Introductions and Conclusions

An effective presentation prepares and motivates the audience to listen, provides smooth links between ideas, and ends by providing psychological closure. The following section will offer tips on creating strategic introductions and conclusions for business presentations.

Introductions

The audience forms its first impressions of the speaker quickly. In fact, Gibbons’ (2019) found that people form an impression within the first seven seconds of meeting someone. How can we use that brief amount of time to engage and connect with the listener, command the room, and build interest in the topic?

First impressions impact the audience, and the introduction of a speech helps to set the tone of the presentation. A four stage introduction can help you accomplish these goals. An effective introduction should include: an Attention-Getter, Statement of Credibility, Motivation to Listen, and a Preview of Main Points/Thesis Statement. Each of these is discussed in further detail below. Even though the introduction is the first part in the presentation, best practices suggest waiting to develop it after researching and outlining the body of the speech. When you have completed the research and outline you have a complete sense of your material, making the development of the introduction much easier.

• Attention-Getter: A speech should begin by capturing the audience's attention. The speaker wants to motivate the audience to listen to the speech.

• Credibility Statement: Explain to the audience what qualifies you as an expert on the topic. Give them reasons to trust you and your reasons for speaking.

• Motivate the Audience to Listen: Audience members may be asking themselves, "What's in it for me?" Here we create relevance by relating our topic to the audience and creating a clear connection between the topic, interests, and needs of the listeners.

• Preview Main Points/Thesis Statement: In this final step of the introduction, provide the audience with an auditory road map of the main points covered in the speech.

Getting the Audience’s Attention

There are effective methods for gaining the audience’s attention at the start of your speech. When considering the choices below, you should always determine what is best for your topic, your audience, and for you as the speaker.

• Response Question: When we use a response question, we make it exceptionally clear that we want the audience to respond. For example, "Raise your hand if you are currently registered to vote."

• Rhetorical Question: A rhetorical question is used to create a dramatic effect or make a point rather than generate an answer from the audience. When using a rhetorical question, make it extremely clear that you want the audience to reflect, rather than act by answering aloud. For example, "How much time would you imagine you spend looking at a screen each day?”

• Startling Statistic: Unexpected statistical information startles the audience, and they will usually want to hear more about the topic. For example, “According to DataReportal (2022), the average American spends 7 hours and 4 minutes looking at a screen every day.”

• Quotation: Some speakers locate quotes that are situated precisely within the speech topic. Other speakers use general quotes to create curiosity. An Internet search can help you locate appropriate quotations. For example, "General George S. Patton once said, ‘A leader is a man who can adapt principles to circumstances’”. (Remember to provide a source citation for the quote in the list of references on your outline).

• “What If” Statement: Inviting the audience on a hypothetical journey breaks them from preconceived notions of the topic to picture the speaker’s view of the world. For example, "What if every city in America had a network of community gardens." We are not asking the audience to fund community gardens or plant a garden. We are only requesting the audience to consider the possibility. Then we might say, "If every city had a robust community garden infrastructure, food insecurity for our nation's cities could be solved."

• Hypothetical Scenario: Inviting the audience to picture an outlandish hypothetical scenario generates listener interest because we actively allow them to participate privately with their imagination. Each person's silent response to the hypothetical scenario will be different. For example, "Imagine that someone knocked on your front door and left a package with 5 million dollars cash? After you contacted the authorities and confirmed you could keep the money, what would you do with your newfound wealth?" Each listener would likely have a different answer. Of course, the chances of someone leaving 5 million dollars on anyone's front doorstep are far-fetched; but using hypothetical examples gives us freedom and flexibility to introduce our topic. This hypothetical scenario could introduce a topic on personal investing.

• Extended Narrative: Extended narratives are detailed and should be vivid and authentic. These longer stories may come from research or personal experience. Long stories provide detail and enable our audience to imagine hidden aspects of a problem they were unaware of or had not previously considered. Extended narratives also enable our audience to visualize solutions to a problem in detail. For example, if you were delivering a speech on school uniforms to the school board you might share a true story about a student who became valedictorian when bullying stopped due to implementation of a school uniform policy. Providing a detailed explanation through a story allows the listener to experience the depth of the problem through one person’s eyes.

• Connected Short Narratives: Another tool to gain attention in the introduction is to demonstrate the breadth of the topic by connecting a few short stories that evoke the audience's imagination. Knitting together three short stories can be equally powerful as one detailed narrative.

• Personal Reference: Engaging speakers create interest by sharing experiences. For this reason, attention-getters drawn from personal backgrounds are highly effective. Suppose you are presenting a speech on obesity. Instead of simply stating you suffered health problems as a result of weight gain and then participated in the employee wellness program, you might instead create a vivid word picture that brings the audience through your health journey.

