight.

(01:38):
So what explains this?
Our brains are wired tointerpret small signals quickly.
A shift in posture, a glancethat lingers or darts away, the
pace of your breathing, thesecues register before you're even
conscious of them.
Nonverbal communication, likehow you hold your body or
whether your voice soundssteady, gets noticed immediately

(02:00):
and guides how others decide ifyou're confident, competent, or
even worth listening to.
That reaction isn't somethingan audience chooses to turn on
or off, it happensautomatically.
The numbers experts cite vary,but research points to judgments
forming in under a second,while others describe the first
seven seconds or even the firstcouple of minutes as decisive.

(02:23):
The exact window depends on thestudy, but the conclusion is
consistent.
Those opening moments carrymore influence than most
speakers realize.
This is why a shaky start, likefumbling with slides or leading
with an apology, doesn't justfeel small, it actively
undermines how credible youappear.
Anxiety makes the cycle evenworse.

(02:44):
Nervous ticks, filler words, orrush sentences all surface in
those early seconds, and thebrain that's reading you
interprets them as hesitation ora lack of confidence.
But here's the shift.
You're not powerless in thisprocess.
While you can't prevent peoplefrom forming quick impressions,
you can guide what they see bybeing intentional about your

(03:06):
signals.
Standing with a calm posture,holding steady eye contact, and
avoiding the urge to rush aresubtle actions that turn those
rapid judgments in your favor.
And it is exactly in thesefirst moments when most speakers
feel the urge to fill the spaceas quickly as possible, that a
different approach becomesavailable, one that transforms

(03:26):
what feels awkward into thestrongest signal of all.
And this is where the silenttransformation technique comes
in.
In a simple adjustment thatreshapes both how you feel and
how you're seen.
At its core, it uses adeliberate pause before you
begin speaking.
What feels like awkward silenceto you comes across very

(03:48):
differently to your audience.
Rather than reading it ashesitation, they register
steadiness and control.
The pause becomes a small butpowerful shift that changes the
tone of the entire presentation.
Even brief moments of silencehelps your body reset.
And studies suggest that short,protective periods of quiet

(04:09):
reduce stress markers, steadythe breath, and improve focus.
Those first few seconds withoutrushing give your brain the
oxygen and space it needs tomove from a reactive, anxious
state into one of clarity andpresence.
Instead of starting in a panicmode, you start with composure.
To the audience, that samepause functions as a nonverbal

(04:33):
signal.
People tend to associatepurposeful silence with
confidence.
Because speakers know theirplace on stage, don't feel
pressured to spill wordsimmediately.
Presentation coaches oftenpoint out that pausing early
eliminates filler words and cutsoff the habit of racing
forward.
Research also finds thatspeakers who use pauses

(04:54):
strategically are perceived asmore articulate and thoughtful,
sometimes even more crediblethan those who rush through
without stopping.
The impression is not createdby the words themselves, but by
the deliberate control of spaceand timing.
Beyond perception, the pausecreates mental white space.
For you, it opens a moment tobreathe and anchor your

(05:17):
thoughts.
For your listeners, it offersroom to settle their attention
and prepare to absorb what comesnext.
In this way, silence works inboth directions, calming the
speaker and priming the audienceat the same time.
If you want to practice, startsmall.
A helpful rule is to pausebriefly after every short

(05:37):
phrase, about every five to tenwords.
Rehearse aloud so silencebecomes part of your rhythm
rather than you trying toremember in the moment.
Over time, this habit makes thefirst five seconds of silence
feel natural, not forced, and itstrengthens your delivery
throughout the presentation.

(05:58):
By now, you can see how thepause itself sets the stage.
But silence on its own is onlyhalf the picture.
What determines whether thosefirst seconds elevate you or
fall flat is what you choose tosay next.
Now comes the part that givesreal weight to your silence,
crafting your moment of impact.

(06:18):
A strong opening line is whatturns quiet attention into
active curiosity.
Too many presenters waste theirfirst breath on something
generic like today I'll betalking about.
The pause may have primed theaudience, but a bland start can
undo it just as quickly.
What works instead is an openerthat instantly signals

(06:40):
importance, stakes, orrelevance.
Research shows there are threereliable categories to draw from
when building that line.
First, the surprisingstatistic.
Something that challengesassumptions or reveals what's at
risk.
For example, every minute,forests the size of 40 football

(07:01):
fields disappears.
Second, the bold question,directly inviting the audience
to think with you.
Such as, what if the way youdefine productivity has been
wrong all along?
And third, is the short story.
Just one vivid line thatpersonalizes the theme.

(07:21):
Such as, last year, oneconversation completely reshaped
how I think about failure.
Each approach functions byclosing in on the unspoken
thought running througheveryone's mind.
Why should I care?
A helpful template fordesigning your own is simple.
Start with your hook,statistic, question, or story,

(07:43):
and tie it immediately to why itmatters for your audience.
This connection transforms aninteresting fact into something
with immediate relevance.
The opener doesn't need to bedramatic, but it does need to be
intentional.
The goal is to create justenough of a curiosity gap to
pull people in, while leavingthe direction open for the rest

(08:04):
of your message.
Your timing here matters aswell.
Instead of filling the silencetoo quickly, practice a clear
transition.
Pause.
Take a single slow breath, openyour gaze to the room, and then
deliver your first line.
This small routine sharpens theimpression of control and

(08:27):
builds a rhythm that helps bothyou and your audience settle
into the flow.
Coaches often emphasize thatthe beginning should be concise,
not rushed, and that you knowyour line well enough that it
feels automatic.
When the pause and the openerare aligned, they stop eating
separate techniques and mergeinto a clear signal of presence.

(08:48):
The silence prepares attention,and your first words give that
attention direction.
Done consistently, this movesyou beyond a nervous
introduction and into aconfident launch that gets the
whole room with you right fromthe start.
That's the shift to focus on asyou think about the space where
presence truly begins.
Those first few seconds aren'tempty space, they're your

(09:12):
opening tool.
By pausing before you speak,you replace rushed energy with
presence that makes every wordcount.
You now have a science-informedreasoning and a simple strategy
you can try, and the payoffcomes only when you put it into
practice.
So here's your challenge.
In your very next presentation,take a five-second pause,

(09:34):
deliver one rehearsed openingline, and then share your one
sentence result in the comments.
For daily practice, spend threeminutes rehearsing that same
line five times, each with apause in front.
That's all for today.
Remember, we're looking forprogress, not perfection.
Be sure to visitspeakingwithconfidence

(09:54):
podcast.com to get your freeebook, Top 21 Challenges for
Public Speakers, and How toOvercome Them.
You can also register for theFormer for Public Speaking
Group.
Always remember, your voiceshould be powered changeable.
We'll talk to you next time.
Take care.