About Me
- Brendan
- I am a professional educator by trade, but by my definition, I am much more than that. I wear many hats; including, but not limited to, Father, Husband, Son, Step-Father, Ex-Husband, Entrepreneur, Public Speaker, Super Geek (love technology), Trainer, Coach, Student, Writer, Dreamer, and Leader. For fun I am an avid golfer and consider myself a blessed individual because I have the greatest wife in the world that loves to golf with me.
Subscribe To Public Speaking
Posts
Comments
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Lesson 14 Developing the Introduction to Your Speech
This lesson is going to go over how to develop a great introduction to your speech. Having a good introduction can and will set the tone for the rest of your speech, likewise, a poor introduction will be disaster for the rest of your speech.
A good introduction will do the following:
- It will arouse the audience's attention and make them want to listen to you.
- It will introduce your topic, purpose and intention.
- It will preview what you are going to tell them.
- It will motivate your audience.
- It will make the topic relevant to the audience.
How to Capture the Audiences Attention
Lead with a quote.
Not just any quote, but a quote that will resonate with your audience (remember- know your audience). A quote can come from a variety of sources- poetry, literature, film, or from an individual.
JUST MAKE SURE IT'S APPROPRIATE AND CLEAN.
REMEMBER- Inappropriate jokes or quotes will lessen your credibility.Tell a story.
A good story can personalize and issue and help audience members relate to the topic (plus it humanizes you the speaker).
Something that will help you is understanding what an anecdote is. An anecdote is a brief story of interesting, humorous, or real-life incidents.
The key to successfully introducing a speech with an anecdote is choosing one that strikes a chord with the audience.
Pose a question.
There are two types of questions you can ask your audience- REAL or RHETORICAL.
A real question invites the audience for a response, whereas a rhetorical does not solicit an actual response but allows the audience to "think" about the answer.
Depending on the rhetorical question, you may need to explain to the audience that the speech will answer the question.
Other types of rhetorical questions are what I call positive response rhetorical questions. It is an question that you know the audience will answer or agree with. This is a great way to get the audience involved without actually having them respond.
There is also a mixture of REAL and RHETORICAL questions. It's a question that you pose (usually a yes or no question) and the audience will answer through body language (head nod, head shake, smile, or laughter).
The drawback to asking questions is if you get an audience that will not respond at all. This usually happens when one doesn't know who their audience is and the questions do not resonate with them.
Say something that "startles" the audience.
I'm not talking about making some random goat noise or something. To say something startling is introducing a fact or statement that is not highly known by the audience and (this is important) it is going to relate to your topic.
Example: Let's say I am going to talk about the Rules of Golf. I could start out with this:
"Did you know that you cannot putt with a pool cue? This is true, the USGA forbade the use of pool cues for putting in 1895 after a dispute came up during the U.S. Amateur."
It's startling because it's weird, it's strange, and it's not common knowledge.
 |
| Will Ferrell Always Makes Me Laugh |
Make the audience laugh.
Here's a great checklist to make sure you are using humor appropriately:
- Is your humor appropriate to the occasion?
- Does your humor help you make a point about your speech topic or the speech occasion?
- Have you avoided any potentially offensive targets, such as race, gender, or religion?
- Is your humor likely to insult or demean anyone?
- Will the audience understand your humor?
- Have you given your humor a trial run?
- Is your humor funny?
A great resource for humor is the Comedy Bible by Judy Carter.
Refer to the occasion.
Referring to the occasion just means that you give reference to the speech occasion and to any relevant facts about the event.
An Example of this would be if I were giving a speech at the annual Golf Hackers Executive Club Meeting. It would go something like this:
"I wish to express my thanks and to let you know that it is an honor to be invited to participate in the 10th annual Golf Hackers Executive Meeting. I would like to recognize those who have been awarded for their Hacking Excellence and I wish to your continued excellence in hacking."
Establish common ground.
Establishing common ground is done by showing and expressing interest in the audience and most importantly, showing how you and they are similar. This could be a common belief, gender, religion, purpose, etc.
Remember, establishing common ground should not offend anyone (present or not present) and it must have some emotional connection.
Saying that we are all Homo Sapiens doesn't really work.
