Use the 5-Minute Rule for Engaging Online Events

“YES to The First Five Minutes!” was all John Chen, a masterful virtual event speaker and producer, said in an email. But I knew exactly what he meant.

John was referring to last week’s post in which I dissected the first five minutes of an online event to create radically engaging events—every time!

John’s quick words of wisdom got me thinking more about the first five minutes. Why are they so critical? Here’s why we need to pay so much attention to that short but crucial time frame:

Earning Permission

People’s time is super valuable, so every time we interact, we earn their permission to interact just a bit more. The first 30 seconds can earn us permission to give the online event another 2 minutes, and those 2 minutes, done well, earn us permission to provide the next 5 minutes. After an incredible 5 minutes, we might have earned permission to give the whole 60 minutes.

Answering the Questions Not Asked

Anytime people convene, they have questions. These are questions they might not even be conscious of. They are likely not asking you these questions, but they have questions nevertheless. Questions like:

• Is this a listen-only situation, or can I also share my insights?

• Will I be able to multi-task, or should I give my full attention?

• Who will I be learning from, the speaker or the other attendees?

The first five minutes set the tone and answer these questions so attendees know whether to lean in and be actively engaged or pull back and passively listen.

Priming with First Impressions

There’s a whole lot of scientific research about how first impressions work in our brains. After reading what feels like a metric ton of these research reports, I sum them up like this:

Judgements based on our first impressions form very quickly, last a longtime, are nearly unchangable, and influence decisions later on.

In other words, our brains rely on our split-second judgments based on our first impressions as an efficient (but maybe not accurate) shortcut for future decision-making. So when we get that first five minutes right, people are likelier to say, “That was an amazing webinar/online event/ virtual meeting!”

Make the first few minutes great; your participants will likely love the event!