Beginning and Ending Your Speech

Beginning and Ending Your Speech Since the introduction will be your audience's first impression of your presentation and your conclusion will be the final impression you leave your audience with, it is important to spend time writing and practicing both the introduction and conclusion. If you successfully get through the introduction of your speech, it improves the chances you will have a successful speech overall. First, because it will set the tone for the rest of your speech and second, because it will be a boost to your confidence. For both the informative and persuasive speech, you will have your Central Idea Statement at the end of the introduction and at the beginning of the conclusion (with a change in verb tense in the conclusion). For each speech, both the introduction and conclusion should be about a minute to a minute and a half long. If yours is longer or shorter in practice, work on adjusting it. You should not start your informative or persuasive speech with "Hello, my name is….." instead, start right into the professional introduction as you have created it. Your introduction for both the informative and persuasive needs to have all five elements: 1. It should get the audience's attention and interest
You could do this using any of the following techniques (you might use more than one but not all seven). a. State the Importance of Your Topic
Explain to your audience how important your topic is to them or the seriousness of your topic. This might include statistics or reports concerning your topic.
b. Startle the Audience
You might choose something that startles them, such as popping a balloon to talk about air noise. But you should not scare or terrify them.
c. Arouse the Curiosity of the Audience
You might start with a riddle of some sort to reveal the topic or talk about the topic in a way that leaves the topic a mystery at first.
d. Question the Audience
You might start by asking your audience rhetorical