Declare Your Purpose and Intentions
This goes back to grade school paper writing. The introductory paragraph must tell the reader what you are going to tell them. The same holds true for the introduction of a great speech; tell them what you are going to tell them. I would enhance that by really getting into the purpose of the speech and what your desired outcomes should be.
Example: "After my speech you will understand the mechanics of a basic golf swing and will be able to implement this new skill in lowering you overall handicap."
Tell the Audience What You are Going to Tell Them
Start by previewing the main points.
To continue with my golf swing introduction, I could go on to tell them that they will be learning the importance of grip and stance and how it affects the swing.
Give the Audience a Reason to Believe
Emphasize the topic's practical implications.
Show what the audience has to GAIN or LOSE by listening or not listening (Pleasure Pain Principle)
I would say that most of the time it is better to focus on a positive outcome rather than a negative outcome, but just remember that the feeling of a negative outcome can be just as (if not more) powerful than a positive outcome.
Establish Your Credibility
State your qualifications for speaking on the topic.
Briefly emphasize some experience, knowledge, or perspective you have that is different from or more extensive than that of your audience.
Preparing the Introduction
- Prepare the introduction AFTER you have completed the body of the speech.
- Keep the introduction brief and to the point (purpose and intention)
- Review any of your research material that you can use in your introduction.
- Practice and time the length of your introduction.
- Introduction is only 10 to 15 percent of the overall speech.
- Revise until you feel good about it and it has a good "flow" to it.
- Why do you want to have a good introduction. What is the downside of having a poor introduction?
- Can you still have a great speech after a poor introduction? Why or Why not?
- How could helping the audience see what they have to lose (pain) be a good way to captivate your audience? Do you think it's best to use the "pain" or "pleasure" approach in your introduction? Why or why not?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
41 comments:
Good introductions are important because as the saying goes “You only get one chance to make a first impression”. If you have a strong introduction that immediately captivates your audience or draws their attention in a meaningful way you just have to maintain that throughout the rest of the speech. Instead of trying to do that with the body which may be a little more difficult. It’s easy to see the value of an introduction if you just turn on your television and catch a news program. The news anchors or pundits always lead the story with what they will be talking about throughout the program. If their introduction is boring odds are their audience will quickly tune out and find something better to watch. However sometimes the body fails to live up to the rest of their program. Everyone has experienced this; when the news anchor says something along the lines of “Don’t miss this, Your neighborhood could be on the verge of being wiped from the face of the earth”. Then later on in the program you find out that they have discovered a batch of termites in an old building, or something like that. It really is disappointing when the introduction doesn’t live up to the rest of the speech. So maybe if the rest of your speech isn’t all that great you may want to tone down the introduction.
A good introduction has the potential to make or break a speech. While in my personal opinion, it is still possible to have a pretty good speech with only an adequate introduction, it is a whole different experience with a gripping segway into your main points. An introduction accomplishes a few things, chief among them is to get a buy in from your audience. It establishes credibility, it makes you relatable and creates a resonation with your audience that prepares them to be sensitive to your advice. If you have a good introduction it will create a natural feeling of acceptance of you and your material. Whereas, if you have a poor introduction it will leave a bad flavor in the mouth of your audience. If your introduction is noticeably bad, the rest of your speech will be like fighting an uphill battle. The audience will have an attitude of doubting and second guessing your message. The good news is, it only consists of 10-15% of your speech. With proper planning, you can use that 10% to make the remaining 90% a wild success.
It is so important to start your speech with a great introduction. If your introduction is not strong, the audience will assume that the rest of your speech will be the same way, and they will stop paying attention. Even if they don’t consciously decide to stop listening, it is human nature to have your mind wander if it isn’t hooked on something interesting. Having a good introduction will prepare your audience for the rest of your speech. It will help them to recognize your organization pattern, making it easier for them to follow you throughout the rest of the speech, and also making it easier for them to take notes. Just like writing an essay, once you have outlined or written out a clear introduction, the rest of the speech will be easy to write. An introduction can make or break a speech. It will make the experience more enjoyable for the audience, and easier for you as the speaker.
