have you ever met someone who made a bad first impression on you but ended up
becoming a close friend later on have you ever been the one who's made a
less-than-stellar first impression
how long did it take for things to turn around one of the most crucial skills in
public speaking is getting off on the right foot doing so requires the speaker
to give attention to the preparation and delivery of the introduction of their
speech in this video we'll discuss the functions components and tips for
effective introductions in public speaking the introduction serves a
variety of purposes in a speech from the audience's perspective it sets the scene
for the rest of the speech and lets them know what you'll be talking about
it's also where they'll make the decision about whether or not to bother
listening to the rest of the speech from the speaker's perspective the
introduction is a great opportunity to build a little positive momentum if the
introduction goes well you'll start to build confidence and the butterflies in
your stomach will begin to shrink a bit like many other parts of public speaking
the components of an introduction are pretty straightforward the things that
you should seek to accomplish in a speech introduction are gain attention
establish relevance reveal the topic establish credibility and preview the
main ideas let's take a look at each of these components separately first things
first you need something right up front that will pull the audience in and make
them pay attention
we suggest a full-on professional wrestling style entrance complete with
the outfit and loud rock music
alas as cool as that seems we're mostly joking about that in reality you want to
gain the attention of the audience in a way that doesn't make them lose all
respect for you
fortunately there are many ways that you can do just that some of the more
traditional methods of gaining the attention of the audience are telling a
story
referring to the occasion precipitating the speech referring to either recent or
historical events with a connection to the speech sharing a startling statistic
related to the content of the
speech using a compelling quotation asking the audience a question or
questions to pique their curiosity or using humor to draw their attention
whatever method you use to gain the attention of the audience make sure it
has some connection to the topic and content of your speech
another important component of an introduction is establishing relevance
for an audience
have you ever sat in the class and thought what's the use in paying
attention i'm never going to use this information
well I hate to break it to you but your speech audience is having the exact same
thought
it's your job as a speaker to show them how this information is important to
their lives sometimes that means you have to get a little creative in making
the connection between your topic and their life without that connection
though you've lost them before you ever get started
the next component of an introduction is to reveal the topic of your speech
before you start hurling captain obvious memes let me say that you'd be surprised
how many speakers failed to communicate the topic of their speech we won't
belabor the point here
suffice it to say that whether or not you think the audience knows the topic
of your speech
it's good speaking practice to make sure by making it clear in the introduction
you will also need to establish credibility with the audience in the
introduction of your speech the members of your audience need to have confidence
that you were prepared and actually know a little something about your topic two
of the simplest ways of communicating credibility are explaining your
experience and your preparation if you have a professional background in this
area be sure to let the audience know you can also let them in on the copious
amounts of research that you did leading up to the speech or any academic
background in the area of course your delivery and overall level of confidence
will also help the audience trust you that much sooner outside of the
classroom professional speakers are sometimes able to skip establishing
credibility in the introduction of their speech
why do you think some speakers can get away with this while still delivering
effective speeches
I'll give you a moment to think about it
if you need more time to think about that question feel free to pause the
video now otherwise let's continue if a speaker is able to skip establishing
their credibility in the introduction
it's likely because they are well-recognized and don't need to build
much credibility another possible reason is that a speech of introduction
preceded the speaker and their credentials were made clear in that
speech along with credibility you may also have to take time to establish
goodwill with the audience
this would be necessary under any circumstance where it's not clear that
you have the audience's best interests at heart over your own if it's possible
that the audience could find your motives suspect then you'd better
reassure them by establishing goodwill finally speakers need to preview the
main ideas of their speech in the introduction a previous statement
introduces the audience to the major themes and main points of your speech
oftentimes a preview is a simple reworking of the central idea statement
for speech the preview is also a natural segue into the body of the speech as
such it frequently is the last component of the introduction that is delivered
we have a few tips to share for making your introductions as effective as
possible
first the introduction should actually be one of the last things that you
prepare for your speech you won't really know what to put into the intro until
you fully developed the information in the body of the speech
this will also allow more time for you to look for cool quotes and stories as
you research that you can use in the introduction
secondly keep the introduction short the introduction shouldn't take up more than
ten to fifteen percent of your total speech time let's say for example that
your assignment calls for a five-minute speech that comes out to 300 seconds
which means that your whole introduction should be in the 30 to 45 second range
that will go quickly but you need to save as much time as possible for the
body of the speech
finally it's not a terrible idea to script out your introduction getting
things rolling smoothly in the intro can be a help to both the audience and the
speaker even scripted out you want your introduction to seem spontaneous and
conversational
but this is the area of your speech where such precision of language and
confidence in preparation can pay off the most your introduction will set the
stage for the rest of your speech in many different ways it's worth your time
and energy to make certain that the first impression you make is a positive
one
in this video we discussed the functions components and tips for effective
introductions and conclusions in public speaking
check out some of our other videos for more insight into the public speaking
process