When I am directing a play, it takes forever to get the first two pages of the script right. Despite the fact that I’ve spent months with the play, and the actors and I have taken several days to read and discuss it, getting the opening minutes just the way I want them requires a lot of trial and error.
The reason it takes so much focused work is that the first scene is setting up everything that comes later. It’s teaching the audience what to expect from this particular play. As a theatre teacher of mine once said, the first scene is where you define the terms of the play.
We can apply this idea to our presentations, speeches, and even conversations. The first sentences you speak clue the listener in. What should they expect? If you are setting up an interactive presentation and you want people to feel free to ask questions, you need to establish that immediately. If you are giving someone bad news, you don’t want to start with a big smile and a chat about the weather.
“Begin as you mean to go on.” When you are opening the interaction, whether it’s a speech, a play, or a conversation, you typically have more information about where this is going than the listener does.
So think carefully about how to craft your beginning, your “first scene,” to invite your audience in.