You want to have a good introduction to capture the audience’s attention and make it as interesting as possible. Having a good intro can also have your audience be thinking about what is going to happen next. The main thing you want to accomplish in your introduction is to have a lay out of what you are going to talk about. The downside of having a poor introduction is you automatically lose the audiences attention. Also by losing the comfort and trust you want to gain with the audience. It can also have the effect on what you are trying to say to the them; it could be confusing, unintelligent, boring, or stupid. Having a good introduction is really important and having a poor introduction will just make your speech weak and not interesting.
I think it is definitely important to have a strong introduction and a good start to your speech. I remember a few times I wanted to start off my speech with a joke to lighten things up and get their attention, while this was a good idea I wasn't quite prepared for it. I didn't practice my joke in front of anyone and when I said it, I swear not a single person in the audience laughed! I saw a couple people smile but I think that was after I chuckled nervously. As embarrassing as this was, I learned a different lesson. Of course I was nervous but up to that point I had self-talked myself and gotten ready with confidence but once that joke backfired, I felt like my whole system shut down! From then on I lost my words and I stuttered and my speech suffered because of a bad start. Therefore whether you want to start with a joke or not, just make sure you practice it and are comfortable with it! Even if you are still nervous or some parts in your speech are lacking, a great introduction will set you off with a positive attitude and the rest will just flow.
To have a good introduction is the same as making a good first impression. Within two minutes the audience will generally decide whether or not you are speaking on a topic that sparks their interest. The introduction does exactly what the word entails...it introduces your speech. By making the beginning part of your talk exciting or intriguing, the audience will be more likely to listen to the rest of the speech to see how it all ties in with what was said at the beginning. There are so many tools and tricks to use that will provide you with a good introduction; there are stories, quotes, jokes, questions, so many ways to begin your speech and let the audience know and become excited about what you are speaking on. The downside that can come from having a poor introduction is the affect that it has on the audience. Their attention and interest is lost which makes it really hard to become memorable and have them be interactive as you are presenting.
Helping the audience see what they have to lose is a good technique to captivate your audience. This is for a number of reasons. For example, inviting the audience to reflect on what they have been doing to help a crisis, either in the nation or community, could be a way to use the “pain” approach. On the other hand, I have always been a pretty positive person, so I would say that it is best to use the “pleasure” approach in your introduction rather than the “pain” approach. The “pain” approach is good to put that guilt on your audience and have them reflect on their own lives and experiences, but the “pleasure” approach provides a positive outlook. The “pleasure” approach provides the audience with information on how to succeed, and what they can do to make something better or be better themselves. Making the audience feel guilty about something is a good method, but helping the audience to feel better about themselves and help them believe that they can accomplish a great deal, is a much better approach.
I suppose you might be able to save your speech after you've bombed your introduction. There are ways you can pull it back on track, but you've still lost credibility points, I believe. You could try using quotes, or jokes, or stories. It might be impossible to bring it back on track. But there's nothing wrong with trying to save things. It's similar to a bad haircut. You might really hate the way your hair turned out, but you can either go somewhere else and get it touched up or you can let it grow out. As with your speech you can try taking another approach and trying to salvage it that way, or you can continue down the path you've already started and hope that it will straighten itself out. Nothing, I suppose, is unfixable. We can always work with what we have or we can go back to the beginning and try a new approach.
Why do you want to have a good introduction. What is the downside of having a poor introduction?
The introduction is what starts you off, and how you start determines how you end. That initial energy is really what carries you through the presentation. From my experience, it is really hard to draw the audience in halfway through the speech. Your first words and thoughts are critical. Your introduction is also what gives your speech direction. When your intro is not clear, your audience does not know what to expect or even how to interpret the information you are giving them. Without the structure provided by a clear opening statement, thoughts and arguments seem random and unorganized. You can imagine the consequences of this. The audience becomes confused and uninterested, your message is lost, and your listeners are not satisfied. The opposite is true if you *do* have a good introduction, and those results are obviously what someone wants to reap as a public speaker. A solid introduction intrigues the listeners and provides unambiguous direction for the rest of your speech, thus keeping your audience interested, attentive, and focused.
