"All the better to see you with...", and more thoughts on openings

I was at a workshop 3 years ago with Lena Endre and learnt some wonderful useful things about stage presence and controlling nerves, and this story was just one of the memorable parts.

Ingmar Bergman was to give a lecture to a large lecture theater full of students. The room was packed to bursting and everyone eagerly awaited his entry. Finally he came in, walked slowly around to the front of the long table that lecturers normally shelter behind, and sat himself up on it with legs dangling. Said not a word. He looked around the whole room slowly and finally, after a long silence, he pointed to a person far back in the right hand corner of the room and asked if they could please move a little to their left as they were not so easy to see from the front. Then he started his lecture.

Can you imagine what it felt like to be in that lecture theater? Think about it a moment. You KNOW that he can see you and that he is aware of you. No-one is invisible or anonymous. Many people experience that they are invisible to the majority of speakers because the speaker shows no signs of seeing them. They can do what they like, sitting in the audience; write SMSs, sleep, look out the window. There are several ways to ensure the audience's attention, but without at least eye contact you won't get anywhere. And not just any kind of eye contact will work. But that's another subject.
So, along with all the other things that will give you the best chance of being listened to, there's one simple thing in this story that is particularly powerful. That is, silence! When you go to the front of the room to start a talk, don't start speaking until you've got to where you're going to stand. Face the audience and count off a few seconds. Wait for silence and attention. Think self confidence and stand there like you expect their full attention, not like you're preparing to run for it any moment! As a speaker, you have an automatic mandate at the very beginning of a talk, a power and control that you can very easily throw away. So use it, at least for a moment or two.