Introductions

Complete 3 Purposes1. Capture the audience’s attention

2. Make the audience friendly toward the speaker3. Clearly state the purpose or preview the main points

Do NOT start a speech with one of the following:

My speech is on… I’m gonna tell ya… My topic is… Today I will talk about…

Use one or more of these strategies.

Suspense Quotation Question Challenge Startling statement - statistics Anecdote – story - humor Illustration - Example Reference to the audience Reference to self Reference to the occasion Comparison and contrast Direct approach

Identify the strategies used in this introduction

As president of the Student Council, I want to take some time today to reflect back on something that unsettled all of us. Most of us were grief-stricken to lose a classmate who was so talented, so selfless, so alive. Today is the first anniversary of the death of Todd Simpsin, who died senselessly as the victim of a drunken driver. As you recall, shortly after Todd’s death, our Student Council began a campaign to push for tougher laws discouraging drunk driving. Today I want all of us to renew our commitment to the goals we set last year.

Strategies Use

Reference to self Reference to the occasion Reference to the audience Challenge

Example #2 I am really glad to be here to talk to you. I tried to

bribe my mom to get her to let me stay home today. I told her I would let her use her car all week if I could stay home. I offered to give her breakfast in bed, to clean the spider webs out of the crawl space. I even offered to clean the grease trap. She asked me if I would bring my little sister with after school to baseball practice. Well, there are some things a person just can’t do and keep his self-respect, so here I am. Actually, I did want to come today and share with you some observations on the predicament we teenagers can find ourselves in as we confront an adult world that sometimes just doesn’t understand.

Strategies

Story Humor Reference to self Reference to audience Statement of purpose

Example #3

Approximately one billion people live in China – a country slightly larger than the United States. That is almost one fourth of the world’s population. Amazingly, we know very little about these people. For decades after World War II we had nothing to do with them. In recent years we have developed closer ties with China. In this speech I will examine the nature of the U.S. – China relations by looking at educational, cultural, and economic cooperation between the two countries.

Strategies Used

Startling statement Statistics Comparison and contrast Preview of main ideas

Example 4

In the national elections last year only 40 percent of the eligible voters in this community voted. In the mayoral election the turnout was only 22 percent. Our library had to close its doors because of a lack of funds. The library board called a community meeting to muster grass-roots support for any action that would be taken. Seven people showed up – seven out of 14,000. These are examples of apathy in our community. I want to examine some of the causes of that apathy today in this speech.

Strategies Used

Examples Statistics Startling statement Statement of purpose

Example #5 As most of you know I have been a student here at Park High for 3 years.

I know almost all of you have gone here since your freshman year. We know a lot about this school. I used to think this school was not as good as Seymour High at the north end of the city. Well, my views have changed since last week. I visited Seymour for a day to attend classes with my cousin, who is a student there. Both schools have about the same enrollment. Both schools have quality teachers. Let me highlight 3 big differences. At Park we can take 6 subjects, while at Seymour they can take only 5. At Park we have a lounge area to use before and after school and during lunch hours. At Seymour they sit in the gym. Park is new and nicely maintained. Seymour is old, drab, and dull, and dirty. I wondered whether maybe I wasn’t taking for granted some real benefits that Park has over other schools. I did some further investigation and will share some of my findings with you today.

Strategies Used

Reference to self Comparison and Contrast Examples Statement of Purpose

Example #6

Multiple sclerosis – also know as MS – is a puzzling disease that affects the nervous system. It generally emerges between the ages of twenty and thirty. Symptoms of the disease include paralysis or numbness, speech impairment, and blindness. There has been considerable research into the nature and causes of MS, but so far there have been limited results. Today I will share with you details on what we do know about MS.

Strategies Use

Direct approach Definition Examples Statement of purpose

Example #7 “If a man does not keep pace with his companions,

perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” These words of the American writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau speak for an individualism and self-reliance that is sometimes scarce among people in our society today. Is the American individualism that forged out new frontiers beginning to subside? Is the American artist, inventor, philosopher, theologian, humanitarian being eaten up by conformity? I present some views on this topic in this speech.

Strategies Used

Quotation Rhetorical questions Statement of purpose

Conclusions

Serve 3 purposes Summarize the main ideas or restate the

purpose Leave a lasting impression *In persuasion, offer a challenge

Conclusion Strategies

See the introduction strategies Visualize the future Return to introduction method

Example #1 There seems little doubt that Winston High School

should have a girls’ soccer team. Every other school in our county has such a team. The state sponsors a contest series in the sport. The boys at our high school have a soccer team and 12 other sports in which they may participate. The girls do not have a soccer team and they have only 8 sports. What can we do? We have to express our concerns to the school administration. We can do this through the student council, through letters, and through meetings. It is up to you and me. If we want girls’ soccer at Winston, we must act.

Strategies Used

Review of main ideas Comparison and contrast Examples Question Challenge

Example #2 We have seen that poverty causes human misery. The

poor have more sickness, a shorter life expectancy and less freedom of movement. We have seen that our industry is squeezing the jobs out of the work force that those less fortunate in education and skills would otherwise have. And finally, we have seen that the technological revolution will cause higher unemployment rates in the future for those with minimal skills. We are approaching a time when too many will be unemployable. Our responsibility now is not to destroy our welfare system, but rather to preserve it and pump new life into it. We cannot turn our backs on the needy.

Strategies Used

Review of main ideas Examples Reference to audience Challenge

Example #3 We have seen that America consumes more electrical power

than any other country in the world. In addition, the United States is a major user of oil and petroleum products. Americans in recent years have taken some steps to conserve energy and limit their consumption. This has made a difference. But we must go further. A man I know idled away his youth. He spent all the money he earned and used up the inheritance he received from his parents. When he was 65, he was jobless and penniless. He had to depend on others for his meager living. The comfort no longer was there when he most needed it. Like this man, Americans are extravagantly consuming. We are consuming the world’s energy resources. Unless we do more to conserve, there may not be much there in the future.

Strategies Use

Review main ideas Story Compare and contrast Challenge

Example #4

Adolph Hitler in his book Mein Kampf advises, “The one thing that wins easiest victory over reason is terror and force.” Can a civilized society survive the onslaughts of terrorism? Will rational, humane governments survive? As we have seen, there are no easy answers. Recent events have demonstrated the awful effects of terrorism. Reasonable people must develop new means to combat terrorism. We must convince those in doubt that the advice of Adolph Hitler is false and intolerable.

Strategies Used

Quotation Questions Challenge

Expectations

Use the strategies Fulfill the purposes of intros and conclusions