How can I connect the audience with my message? — that was my challenge at TEDx. And a challenge that every presenter faces. Your talk needs to hook the audience in the opening seconds. It must give them just enough context to follow the journey you’re about to take them on and prime them to receive your big idea.

When the audience shares your experiences and perspective, this is easier to do. But sometimes you have almost nothing in common with them. They’re on the other side of an intellectual Grand Canyon — and you must build a bridge to reach them.

My talk at TEDx KU Leuven was about leading through the first moments of a crisis, so I told the story of a surprise attack during combat operations in Iraq in 2008. My audience? Hundreds of Belgian university students, half my age, with little understanding of the military.

Most were just entering their careers, with little to no experience in leadership or managing organizational crises. My talk was directed at a problem they had yet to face. So before I could share insights on crisis leadership, I had to help them visualize what their own future crisis might look like. I needed to build a bridge from my crisis to theirs.