I am pacing. In the dark, I can barely make out the stage manager and his assistant hunching over a monitor, intently watching the speaker on stage.

My hands sweat. I repeat lines in my head, over and over. Candice, the speaker manager, walks over. “Are you OK?” she whispers. I put my hand on my heart. She reaches out, folds both of my hands in hers. We breathe together. One minute, two minutes, three. My heart rate slows–a bit. Then: applause. The emcee walks on stage. It is my cue. 

I walk through the heavy curtains. In the middle of the red circle, I plant my feet. Once again, my heart pounds. I turn and look into the audience, take a deep breath. They are waiting for me to speak. “There are so many untold stories in America,” I say.

And that’s when I feel it. Electricity, like translucent fiber-optic threads, humming between every one of the 250 people in the audience and me. For the next 13 minutes, I know, then, that they are mine.

It took 12 seconds. Just a pause, a breath, and one sentence to create that humming, alive, warm bond between us. 

It doesn’t matter whether you speak on stage, behind a mic, or on paper: That’s all you have: Seconds, maybe a minute, to capture the interest of your audience. Otherwise, they drop away, find something else in this clamorous world to give their attention to.

And that’s a problem.

Because when we lose the audience in those first 30 seconds, it is a treacherous climb up a rocky slope to get them back.

Sometimes you can, but often, it’s already too late. And then all of the work you have done, sometimes for months or even years, is wasted. They won’t hear you. And that’s what we want and need, of course: to create relationships with our listeners, our viewers, and our readers. 

My job is to help hosts and producers create an unbreakable bond with their audiences, and that starts with those first few seconds.

I wanted to know how the very best podcast hosts do this consistently—not just with one speech, but with every episode. So I examined the conversations I’ve had with top podcasts hosts in the first season of Sound Judgment, which unpacks how they make their magic.

I looked deeply at the practices of three hosts—two of narrative shows, one of a hit conversation program. Despite the stark differences between their podcasts, they all employ the same four  principles in their “ledes” — their intros.

• Surprise the listener

• Spark their curiosity

• Start in the middle of a scene

• Know your destination and purpose

In “A Love Story,” from Lemonada Media’s Last Day, a moving, intimate tale of a couple who lost their son to suicide, Stephanie Wittels Wachs starts with a raucous, exciting scene where she and her producers were learning to shoot guns on a shooting range.

In “Paging Dr. Barnes,” the sensational story of a con man who pretended to be a doctor for decades, Emma Courtland of Gimlet’s Crime Show brings us to a baseball stadium, where the con man’s son lovingly recalls his father bringing him to his very first game, as a toddler.

In What Should I Read Next? host Anne Bogel tells the audience what she hopes they will do together for the next hour, and invites them to join her on the journey to satisfy the curiosity she has sparked. 

To hear these scenes and learn more about why they work, along with more exploration of the four principles, listen to the latest episode of Sound Judgment: How to Hook Your Listener in 30 Seconds or Less. 

I was both lucky and prepared that day, a few years ago when I did a TEDx talk on the Tulsa Race Massacre. The audience did, indeed, stay with me, every second of the rest of that talk, and I felt that magical connection through every twist and turn in my tale. We were so inside that story that when I reached the turning point—sharing a painful truth from my son—I struggled to hold back tears.

At the end, they stood to applaud. Again, my hand went to my heart, this time with a wave of emotion, not nerves.

If your show isn’t growing, this might be why.

Want to make sure you’re using all of your strengths to your advantage to capture the attention of new listeners and keep them with you? Give yourself the gift of a 45-minute Hook-Your-Listener Audit. Like me, your heart rate will settle down, you’ll feel more confident, you’ll enjoy the loving attention of the listeners you’re trying to reach, and you’ll grow your show.

Our elves have been working hard to create these packages for you, and there aren’t many left. And it’s an affordable investment for the tremendous transformation you’ll experience: the Hook-Your-Listener Audit is only $149 through January 15!

After that, our hard-working elves must take time off, and we have to pay for their vacations, so the price will go up to $300. For more information, click here.