1.4: Opening a Speech- Get Their Attention from the Start!
The Battle for Attention
Ways to Start a Speech
Story
The pilot lines up the plane with the Hudson River.
That’s usually not the route.
He turns off the engines.
Now, imagine being in a plane with no sound.
And then he says three words.
The most unemotional three words I’ve ever heard.
He says, “Brace for impact.”
More powerful introductions using story:
Humor
More powerful introductions using humor
Salutation followed by humor
Interesting or Startling Fact
Powerful introductions using facts
Use a Prop
Powerful introductions using props
JA Gamach blows a train whistle and then starts his speech as if he were a conductor, “All aboard! It’s a bright sunny day and you are taking a train. You are wearing a pair of sandals you proudly made yourself. As you board the train one of your sandals slips off and falls beside the track. (J.A. loses one sandal that falls down the platform.) You try to retrieve it. Too late. The train starts to pull away. What would you have done? I would have cursed my bad luck, mad at losing a sandal.
JA Gamache, Toastmasters 2007 World Championship.
Powerful introductions using quotes
Get the Audience Involved
Ask a Question
More powerful introductions using a question
Have the Audience Participate
More powerful introductions using audience participation
If standing up isn’t accessible to you, you can put your hand up. Please stay standing and keep your hand up there.
Arouse Suspense or Curiosity
So like Johnny Depp,
and like 25 percent of Americans
between the ages of 16 and 50,
I have a tattoo.
I first started thinking about getting it in my mid-20s,
but I deliberately waited a really long time.
Because we all know people
who have gotten tattoos when they were 17
or 19 or 23
and regretted it by the time they were 30.
That didn’t happen to me.
I got my tattoo when I was 29,
and I regretted it instantly.
And by “regretted it,”
I mean that I stepped outside of the tattoo place —
this is just a couple miles from here
down on the Lower East Side —
and I had a massive emotional meltdown in broad daylight
on the corner of East Broadway and Canal Street.
(Laughter)
Which is a great place to do it because nobody cares.
(Laughter)
And then I went home that night, and I had an even larger emotional meltdown,
which I’ll say more about in a minute.
Step Two: Credibility
Step Three: Tell Why it is Important
Step Four: Tell the Purpose of the Talk (aka Preview/ Thesis)
Try This — Inspired by TED Master Class
After you write your thesis, send it to three people with the question,
“Based on what you read here, what do you think my speech will be about?”
Putting It All Together
Teach Every Child About Food by Jamie Oliver Analyzed |
|
| Sadly, in the next 18 minutes when I do our chat, four Americans that are alive will be dead through the food that they eat. | |
| Establish rapport and tell the audience why you care about the topic or why you are credible to speak on the topic. |
My name’s Jamie Oliver. I’m 34 years old. I’m from Essex in England and for the last seven years, I’ve worked fairly tirelessly to save lives in my own way. I’m not a doctor; I’m a chef, I don’t have expensive equipment or medicine.
I use information, education. |
| Tell the audience why they should care about this topic. | I profoundly believe that the power of food has a primal place in our homes that binds us to the best bits of life. We have an awful, awful reality right now. America, you’re at the top of your game. This is one of the most unhealthy countries in the world. |
| Introduce the speech thesis/preview/good idea. |
|
|
Give a transition statement
to the body of the speech. |
I’ve been doing this for seven years. I’ve been trying in America for seven years. Now is the time when it’s ripe — ripe for the picking. I went to the eye of the storm. I went to West Virginia, the most unhealthy state in America. Or it was last year. We’ve got a new one this year, but we’ll work on that next season. |
Never Start a Speech This Way
“I’m sorry, I’m losing my voice.”
Do Not Discuss Your Business with People Watching…Really! I Mean It!
Many of us are giving and listening to presentations in an online format. I have attended numerous presentations this year through Zoom where I have to sit and watch while the organizers engage in personal small talk or deal with the details of the presentation.
This is how the speech I recently attended began.”Donna, you are going to share your screen, right?”
“Yes. I have my PowerPoint ready to go. Will you push “record” when I give the signal?”
“Sure. Where did you say that button is again? Do you think we should wait five more minutes, I think we had more who were coming? Dave, what was the total we were expecting?”
“Yeah, we had 116 sign up, but the reminders went out late so this may be all we have. We can give them a few more minutes to log on.”
“Donna, How is your dog? Is she still struggling with her cone since her spay surgery? My dog never would wear the cone –she tore her stitches out and broke her wound open. It was terrible. Well, it looks like it is about time to begin, thank you everyone for coming.”
If you are organizing an event online, hosting a speech online, giving a presentation online–please keep it professional. Most platforms will allow you to keep the audience in a waiting room until it is time to start. If you have a business to deal with, keep the audience out until you have everything ready to go. Once the audience is in the meeting, you should engage the audience in group-type small talk or you should just start the presentation. In professional settings, you should start the meeting on time. Why punish those who showed up on time to wait for those who aren’t there yet?