I'm actually talking about the first words, the first sentences of a presentation.

我其實是在講第一演講開頭的幾個文字、前幾句話。

What most people do is they think of a presentation, so, automatically, you think about a PowerPoint.

多數的人想到演講時，就會自動想到 PPT 簡報。

So, you make your slides, you look at your slides, and you think about, "What will I say showing each slide."

所以你會製作投影片、看著那些投影片，然後設想：「我展示每一張投影片時會講什麼」。

But my question to you is this:

但我要問你的問題是：

What are your first words?

你講的前幾個字是什麼？

What are the first sentences⏤very few people think about that.

你開頭幾句話是什麼？很少有人會想到這一點。

Just think a minute about the presentations that you have already seen in the past, maybe the presentations that you have done yourself.

只要稍微回想一下你已經聽過的演講，或許是你自己過去做過的演講。

There is a cliché sentence that most speakers use to introduce their topic.

其中有一個多數講者會用來介紹主題的老套句子。

They say something like, "Good morning, good afternoon, my name is⏤if they don't know you."

他們會說：「早安、午安，我的名字是⋯⋯（如果他們不認識你的話）。」

And then there is this typical sentence, "Today I'm going to talk to you about...."

然後就會有一個典型的句子：「我今天要跟各位分享⋯⋯」

Now, you might say, "So, what's the problem?"

那你可能會說：「所以問題出在哪裡呢？」

The problem with this sentence is that you're actually answering the wrong question; you're answering the "what" question.

這個句子的問題在於，你其實回答了錯誤的問題，你回答了 what 的問題。

What are you going to do?

你要做什麼？

I'm going to talk about....

我要討論的是⋯⋯

If you think about it, most audiences know what you're going to talk about.

如果你想一想，多數聽眾都已經知道你要講什麼。

Either you are introduced or there is a program or there is a meeting so there is an agenda, so people know what your topic is all about.

或許你已經被介紹了，或者有這節目表或會議議程，所以大家都知道你的主題與什麼有關。

The most interesting question to answer is the "why" question.

應該給予答案、最有意思的是 why 的問題。

Why are you there to talk about this topic, and even more importantly, why is it important for the audience to listen to you?

你為什麼要在那裡談論這個話題，更重要的是，為什麼聽眾聽到它是很重要的？

So, my advice for you is to focus on the "why" question.

所以我給大家的建議是，專注於 why 問題。

Now, how can you do that?

那你可以怎麼做到這一點？

I advise people to focus on a story to begin their presentation.

我建議人們選定一個故事作為演講開頭。

Now, if you think about stories, stories begin with a time frame.

你現在如果思考故事這個東西，它的開始會有一個時間框架。

Just look at fairytales, they start with "Once upon a time...."

看童話故事就知道了，它們的開頭都是「很久很有以前⋯⋯」。

I'm not going to suggest that you start your professional presentation with "Once upon a time...", but you can start with a time frame.

我不會建議你在專業演講時以「很久很有以前⋯⋯」開頭，但你可以利用時間框架開始。

Something like, "Yesterday...", "Two weeks ago...", "Last year...", "Three months ago..."

像是「昨天⋯⋯」、「兩週前⋯⋯」、「去年⋯⋯」、「三個月前⋯⋯」。

Now, what's the kind of story that you can share then?

那麼，你可以分享的是什麼樣個故事？

Use real stories; it has to be something that happened to you.

利用真實的故事，它必須是曾經發生在你身上的事。

It has to be something that you heard.

它必須是你聽說過的事情。

So, you can refer to, um, a conversation you had with, um, a colleague.

所以說，你可以引用和同事之間的對話。

You can say something like, "Yesterday I had a conversation with..."

你可以說：「我昨天跟⋯⋯有過一個對話」。

But then there has to be a reason why you referred to that conversation.

但接著必須提出你引用那場對話的原因。

And there is this linking sentence that I use in lots of presentations.

有一個我在很多演講當中常用的連結句。

I tell my story, and then I continue saying, "Now, why do I tell you this?"

我會說出我的故事，然後繼續說：「那麼，我為什麼要告訴你這件事？」

"Because my objective, or my goal, with this presentation is to..."

「因為我這場演講的目標或是目的是要⋯⋯」。

So, what you can do is be very conscious of the... the company's stories, I might say.

所以我可能會說，你可以做的事情是，要對於公司的品牌故事很有意識。

It can be something that happened with a customer, it can be, um, an article you read,

它可能是與客戶之間發生的狀況、可以是你讀過的一篇文章、

it can be something that you... you heard about, it can be a conversation you had.

可以是你聽說過的事情、你有過的對話。

So, use these stories to begin your presentation, link them through to your goal, and it will be so much more interesting for your audience,

所以說，用這些故事為演講開頭，把它們連結到你的目標，那對於聽眾就會更有意思了。

because it will be crystal clear for them from the very first minute why it is important to them.

因為他們在聆聽的一開始，就能夠很清楚地知道演講對他們重要的原因。

So, next time you prepare your presentation, focus on that "why" question and tell them a story.

所以在你下次準備演講時，專注於 why 的問題並告訴觀眾一個故事。