I always want to have a good introduction. Any speaker should! I want to have a good introduction so my audience wants to listen to me. Who wants to speak to an uninterested crowd? Ya, not me. I want to captivate people. I want to lead them into information I don’t want them to forget. Therefore I have to begin interesting and hook them in. If not, I will never completely have their attention. If you have a back opening you lose people. The attention span of most people is not very high. People like interesting things, of course. So they need to be captivated. Starting off bad ruins your whole speech. It’s like when you say something mean to a sibling. Then you try to have a conversation with them and they just stare at you angry. It takes a while for them to forget they are mad at you. In a speech it’s kind of like that if you bore them at first it will take them the whole speech to forget. By then it’s over.
The most important part of your speech is the introduction in my opinion. If you don’t start out with a good intro, then you wont captivate your audience. No one is going to want to listen to a boring speaker. I believe if you don’t have a good introduction, you can still regain your listeners attention in the body, but it will just be a lot harder to do so. Also, if you state what you are going to be talking about, then people wont get lost in your introduction. If at first you aren’t making a whole lot of sense, then you could say something like, “Ok, bare with me, I promise this will all tie together in a moment.”. You need to be able to make your speech interesting and will reel your audience in. You want people to actually WANT to listen to you. I think it would also be good to try and make them laugh, just like we learned in class, if you can make them laugh, then you are gaining their trust. If you do that, then your speech will go a lot smoother.
I would like to respond to question #1: I think there are many reasons that someone would want to have a great introduction. First I think if you have a good introduction you can grab people's attention from the beginning of your speech. A good introduction will give the audience something to listen for and to pay attention to. I have listened to many speeches were people give good introductions and many speeches were people have started with not so good introductions and there are very distinct differences in the quality of the speech that follows, also I've noticed that the people listening to the speeches respond differently to speeches that don't start well. The biggest downside to a bad introduction I believe is people loose interest in what the speaker has to say. Having a good introduction is something that is vital to people taking interest in the speaker.
Question #1
It is important to have a good introduction speech because they can either make or break your whole speech. Have you ever heard of the phrase 'first impressions are everything?' The same is for a speech. If you strait off lame and not not strong at all, then you automatically loose your audience. And it's extremely difficult to bring them back once you've lost their interest. If someone you are going to be listening to for the next hour and a half starts off with 'Good morning, I am Machi Johnson and umm, let's see here. uhh.. yes. Let's start with umm antibiotics. What a great topic..." Just reading that you probably have already started dozing off and pushed 'snooze.' You should always start off strong and as soon as you step forward to present, grasp the attention of your audience and be strong throughout the rest of your speech because if you loose them at the beginning, you may never be able to bring them back.
I think that you can still have a great speech with a poor intro. Then problem with not having one is you may not capture the audience’s attention right off the bat. But I think that if you have an entertaining rest of your speech it can make up for the bad introduction. I think of speeches that I have heard that have not had a good intro but a good rest of the speech I always still enjoy the speech. Sometimes when people try too hard on the intro I think that they sound silly and not really serious about the topic so I lose interest. Yes, it is better to have a great intro, but in my opinion, I don’t think that it makes or breaks the speech.
3. Many public speakers tend to use the pain or pleasure approach to presenting, usually in a business environment dealing with financial gains. People like to gear toward actions that will ultimately benefit them in a way. Usually, the pleasure approach is more likely to gain positive response from the audience, because who wants to lose in a situation? An example would be the career workshop that took place for the University of Phoenix, where the Blue Bunny speaker informed us of all the benefits we would gain for attending the event. It created an instant reassurance to the audience that they made a right decision in going, knowing they would leave with more knowledge about the business industry. There is no best or worst way to approach an introduction, this approach is just one of the many types of techniques. It is beneficial to informational speeches, to convey a point across to the audience. It depends on the type of speech given.
I am a "glass is half full" kind of a guy. Fear motivates a lot of people to do or buy something. Example; "Buy Today Only" It is important to note consequences in a speech. It shows you did your homework. It seems to me that no matter the audience, everyone wants to be entertained at some level. They want to smile and they want to feel like they didn't waste their time showing up. Hope is always more powerful than regret. So when I start my speech I usually want my audience to feel that I am excited to be there and not that it was just an assignment that I was fulfilling. If I have a negative consequence or warning, I want to present it in the body of my speech. I like my conclusion to spark hope not fear into my audience. This way, they might ask me back again.
