Cold Open

13 Jul Cold Open

We were watching the 2022 Netflix series The Resident. The third episode in Season #1 really grabbed us. It featured a cold open, and jump-started the narrative with no preamble, wind up or voice-over exposition. A cold open can be dramatic, humorous, or mysterious. It piques the audience’s interest, and hints at the central conflict or theme of the story. Note. This is a technique we recommend to our clients for their verbal presentations.

In The Resident, the series’ lead physician Conrad is a guest speaker at his patient Micah (the teacher’s) school. Conrad begins with a childhood story about witnessing an accident and seeing a female doctor run from her car to save the victim’s life. It was a great cold opening, but the screenwriters raised the stakes as Micah surprisingly suffers a heart attack. The students then witness a doctor saving a person’s life right in front of them.

Your openings might not be as dramatic but test out this technique and open your next presentation with something unexpected and tied to the central idea. Cold opens can warm up an audience in a heartbeat.