First impressions

What do you notice first when you meet a new person?

‘You can’t
judge a book by its cover’

Consider the following questions and then fill in your best guess:
a. It takes ________ seconds to make a first impression.
b. It takes approximately _____ more meetings to change or undo a bad first impression.
c. _______% of our message is through our body language.
d. _______% of our message is through our tone.
e. _______% of our message is though our words.

ANSWER KEY:
a. It takes 30 seconds to make a first impression.
b. It takes approximately 20 more meetings to change or undo a bad first impression.
c. 55% of our message is through our body language.
d. 38% of our message is through our tone.
e. 7% of our message is through our words.

Name two situations where you have made
a positive first impression
How did you do this?
2. What was the impact of making
a positive first impression?
3. How did this make you feel?

Remember the acronym FRESH when greeting someone:
F – Friendly (smile)
R – Respectful
E – Engaged (eye contact)
S – Self-confident
H –Handshake (firm)

Name two situations where you have made
a negative first impression
How did you do this?
2. What was the impact of making
a negative first impression?
3. How did you feel?
4. What would you do differently
next time?

Elevator Speech
An “elevator speech” is a brief summary that you use to quickly describe yourself when you meet someone who could potentially become an important person in your life (a new friend, future employer, mentor, employment reference, etc.). The name of the speech comes from the idea that you should be able to deliver your summary in the time it takes for an elevator ride — not less than 30 seconds and not more than 2 minutes.