Alright. I'm back, as promised, with renewed vigor for yesterday's lost post.

Creating Passionate Users is safely one of my favorite blogs of all time. And, while its focus rests predominately on web design and usability, it often addresses topics that apply to all areas of business.

Case in point: this week, CPU blogger Kathy Sierra wrote a stellar post about the importance of strong beginnings. Namely the beginnings of presentations, but I'll expand the definition of "presentations" to include small seminars, small group lunch-and-learns and sales calls.

Because, as Sierra points out, if you don't grab your audience from the first moment, your chances of recovery are slim to none; there are few phoenixes that rise from the proverbial presentation ashes.

And while it's really a disservice to paraphrase said post, I will leave you with a couple of Sierra's tips for strong beginnings:

Don't start at the beginning.

Start where the action begins, says Sierra.

"Advice for first-time novelists is often, 'Take the first chapter and throw it away. Chances are, chapter 2 is where it just starts to get interesting, so start THERE.'"

Show, don't tell.

"If you have to TELL your audience that they should care, you're screwed," says Sierra.

Amen and amen.

Don't waste time trying to prove your credibility.

This can be particularly painful for all involved parties, Sierra points out.

How many talks do you see where the speaker has multiple bullet points and slides just on their background? I did it once [...] and it did NOT go over well because:

A) Nobody cares
B) Bullet points do not equal credibility
C) Nobody cares
D) You already HAVE credibility going in... you don't have to earn it, you just have to make sure you don't lose it.
E) Nobody cares

Whether you've been invited to speak at a large event or to the HR folks at a small business, remember that you've already established your credibility—you wouldn't have been invited to speak otherwise. Your job is not to gain more credibility with the audience—your job is not to lose it.

Head over to Creating Passionate Users to check out the full post. Sierra includes a great list of ideas for beginnings that will both enlighten and inspire.

[Bonus aesthetic material]:

I had the extremely good fortune of attending the Future of Web Apps in San Francisco last month. And while the place was chocked full of tech geeks, I can tell you that nearly all of the presenters had mastered not only the beginning, middle, and end of their presentations, but they had also mastered the fine art of Power Point.

Take a look at Yahoo's Tom Coates to see how he used Power Point to enhance his presentation, to gently lead the audience along—not to drag it forcefully by elbow.

And, if you ask him really nicely, I bet James Omdahl of the InsureMe Affiliate Blog will share some of his speaking and Power Point tips. One speaking gig under his belt, and already a pro. :)

[UPDATE 10.25.2006]: My apologies to Internet Explorer users who got an ugly version of this post yesterday. That'll remind me to make sure the blog looks okay in various browsers before going home for the night. :) (Big thanks to April H. for letting me know things were askew!)