I think that the introduction to a speech is very important! This is where you capture the audience’s attention or quickly lose it. I know when I am sitting and listening to someone speak I have to be drawn in within the first few minutes. If I am not drawn in after that I find myself day dreaming about random things. So it is important to arouse your audience in the introduction. As I was reviewing in chapter 14 it said the functions of an introduction are to introduce topic or purpose, preview main point, motivate audience of your goals, or make topic relevant. This is a lot of information to talk about in the introduction. You need to spice it up and make it interesting in some way. Chapter 14 also talks about this. A way you can do this is humor. I personally think the best way to capture your audience is humor! So make your introduction funny so that you are able to capture your audience for the rest of your speech!
2. Can you still have a great speech after a poor introduction? Why or Why not?
Obviously an introduction is a very very important part of a speech, but i think you can still be successful if the introduction is not amazing. By having a strong body, the audience can still be drawn back into the speech. When you use lots of fun facts and good examples with stories the audience can relate to, you will be successful. Make sure your body is well organized and easy to follow. If the intro wasn't very good the audience is going to be more susceptible to confusion. It is more difficult though to have to regain an audiences attention, after they already zoned off. If your intro and body is terrible, than your speech will all together fail. And if there is no introduction, then i'm not sure there will be much recovery from that because the audience will be completely confused. Overall make sure you have a short intro, but be prepared with an amazing body and conclusion to save your speech!
It is so important to have a good introduction. I want to take you back to High school, or maybe even middle school. Think of that teacher that nobody liked or listened to. We all had one and we most likely all can remember who it was. It was the teacher who walked in and in his/her monotone voice said, "Okay class, today we're going to be talking about..." At about that moment half the class was already asleep. The teacher had a bad introduction with no energy and so the class got bored. It's the same with public speaking. Not only will it captivate the audience but if the speaker can get positive reactions from the audience in the very beginning of their speech that will give them more confidence throughout the rest of the speech. It sets a good tone for both the audience and the speaker.
Having a good introduction is a key part to your speech. According to Stephen E. Lucas, author of The Art of Public Speaking, “A poor beginning may so distract or alienate listeners that the speaker can never fully recover.” This is why the beginning is the most crucial part of a speech. It is the “make or break” moment that can either fill speakers with confidence, because they will know they have grabbed their audience’s attention, or destroy speakers’ confidence because they will see rejection in all those eyes staring back at them and, more than likely, experience speech anxiety and stumble through the remainder of the speech. All in all having a solid and captivating introduction will benefit your and your speech by setting you up to deliver a successful speech to an audience that will be anticipating greatness. By delivering a weak introduction you possibly could be setting your self up for an embarrassing and, or unsuccessful time.
#3 How could helping the audience see what they have to lose (pain) be a good way to captivate your audience? Do you think it's best to use the "pain" or "pleasure" approach in your introduction? Why or why not?
Helping your audience see what they have to lose could most certainly captivate them, but it may not be the kind of captivation you want to induce. Making your audience see that they will have to lose something or be in pain, won't always leave a good impression of yourself. Im sure there could be effective ways of doing this, yet I think it would be more productive to show them the pleasurable side. For example, you are telling people how to lose weight. I think it would be more effective to show people how happy they would be living a healthily lifestyle, instead of showing them how painful it will be, or what they have to give up. It will also make people like you more if you tell them they will be happy, instead of how miserable they will be. My vote would definitely be that pleasure is a better tool for speaking. It may not captive tons better, but it will make the audience feel better.
.
It is important to have a good introduction because an audience will decide whether you are interesting and worth listening to very quickly. If you start with a poor introduction you can lose them and spend a large portion of your speech just winning them back. A good example of the principle in my own life is anytime someone starts a speech by apologizing they are a poor speaker or had limited time prepare they lose all credibility. I then have to force myself to listen or just tune them out completely and hope that the next speaker picks up the slack. It is a poor and judgmental way to look at it but I can’t help it. There is no reason for an apology. Just begin your talk and let us decide if you are a poor speaker or unprepared. When someone starts with a unique introduction or story I am all ears and excited to listen. In my opinion the first line of a speech is very important and can be used as a powerful tool to draw in an audience.