• Historical Reference: Referencing a historical event related to the speech topic creates interest because it allows the audience to recollect similar experiences, creating a bond between speaker and audience. Recalling a historical occurrence is most effective if the audience lived through the incident or recognizes the significance enough for them to understand how those circumstances relate to the topic. However, if there is no shared knowledge, the tactic will be ineffective. So, it is important to be aware of generational gaps.

• Reference to Current Events: The challenge of referencing current events is assuming the audience is aware and not offending them. Be mindful of individual audience members’ attitudes, affiliations, and potential biases.

• Reference to the Audience: An effective way to make the topic relevant to the listeners is to directly reference the audience in the opener. For example, “As college undergraduates, you and I understand the significance of digital technology for our academic success. We also all know how frustrating it can be when our laptop crashes or we cannot get a Wi-Fi signal. In today’s higher education classroom, all students need access to computers and reliable high-speed internet to succeed in their courses.”

Statement of Credibility: Credibility is the quality of being trusted and believed. The audience may have questions about a speaker’s experience with the topic and the research conducted on the background of the subject matter. Here are some tips to help establish credibility in the introduction:

• Personal Knowledge. When you have direct knowledge and experience with your topic, it is important to share this with the audience to establish why you are particularly qualified to speak on the topic. For example, a nurse giving a medical presentation might bring up their education and experience working directly with patients in a healthcare setting.

• Borrow Credibility. Speakers can also draw from experts in the field through interviews and research. For example, “ I have spent several hours researching the impact of harassment on employees in the workplace and would like to share my findings with you today.”

Motivate Audience to Listen: It is essential to understand audience demographics, which we use to make the speech relevant to the audience. Furthermore, speakers can use "we language" to demonstrate the importance of the topic to the audience. Once listeners understand a speaker has their best interests in mind, they will be more willing to listen. You should convince the audience in this step to the introduction that listening to the speech will directly benefit their needs and interests. For example, "All of us have experienced the impact of COVID-19. Some of us have lost family members, some of us have lost our jobs, and most of us spent countless hours on lockdown when the pandemic first emerged."

We have captured our audience’s attention, stated our credibility, and connected our speech to the audience. Now we want to provide a concise and direct verbal “road map” of where we are heading in the speech.

Preview Main Points/Thesis Statement: Previewing the main points signals the flow of the content of the speech. Unlike written documents where the reader can easily flip through pages or scroll up and down a screen, a speech is dynamic. So, a speaker must signal to the audience where they are going with their message. Previewing main points is essential so the audience knows what to expect and does not become lost during the presentation. Previewing the speech also builds redundancy for the audience. The video below provides further advice for creating a “Killer Intro.”

Developing the Conclusion

In the conclusion, the speaker begins with a cue for the audience that the speech is wrapping up, then reviews the main points covered, and ends by providing psychological closure using strategies for a memorable finish.

Cue audience: Effective strategies include simply saying, “To conclude …”, “In conclusion …”, or “I'd like to finish this presentation with …” to signal to the audience that the speech is coming to a close.

Review Main Points: Review the main points by mirroring the preview of the main points from the introduction. For example, “In today's speech I discussed the causes, symptoms, and common remedies for poor work-life balance.”

Memorable Closing: There are many strategies to provide psychological closure and leave a lasting impression of your speech.

• Bookend: Wrap-up the conclusion by drawing upon the attention-getter used in the opening. Whether we use a hypothetical scenario, extended narrative, connected short narratives, or a personal reference, provide closure from the hook to satisfy the audience's need for resolution. This concluding strategy is especially effective in persuasive speeches. For example, “Remember that student I told you about at the beginning of this presentation? Well, that kid in 3rd grade was me. Moreover, after years of being bullied, I discovered that I gained confidence and made new friends after the school implemented its uniform policy. I graduated in the top 3% of my high school class with that newfound confidence. That is why I would encourage you to support a new uniform policy for the district.”

Likewise, if the scenario or story in the introduction was optimistic, twist the conclusion to give a pessimistic vision of reality without the solution. You might also begin with an adverse story in the introduction, and then show a positive outcome resulting from the implementation of your proposed solution.

• Personal Challenge: Be specific about what the audience should do with the information provided in the speech. For instance, if you advocate voting for a specific candidate, provide listeners with voting locations and dates, as well as where they can find additional information on the candidate online. If you speak about improved workplace wellness, provide a handout with resources so the audience can embark on a new health plan. The more specific the information you provide, the more likely your audience will be to accept the challenge and take action.

• Closing Quote: Offer a well-known quotation related to your topic as a memorable takeaway.

In this chapter, we explored techniques for creating engaging, relevant presentations. We began by examining purpose and thesis statements. Then, we explored organizational patterns for informative, persuasive, and special occasion speeches, and using signposts, transitions, and internal summaries to create flow for the listener. Understanding these points in the development process will help you design and deliver dynamic presentations that connect with your intended audience.