Introductions, Conclusions, and Transitions

Introductions, Conclusions, and Transitions

Once you have determined the organization of the body of your speech you are ready to work on the introduction, transitions, and the conclusion.

Introductions

There are 5 basic steps a speaker needs to accomplish in a good introduction:

1. Get the attention of the audience
2. Identify the topic
3. Give the audience a reason to listen
4. Establish the speaker's expertise
5. Preview the Speech

Click on the link for 6 techniques for writing attention-grabbing introductions by Saro Velragan

Saro Velrajan

http://saro-toastmasters.blogspot.com/2012/11/how-to-write-attention-grabbing-speech.html

Get the attention of the Audience.

The audience will first observe you as you walk up to the lectern; how you present yourself will make an impact on them. So, walk up confidently and then turn to face the audience and pause for a few seconds while looking around to see that you have their attention before you begin to speak. When I am grading speeches, I often write up notes after a speaker has finished and I am discombobulated when the next student begins speaking before they have my attention. Sometimes, if the audience is distracted, just standing in silence before them will get their attention.

When you have the attention of the audience they will listen to you without being distracted. Other noises, thoughts and feelings become unimportant to them for the time that you hold their attention. If you hold the attention of the audience throughout your speech, by the end of the speech the audience will not be aware of how much time has passed but will be aware of what you said and how you said it.

If you do not have the attention of the audience then you cannot achieve your goal. You cannot impact them or change them in any way and "you might as well save your breath to cool your porridge" as the saying goes. Some students think their goal is to "talk about a topic" but that does not require the attention of the audience and certainly makes no change in them.

How to get attention:

Novelty is a good way to get the attention of the audience. So, do not say, "Hello, my name is...." That is not a new way to begin your speech.

Tell the audience something that will surprise, shock, or amuse them. Begin your speech with information that the audience does not know. Make it short and to the point. Tell a humorous story. Reveal statistics to the audience which are compelling or even shocking.

Use a visual aid to get attention. Be sure to explain the visual and refer to it while opening.

Use a quotation from someone famous that the audience knows or a quote that has an engaging message.

Tell an amusing story. Many speakers begin their speeches with a joke or humorous story. This works best if the story or joke relates clearly to the topic of the speech or the occasion for the speech. Self-deprecating humor or jokes that may insult or offend anyone are obviously inappropriate.

Use an illustration or a story about your topic.

Disclose personal information that relates to your topic and your audience. This could be very helpful when doing a eulogy or toast where you want to establish a relationship between you and the person you are speaking about.

CONSIDERATIONS

Watch out for openings that might fail to launch. If you begin with a question, you must consider if the audience answers the question and gives you an answer you were not expecting. That might mean your whole speech is irrelevant. What if you expect them to answer the question and they don't? Consider this while crafting your introduction.

If you ask the audience to close their eyes and imagine something, they may lose focus. You don't want them to close their eyes, you want them to keep looking at you. If they close their eyes then you have lost their attention. If you want the audience to picture something you describe, such as an ideal world, they can do that with their eyes open.

Finally, watch out for jokes or humor that fails to launch. Each audience is different, so consider how you will handle scenarios where audiences do not respond well to your attention grabbers.

Identify your topic

You might actually identify your topic in your attention getter or you may need to tell the audience what you will be speaking about.

Sometimes you will state your thesis statement directly so that the audience will know exactly what you hope to accomplish with your presentation.

The audience needs to know what you plan to speak to them about and the easiest way is to identify your thesis statement clearly early in your introduction.

In order to be able to clarify your topic for your audience you need to be very clear and specific in your goal and thesis statement as you prepare the speech.

Check that you have focused the specific purpose of the speech so that you will be able to make it interesting and engaging for the audience in the time you have available.

Keep the focus on the audience and you will be able to adapt the topic to their needs and interests.

IMPORTANT: Do not say "My topic is...." or "I'm here to tell you about.." or "My speech is about...."

Instead, frame your topic in terms of your thesis: It is essential for all students to enroll in a public speaking course.

Give your audience a reason to listen

You may identify your topic at the same time as you identify for the audience how they will benefit from listening to your presentation.

It is vital that you know how your presentation will benefit the audience before you put your speech together and that you are able to communicate that to the audience.

The audience needs to be motivated to listen to you so that you can hold their attention and accomplish the goals you have for your speech.

Establish the expertise of the speaker

The introduction of the speech is an important place for the speaker to establish his/her credibility with the audience. Identifying what makes you an expert on the topic will go a long way to getting the audience to believe what you are going to say. Remember, if you know more about your topic than your audience, you the expert in the room. Your interest in a topic for years, months, or even a few weeks and the research you have completed on a topic can go a long way to establishing that you know what you are speaking about. The audience wants to believe you, so this will help them to do that. (Of course you have to continue to work on establishing credibility throughout your speech by identifying the sources of your information or supporting your points logically.)

When you identify for the audience why you are competent to speak on this topic they can relax and feel better about trusting you and believing you. Sometimes, when the audience is already familiar with your expertise in a particular area all you need to do is to remind them briefly but for a different audience it may be necessary to explain how you gained the knowledge and experience you have with the topic. Keep it brief but make sure that you make clear that you know what you are talking about.

Preview the main points of the speech

The old adage about public speaking is: "Tell them what you will tell them. Tell them. And then tell them what you told them."

Your goal is to continue to hold the attention of the audience throughout your speech.

You will be better able to do this if your audience knows where you are heading with your speech.

So, when you tell them what your main points will be they will be able to follow along with you as they listen and will know what you are still going to discuss before you complete the speech.

It is so much easier for your audience to pay attention to your speech if you identify the main points you will be discussing. It is like giving them a map to follow along with.

Example: During this speech, I will be discussing the need to enroll in a public speaking course, how to enroll, and the benefits of taking public speaking.

Note: After your introduction and before the body of your speech (the first main point) you should use a transitional statement (more about transitions are listed below). For example: "First, I'll be addressing the need for students to gain public speaking skills for the workforce." This statement will go between the preview of points and the first main point.

More information about transitions is listed below (after conclusions).