GET TO WORK ON THE FIRST DAY. E. Frank Stephenson starts introductory economics.

I start--even before the blah blah of the syllabus--with a trading exercise. Each student receives a small item such as a small item such as a tube of toothpaste or a bad of chips. I try to include a few items that might have a giggle factor or a yuck factor--a can of dip, a bottle of nail polish (given to a male student), or a can of Spam. Students can then exchange items with other students. I find the exercise lets me cover lots of ground--voluntary exchange, subjective value, trade-offs/opportunity cost--and to do so in a way that serves as a light-hearted ice breaker for the semester.

In the comments, Steven Horwitz suggests that the course outline and other administrative stuff can wait.

I should note that the general idea Frank and I are on to is great pedagogy in any class: start class with a discussion of the most important, sexiest, most counter-intuitive ideas you can muster and send the message to students that this class is about ideas and learning, not how many papers or exams they'll take or what the attendance policy is. It's IDEAS first and foremost. Not even discussing the syllabus until the second day of class reinforces that message even more powerfully.

There's a Council for Economic Education lesson plan for that trading activity in one of its publications (those are at my office, not at Cold Spring Shops headquarters.)