An introduction is your first impression of what the speech will be like. I think it’s important personally to have an attention grabber at the very beginning. Having that ability to grasp a room’s attention will allow you to set the mood for the whole speech. For example, if I am listening to a speaker if you can’t draw my attention within the first few sentences of a speech, there is no way I will continue to listen. Without that you really have no reason to go on. A downside of that is the total reason of a speech, interest. If you have an audience with zero interest there is no reason why you should go on. Personally I would automatically start day dreaming or think of something else and not listen to a word a speaker would say and that totally defeats the whole purpose of conducting a speech in the first place.
You want to have a good introduction for many important reasons. One reason is because your introducing yourself and what you will be talking about. You need to capture the audience’s attention and how are you going to do that with a weak introduction. Also, immediately you want to set the right mood, waking everyone up will surly grab everyone’s attention. Second, having a good introduction will make it easier to transition into your body. It will not only be easier, but you will also sound clear and you’ll have order in your transition. Occasionally, you see bad introductions and that never is good. If you start on a bad note and don’t know how to save your self, your speech won’t be clear in your head, which ends up not being clear to the audience. At this point it might be hard to structure yourself and have the audiences attention. Also, if you don’t have a clear introduction the audience will have a hard time understanding what you’re talking about and what your trying to explain.
Alright, so today while we did our demonstration speeches, I don't want to put anyone down or anything, this is just what I thought, with the beat boxing, she came in and just threw that out there, it was so fun and exciting, it really caught my attention so quickly and I was pretty much begging for more! That was such a great speech! It really kept everyone's attention and it was all throughout her speech, great introduction great body and AMAZING closing. I love those kinds of speeches, I like to be respectful and try and pay attention to all speeches, but some they weren't as up beat or kept my attention like that one did. Not saying that they weren't good or anything cause they were. If they were to make me laugh then I would have liked them a lot more. Or I would be a lot more interested in them. But having a good introduction, it keeps my attention and I really take in your speech and I will definitely remember it from then on.
A good introduction is essential in a good speech. It sets the tone for the rest of your speech and the audience typically decides during your introduction if they are going to listen to you or not. For this reason you should allow for plenty of time to prepare a good introduction. A good introduction needs to be interesting to be effective. Interesting should not be confused with long. The introduction should be brief and lead seamlessly into the body of your speech. A bad introduction invites people to text, sleep, or daydream while you are speaking. I can't tell you how many talks that I've heard in church that start off with a poor introduction. This usually either puts me to sleep or I have to try hard to pay attention for the rest of their talk. In essence, even if the body of your speech is well prepared and has great information, no one will hear it if you don't have a good introduction that invites them to keep listening.
A good introduction sets the tone of the whole speech and should captivate the audience. It is also the time to create bonds with each and every person as you use eye contact and humor. Speaking of humor, I really think there is a misconception about humor in speeches and in my speech attending experience, humor usually backfires. I think that's due to the fact that humor in today's society stems mostly from making fun of specific individuals, groups, and ideas. And no matter how much you research your audience, you will never know if something may or may not be offensive. In my opinion, humor is best left to comics on the stage rather than the introduction of a professional speech. The downfall to a poor introduction is a poor speech or at least the belief from the audience that it's going to be a poor speech. Our minds are so powerful and I think during a poor introduction, our minds will simply check out because we have already figured out that the speech won't be worth listening too.
Introduction is a very important part of a speech, a bad one could lose the audience and then you might as well be talking to an empty room. Speaking from experience if your introduction doesn’t catch the attention of an audience they may just ignore you and talk to their friends, well that’s what I always did anyway. If there is anything I learned from watching the news it’s that saving the best info for last in the intro often gets people to sit through the boring stuff as well. When you make your first impression try not to mess up, it’s very hard to get a second chance and even if the audience is nothing like you, you could always do what I do and just put on a façade, if you’re lucky you won’t have to fake your way through it but if you have no choice you may want to learn how to pretend.
