Effective Public Speaking Tips 101 - How To Open A Speech Well

People may forget a lot of what they hear in a speech, but most typically will at least recall the opening and the closing. So how to open a speech?

Taking Questions From An Audience
How to Close a Speech By Taking Questions From An Audience

One common way to open a speech is to tell your audience what you're going to tell them - in other words, lay out in simple bullet point or outline form the key main ideas around which your speech is focused. The following article presents effective public speaking tips with a focus on ways to craft openings to your speeches that grab hold of the audience and carry them into the world of your choosing.

How to open a speech with a Story: Everyone loves a good story. Some of the greatest speeches of all time start with a parable or a personal anecdote. People are prone to perceive a speech as something dry and boring. What better way to pleasantly surprise them, then, than with an interesting tale?

with a Joke: Effective public speaking tips do not all recommend this and this technique is less universal than storytelling, as not everybody tells a joke well. Know whether or not you are one of these types of people before deciding to open with a joke, for it can fail as effectively as it succeeds. If you do have confidence in your ability to tell a joke with the kind of delivery that allows the punch line to have its humorous impact, then by all means tell one. Just be sure to choose one that relates in some way to the message of your speech and/or the composition of your audience. Otherwise you may do a decent job developing rapport with the crowd, but then lose them moments later when you start delivering a completely unrelated speech.

with a Quote: One great thing about using a quotation to open a speech is that you invoke the reputation and memory of the famous person quoted in doing so. Find a quote that naturally leads into the beginning of your speech and comes from a speaker that may lend credibility to the message you're about to deliver.

with a Question: There are two ways to use a question to start a speech - to introduce the audience to the theme of the speech, or to build rapport between you and them. Starting a speech with a rhetorical question - particularly one that's pressing to the members of your audience - introduces your speech as an answer to that question. It's a simple and digestible format that people can easily understand and be drawn into. Choose a question that probes the heart of the your speech and you've effectively paved the way from the outset for your audience to see exactly where you'll be taking them. Or alternatively ask a direct question that is not rhetorical - in the manner of, "How many people have??" - and you've instantly turned a passive audience into active participants in your speech and its purpose.

with a Statistic: People like facts and figures. They are the solid ground on which are beliefs, values, and ideals are built. Whether your goal is to inform and educate the group or persuade them to your line of thinking, a potent and relevant statistic gives you an instant credibility and authority. Just be sure that you pick a current, relevant, and accurate statistic, and that you present the source of the information.

Get all your speeches started off right. Learn how to open a speech in a way that captures the audience's attention and draws them in to what you have to say and you'll have infinitely greater success having your message understood and your purpose in giving the speech achieved.