Give a "shocking statistic" I find the shocking statistic to be the most difficult to pull off effectively, because it's hard to come up with statistics that can really move your audience. People are jaded, and a statistic like, "One in six 10th graders smokes pot" will just make their eyes glaze over. In the second ad, this one from a TV commercial showing When we talk about strong openings for a presentation, we are usually referring to the following methods to get the audience emotionally or physically involved with your presentation right from the beginning: 1.