1. Can you still have a great speech after a poor introduction? Why or Why not?
Of course, People often start off nervous when they give a speech. No matter how experienced a person is, there will always be a little nervousness. Think about the famous speakers or singers. No matter how many times they sing on stage or perform for big or small groups they get a little nervous. I know this because I have watched documentaries on different people and they have said that “ no matter how many times I sing or talk in front of others, I always get a little nervous, but it wouldn’t be exciting if I didn’t”
Think about a singer starting off kind of off key or quiet.. then imagine them suddenly bringing that power into their voice and how inspiring that is. Now relate that to public speaking. Sometimes the speaker starts off dull and kind of mixed up, but then you see them come together and almost grab you, its pretty cool to see their confidence build and then having a great speech even if the introduction wasn’t so great.
It is so important to have a good introduction when giving a speech for many reasons. First off it is where the audience will determine if they are interested in your speech or not. So it's important you make the introduction as interesting as you can so you can catch the audiences attention. If it's not interesting then the audience may not listen to you through-out the rest of your speech. You want the audience interested in hearing about the topic you are discussing. in the introduction you also want to adress the key things you are going to be discussing through out the rest of your speech. That is important so you don't lose your audience in case you drift off topic. It will also let the audience know and understand what you are talking about. The down side to a poor introduction is you will lose credibility with your audience. The not be interested in your topic so therefore they won't be listening to you so you can't get your point across.
In response to question one, the reason you want to have a good introduction is because it sets the stage for the rest of the speech. The introduction is part of a speech so that people can know what to expect to learn from the speech, and how it will help them. The introduction is made for the purpose of catching the attention of the audience, if this purpose is not fulfilled then the overall success of the speech greatly drops. There are many downsides of having a poor introduction. The biggest of these in my opinion is the loss of credibility. If someone does not have a strong introduction, they will come across as unprepared and this will destroy your credibility. Along with ruining your credibility, as mentioned before the audience will not be interested in your speech and with the loss of their attention comes an undesired response to your speech.
As I mentioned in my comment for lesson 13, you should always start off with that BOOM! effect. The introduction is extremely important, with anything, not just a speech. Because if you don't have a good introduction you're not going to have the reaction you hoped for. For example: If i'm telling my friend how great a movie is i just saw, but i start off telling her about a boring scene, she's probably going to lose interest and end up seeing something else next time she goes to the Movie Theaters.. Its human nature. No one is going to pay attention to you if you're boring. That's just the way it is. The downside of having a bad introduction is what I just said, you need to catch their attention and keep it, people will react negatively if your speech is not interesting and then in turn, they will stop listening. Which basically makes the hours you took preparing it, and the time you took researching your points, worthless. A waist of your time, and theirs.
Can you still have a great speech after a poor introduction? Why or Why not?
Yes you can recover from a poor introduction but it hard. If you have poor delivery or a poor introduction you can recover. I have set through many of church meetings in my life and thought that was a dumb introduction to a topic only to find a few minutes later that I am actually listening and liking the speech. I think it is important to have a strong introduction and a strong speech but if your introduction is not all you or your audience hoped for keep going. In the words of the immortal Vince Lombardi, "Winner never quit..."
Question 1:
It is very important to have a good introduction for several reasons. The first reason is because it catches attention. This is the first priority of a speech because if you do not have a strong, catchy introduction then the audience won't be 100% cued in to the rest of your speech and will lose interest in what you have to say. Another reason a confident introduction is important is your credibility. If you start off speaking with confidence and acting like you know what you are talking about, the audience will want and trust in what you have to say. Another reason, is sometimes, if you have a catchy introduction or an inspirational/funny quote, that will be the only thing that the audience remembers from yours speech or take away from it when it is over. If you don't have a strong intro it hurts your whole speech and sets the tone for the rest of your speech.
