Grab people’s attention

You can use a quote to grab your audience’s attention right at the start of your presentation.

Walk confidently to the lectern, place your notes down, look up and engage the audience with your eyes and a smile, then say your rehearsed quote:

‘The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.’ This is a quote by Albert Einstein, and today I am going to present…

Make a strong exit

A quote can also make a strong exit line, especially if you link it back to the beginning of your talk.

If you are showing PowerPoint slides, press the ‘b’ key on your keyboard to make the screen go black and turn the audience’s attention back to you.

You might also step out from behind the lectern. Pause and make eye contact with the audience.

I started this talk with a quote by Albert Einstein about creativity. Let me end with another of his gems: ‘To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science.’

Choosing who to quote

Famous people are not the only source of quotes.

Newspaper articles, your family, your friends and your colleagues are all sources of quotes that can engage your audience.

As Einstein also said: ‘Before God we are all equally wise – and equally foolish.’