The first rule of breaking the ice is to involve the audience. Whether we are presenting a keynote or a workshop, the more we can get participation from the members of our audience, the more attention we will receive for the rest of our presentation.

If we can get them involved the minute they walk into the room we'll already have a jumpstart. One way to accomplish this is to have a puzzle and/or questions for them to consider while waiting for us to begin. I hand it out or have it up on the screen and tell them that it is fine to work with anyone else on the answers. Usually, I create a sheet of questions and/or a fun puzzle that relates to the day's subject.

If the group has been doing a great deal of sitting already, get them physically involved. Being a fitness instructor, I have lots of spunky tapes. I will often start a presentation on creativity with music and asking everyone to stand up, breathe deeply and stretch. Then I will say something like, "All right. Now we are going to stretch our minds and creativity, because when the mind is stretched by a new idea, it never returns to its original state."

Well designed questions will also get your audience involved. The two questions that are effective and also help you the presenter -- as suggested by Bob Pike, training guru -- are as follows. Supposing your topic is time management, you would ask, "What happens when people don't handle our management of time well?" and "What happens when we handle our management of time well?" Ask for the answers, and, if time permits, have someone record them on a flip chart. The first will list the problems that need to be addressed and the second will list the benefits that will be gained by listening to your presentation.

We can also make use of snappy introductions. If it is a small group, I will often have members stand up - one at a time - say their name, tell us what they did as a profession yesterday (this will actually be their profession) and what career they have today (which can be completely "off-the-wall." They can be a movie star, an astronaut, an Olympic athlete - you get the idea). If the group is large, have members of the audience turn to the person next to them and do the same thing, or you can give them other questions to pose to each other.

The reasons for doing this breaks the ice for the group (even if they already know each other) because it will get them interacting and laughing, so that when you bring them back to the presentation, they are relaxed and open, rather than thinking, "Oh, now I have to sit through another speech." The one warning here is to have a way to regain control. I use a drum, a bell, or another musical instrument to pull back the attention of the participants.