I recently changed what I’m doing online.

Instead of blogging big general ideas, I decided to get laser-focused. I started writing ideas exclusively for writers, speakers, entrepreneurs and fitness fans.

In the middle of that, I got an email from a guy name Garth. Here’s what it said:

Garth rewrote his speech after reading one of the ideas I shared and it absolutely crushed.

That’s awesome, but I still must warn you.

If you start reading these ideas, you’ll need to change. You’ll need to finish that book you’ve always wanted to write. You’ll have to edit your speech. You’ll have to get off the couch and into the gym. You’ll have to learn how to promote your business.

If any of those things make you nervous, don’t sign up for anything I do. But, if you feel differently, here’s your invite:

To write better books and sell more of them, sign up here.

To give better speeches, sign up here.

To have more fun and make more money with your small business, sign up here.

To get in better shape and eat healthier, sign up here.

Each list is ultimately about change.

Our lives are constantly changing, that’s not the question. The question is “Will we be part of it or will we fight it?”

Sign up for the list that works best for you. That’s all you have to do today. But soon, you’re going to send me an email like the one above.

I can’t wait to read it!

There’s a very common, very fixable mistake that a lot of speakers make. It’s something that particularly plagues pastors.

The problem is not something I came up with. I first read about it in a book called “Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln” by James C. Humes. It’s such a grievous error that he spends an entire chapter of the book on it. What is this problem?

The weak open.

Or more specifically, wasting the most important minute of your speech.

A speech has two critical minutes, the first one and the last one. What happens in between is certainly important but it’s nothing like what happens when you open and close a speech. It is in those moments that you have the greatest opportunity to reach your audience.

On the front end, this is the moment you first capture their attention. On the back end, this is the moment you send them home with something memorable.

Lots of speakers waste their first minute by doing one or all of the following:

1. Introducing themselves.
2. Expressing their gratitude at the opportunity to speak.
3. Commenting about how great the event is.
4. Specifically thanking the person who just introduced them.

Pastors, however, have added a new twist on these wasted moments. Now, if they have more than one campus watching via video, they feel the need to say hello to all the audiences.

“Hello Springfield, hello friends in Mission Hill, special greetings to anyone watching online, shoutout if you are watching a recording of this on a data chip after the zombie invasion, etc.”

I attend a video campus and I have never once thought, “Thank goodness that pastor acknowledged I’m here.”)

Why shouldn’t you introduce yourself or say thank you in the first minute? Well, for starters, you will most likely have already been introduced. In 99% of the speaking engagements I do, someone introduces me. Why should I repeat what the audience has just been told?

More than that though, it’s a waste of a powerful moment, that moment where everyone in the audience is waiting to see where you’ll take them. It’s an awesome moment, packed with anticipation and hope.

Imagine if a movie or a concert started with an introduction or a hello to everyone who might one day see it. “We’re U2 and we are from Ireland. We usually start with an amazing song. Today though, we want to tell you how thankful we are to play music for you here in Cleveland. This is such a great arena and we’re so glad that the opening band played some songs for you guys. We also want to say hi to everyone who is watching the livestream of this.”

Boooooooo.

What a boring concert.

Instead, what does U2 do? Instead what does the movie theater do? They dim the lights. They widen the screen. They launch you into a huge moment, full of excitement and joy and emotion! They set the stage for something amazing to happen.

How do you do that, especially if your speech or sermon isn’t loud and dramatic like a rock show? Read this.

That’s not to say you can’t greet other campuses or thank the event host. You can do all of those things. Just do them where the author Humes recommends, in the middle of the speech.

Don’t waste your opening minute.

It matters too much.

P.S. I’m writing a book on public speaking and giving it away week by week for free. This is one of the chapters. To get the rest, sign up here.