An introduction is the foundation that will either hold your speech or let it fall short. To simply start off with the first point without giving any background information is not going to get a speaker anywhere without an ample amount of follow up work. Obviously a speech can be brought back around with an amazing body but why not just start at the beginning? An introduction gives everything to the audience, this is what I will be speaking on, these are the topics I will touch on, it's saying you will definitely want to stick around because you are going to learn something great from this without just coming right out and saying it. An effective introduction can grab the attention of your audience the very second you open your mouth. Without that introduction a speaker risks the chance of losing the attention of the audience within seconds. Struggling to bring the speech back around after a lousy introduction is an easily avoided waste of energy. Starting a speech with a wonderful effective introduction can ensure a speech is taken to the highest level.
1.Why do you want to have a good introduction. What is the downside of having a poor introduction?
The introduction of your speech is the very first part your audience will hear from you. It needs to be interesting and draw them in. There are many different things that will draw people in and get them hooked and interested in what you are about to tell them. Humor is a great way to draw people in. When using humor though you need to make sure it is appropriate. By using inappropriate humor, you can ruin your speech. Other good things to put in your introduction are quotes, stories, and interesting facts. These are all things that will spark your audience's attention and get them interested in what you are about to tell them. The down side of not having a good opening paragraph is you will lose your audience's attention. If they don't get interested at the beginning there is a slim chance that they will become interested at all.
2.Can you still have a great speech after a poor introduction? Why or Why not?
The introduction to your speech is extremely important to having a successful speech. By creating a fantastic introduction you will draw in your audience and hopefully keep them interested throughout the remainder of your speech. Sometimes you may not have a very strong introduction. Your introduction could even be considered poor. A poor introduction will not make anyone excited to hear what you have to say. It will make them not want to listen to you at all. Although you may make the mistake of not having a strong introduction, it can still be turned around with the body and also the conclusion of your speech. It will be hard to gain their attention after a poor introduction but it is not impossible. By using quick thinking and also some planning, you will be able to turn around on the path your speech is taking and make it successful. It is not a good idea to always rely on this fact though. Starting out well from the beginning is always the smartest choice.
It's very important to help our audience see what they have to gain or lose by listening to us speak. People are highly motivated by personal rewards, and they won't want to listen to us unless they know that something is in it for them. As far as wether a pain or pleasure approach needs to be used, well I just think that depends highly on the topic and audience. For example, I'm not a big fan of reinforcing people with negative consequences, however, it's very difficult to give a speech in church without highlighting what will happen if someone does not act upon my words. Another example is a speech I'm working on right now about the negative effects of eating sugar. The entire speech is a call to action, and it's a call to stop doing something. However, it will also focus on the benefits of giving up sugar thus it takes both a pain and a pleasure approach. And a different speech that maybe is on scholarships for example, would focus highly on the pros while ignoring the idea of punishment motivation.
In giving a speech, the intro is point where you have to get the audiences attension. It needs to be stong, inviting, in a lot of cases intertaining. I know that when im watching a speech, i like to be intertained right from the beginning. During the speech a speaker must feel like he or she has the audiences full attention. I remember someone saying that you know you have the audiences attention when you feel like the audience is in the palm of your hand. If a speech has a weak intro, there is know anticipation for the audience. its like picking up a dvd with no title or cover on it. its just a blank dvd with a movie that you have no idea about. Theres no catch or title bringing you in.
I think that having a good introduction is key. A good introduction captures the audience, while a bad one will put them to sleep. I personally think that I make the mental decision to listen to a speech or not within the first minute or two. If they haven't done something to gain my interest and attention in that time, I'll start playing scrabble on my phone or something. Even if the rest of their speech is great, I'll have no idea, because scrabble requires a lot of focus. I think a lot of other people are the same way.
1.Why do you want to have a good introduction. What is the downside of having a poor introduction?
Its important to have a good intoduction because thats what grabs the attetion of the audience. thats what gets them intrigued on what youre going to say. The intro i think is important part of your speech because its what informs your audience on what youre going to be telling them! Your speech wont be a complete failer if you bomb your intro but i think it would be really hard to recover. Having a poor intro you could risk loosing your audience. The audience may doubt your crediblility and may loose interest in your speech. You may find yourself trying to over compensate your speech more to make up for your intro! you may try to tell more jokes or list different sources to capture the audience again but by that time it maybe to late!! ha i say its always best to practice your intro as much as you can so although you may not tell it at your best at least it probably wont bomb it!
Post a Comment