Make sure your audience is ready to receive your message.
There are two key steps to take in the first minute to ensure you start the conversation well.
- Step #1: Time check: This sets expectations for how much time you need.
- Step #2: Validation checkpoint: This step clarifies if your audience can talk now.
Once we have someone’s attention, we tend to launch into our topic and don’t keep track of the time we are taking.
It is easy to start a conversation with the false assumption that you are speaking to the right person.
When this happens, you become stuck in a conversation that isn’t valuable for you or the person asking you for help.
