Over the years of his teaching career, Coursey has developed a number of guidelines he has found successful in his classroom. You can start hard and go soft, but cannot start soft and go hard. This applies to the difficulty of the class and the ambiance of the classroom. Take the high ground early both in terms of expectation about subject matter and in terms of classroom etiquette. Often, the use of notes makes material that is nonlinear in difficulty seem linear.
Pictures say a lot.
There will always be times when you are boring people. Everyone should have something to look at and think about during those times. In a random group of 25 or more students, you can statistically discover all of these types, and you will need them all. Find them and use them. If lacking, supply the missing elements.