Instant rapport with the audience. They are smiling, leaning forward, ready to listen.

Fear stops people from public speaking. Everyone wants to be liked, but the pressure gets in the way. So we avoid it.

In a speech, presentation, webinar or even a casual conversation, we have just a few seconds to prove we are interesting and valuable. How can we capture our audience s attention immediately? By mastering our first 20 seconds.

We can forget about fancy tricks, jokes and manipulation. By using any of the three major openings in this book, we can confidently start our speeches and presentations without fear.

Our obligation is to get our audience to hear, believe, and want to be there. After that the rest is easy.

Mark Davis is a public speaking coach and keynote speaker for business conferences, in addition to conducting public speaking workshops. Tom "Big Al" Schreiter speaks to network marketing groups around the world.