Communications

Mrs. Decker

Presentations: Intros

Introductions: Should secure audience attention and interest, orient listeners to the plan and content of the speech, and set expectations.

Do

  • Get the audience’s attention with a story, quotation, personal experience, etc.
  • Identify the topic and indicate why it is relevant, important, or interesting.
  • Establish your credibility through words or behavior.
  • Provide context, background, and definitions listeners might need.
  • State your purpose, thesis, or research question.
  • Preview the body of your speech.
  • Make a transition to the first point in the body of the speech.

Don’t

  • Start with “um” or “okay.”
  • Apologize for weaknesses in your content, preparation, or speaking ability.
  • Complain about food, accommodations, equipment, facilities, or other speakers.
  • Use humor that might disparage, offend, or alienate your listeners.
  • Use cheap tricks to get attention.
  • Go on about how hard it was to choose a topic.

Strategies for Introducing the Speech:

Anecdotes and Examples.

  • Start with the story. Don't wander into it with a long-winded discussion of the topic. Just say: "I'd like to tell you about John." or "Last year, while I was hiking in the Great Smokey Mountains . . ." Don't say: "I'd like to begin with an opening example."

Rhetorical Questions.

. . . ask what is called a Rhetorical Question.

A rhetorical question is designed to stimulate thought and imagination, rather than an overt response. You employ it to make the audience member mull over a circumstance or search his or her memory.

Can you remember the worst holiday you ever had?

It is obviously not a Yes or No question. It is meant to influence the audience member to dig back into his or her history--to cycle through holidays past in an attempt to conjure an image that will inform the inquiry.

When using a Rhetorical Question:

  • Get to the point. Keep it simple and direct. The audience members should be concentrating on answering it, not on what you meant by asking it in the first place.
  • Make sure it is directly relevant to the speech, and not just a cheap gimmick to get the audience members' attention. Nobody likes to be taken advantage of. Any concentration of attention you get will be more than offset by the bad feelings it will engender what the ruse becomes obvious.
  • Combining a rhetorical question with a hypothetical example is often a good strategy. Start by establishing the narrative, then tie the audience to it be extracting some sort of reaction--"What would you think?" "How would you respond?" etc.

Quotations:

When opening with a quotation:

  • Clearly bracket the quotation. The biggest risk you run when using a quotation to open your speech is that the audience member will fail to realize when the quote is over and you are being you again. This lack of clarity is disconcerting for the audience member and can easily be avoided, if you just:
  • Keep it Short. One or two sentences maximum should be the guideline. If you need any more than that the economy of language that makes it an asset is missing anyway.
  • Clearly label it a quotation. Don't say, "I'd like to start with a quote," or anything quite so artificial. Just say, "A great writer once said . . . ." or " Dorothy Parker put it best when she said . . . ." This is always a good idea unless you are sure that all of the audience members will know that the quote is a quote. Then you can lead with the quote and follow with the source.
  • Make sure the quote is Directly Relevant to the subject. This means that the spirit as well as the content of the quote should resonate with your topic.

Starting With a Direct Statement of Relevance:

Sometimes, the best device is no device. Sometimes the relevance of the subject for the audience--the predictability of their interest--is so overt that the best choice for the speaker is just to state as directly as possible what the speech is about. Mrs. Tuccillohad a student once who was a Wall Street investment manager. He started his speech by saying:

"Tonight, I'm going to tell you all how to get rich."

Having said that, the speaker could be pretty sure that--excepting those who had sworn the vow of poverty (and anyone that spiritual would be polite enough to listen anyway)--everyone would be tuned into the first of his main ideas. Wasting valuable time with quotations or examples would not, in this case, have been a good strategic choice.

When opening with a direct statement of relevance:

  • Make sure the relevance of your topic is, in fact, obvious. Far too many student-speakers claim to be employing this device when they have really just failed to create a good introduction. Direct statement is not No Device. It should only be used when, as in the example above, you are sure your audience will be amenable to the subject.
  • Make sure your tone matches your content. If the subject matter is supposed to be overtly compelling to us, it needs to be communicated as overtly compelling to you. Nonverbal confidence and gravity are necessary to the effective use of this device.
  • Think of a couple of alternative opening strategies anyway. What seems obviously compelling in the planning stage may not seem so compelling when you actually go to deliver the speech. It cannot hurt to have a spare introduction or two in case--having met your audience--you think you need the additional boost.