Public Speaking Chapter Ten

Purpose of Introduction:
- Gaining the attention and interest of the audience
o Audience decides whether or not to be active listeners
- Influences the audience to view the speaker and topic favorably
o Aims to make listeners sympathetic and attentive
o To achieve this the speaker should be confident and prepared
o Also looking at the audience analysis helps gain most people’s opinion
- Clarifies the purpose or thesis of the speech
o Listeners are more likely to be influenced by the speech if they know what the
speaker wants them to believe or do
o Sometimes the speaker can assume that the audience is already interested
- Previews the development of the topic
o The speaker reveals the pattern for the body of the speech and what the major
headings will be
o The preview will help the audience follow the speakers thinking and anticipate
what will come next
- The introduction is critical in making an effective speech
Introduction: the beginning of the speech, which affects listeners’ first impressions of the
speaker and prepares them for the speech
Partition: division of the body of the speech among selected categories for discussion
Types of Introductions:
- Identifying with the audience
o Draw on an experience, value, or goal that is shared
- Referring to the speech situation
o Refer to why everyone is gathered together (weddings, farewells)
o The specific location of the speech might be significant
o Introduction continues from the last person but also shows differences between
the two
- Stating the purpose
o This is ideal when the audience is captive or is disposed to the ideas already
o Audience is likely to pay attention to decide whether or not they want to fulfill the
speakers request
- Stating the importance of the topic
o Make the audience know your topic is important before telling them what the
topic is
o This demands the attention of the audience
o This approach has been overused
- Citing statistics and making claims
o Works best when the stats are accurate but surprising or not well known
o Stats can show that assumptions are not correct
o This might put people on edge because you are challenging their predispositions
- Telling a story
o Relating a personal story to the speech in order for the audience to be able to
relate to the speech
o Be careful that the story does not over shadow the speech
 o The story may be too interesting that it over shadows the main points and makes
the speech hard to remember because they remember the story instead
- Using an analogy
o This helps to clarify an unfamiliar subject by comparing it to something else that
the audience already understands
o Helps make confusing topics more concrete in the audiences mind
o These are useful when presenting to people who are not in the same field as you
o Should be simple and direct
- Asking a rhetorical question
o This is a question that is asked not to be answered but simply for the audience to
think about the answer
o This question might ask the audience to imagine themselves in a different time,
place, or situation
o Rhetorical questions can be overused or misused
o Rhetorical questions can cause someone in the audience to answer out loud in a
way that was not intended derailing the entire speech
o When the speaker asks a question that is not intended to be rhetorical they may
not receive a response because the audience does not know to answer out loud
Rhetorical Question: a question for which no answer is expected but which encourages listeners
to think
- Quoting someone
o Quotes do not have to come from a famous person
o Quotes can come from a person that opposes the viewpoint of the speaker
o The introduction must relate to what is going to be said in the speech
o Will the quote lead directly to the thesis and main points?
- Using humor
o Used properly, humor relaxes the audience, makes listeners see the speaker
favorably, and disarms skeptics
o Humor is not appropriate in all situations, and the joke may not tie into the speech
as well as it should
o With culturally diverse audiences the speech could backfire and offend people
instead of amusing the audience
Strategies for Preparing an Introduction:
- Prepare the body of the speech first
o It helps to know what you are introducing before you make a preview to the main
ideas and how they will be developed
- Relate the introduction to the body
o The connection between the introduction and body should be clear and direct
- Keep the introduction brief
o The focus on the speech is on the body so the introduction should not be too long
to take away from the body, but also not too short
o The introduction should not feel like a speech itself
- Make the introduction complete
o Needs three things
§ A device to gain the audience’s attention
§ A statement of the thesis or purpose
 § A preview of how you will develop the topic
- Keep a file of potential introductions
o While looking for an introduction idea you will find lots of good but irrelevant
stuff that should be saved for when it is relevant to one of your speeches
- Be guided by the examples from the book
o Consider the book as a guideline to help brainstorm the best way to introduce
your topic
- Plan the introduction word for word
o Extemporaneous is risky for every speaker because if the introduction is set up
incorrectly the rest of the speech will not be easy to follow
o Manuscript is also not a good idea because the audience wants to gain connection
during the introduction and if the speaker is looking down constantly this cannot
be done
o Planning word for word helps make the most clear and compelling first
impression with the audience
Purpose of Conclusions:
- Signal that the end is coming
o This signal should only be sent at the right time
o If the signal is sent too soon people become antsy for the ending
o If the signal is sent too late people will believe the speech ends abruptly and
without closure
- Summarize the main ideas
o Do not repeat the main ideas
o Do not reprise the development of the main ideas
o Give particular words or phrases in a way that the listeners can remember
o This increases the chance that the listeners will recall the main ideas correctly
- Make a final appeal to the audience
o This is the last chance to inform the audience what you want them to think or do
as a result of the speech
o Some speeches just ask the audience to think critically about something they
previously had accepted
Conclusion: the closing of the speech, which draws together what the speaker has said and
indicates what the audience should believe or do in response to the speech
Types of Conclusions:
-Summarizing
o Reminds the audience not only about major topics but also about the details of the
argument and even repeating some memorable phrases
o Sometime a simple restatement of key points can be the most effective closing
Summary: a condensed restatement of the principal ideas just discussed
- Quoting someone
o Many speeches begin or end with a quotation
o These give the audience something beyond the speech to think about in the future
o Quotations should be neatly balanced, memorable, and sum up the central idea of
the speech
- Making a personal reference
o Shows the speakers personal connection to the speech
 o Encourages the audience to identify with the speaker
o Brings listeners to think if they have the same experiences as the speaker they
should have the same beliefs
- Challenging the audience
o Creates a common bond between speaker and audience
o Transfers the responsibility of meeting the speaker’s goals to the listeners
- Offering a utopian vision
o Offers the ideal version of what could happen if the audience works together to
achieve the challenge
o By predicting the future success, the listeners are assured that their efforts will
produce good results
- All the types of conclusions make good introductions and the introductions can make
good conclusions (narratives, anecdotes, rhetorical questions, quotes, personal reference)
Strategies for Conclusions:
- Work on the conclusion after working on the body of the speech
- Connect the conclusion clearly to the body of the speech
- Keep the conclusion brief
- Aim for a complete conclusion including a wrap up of the major ideas and a clear
indication of how the listeners are supposed to respond
- Summarize the argument memorably
- Be sure that the conclusion really is the conclusion
o Avoid signaling a false conclusion
o Indicate clearly when moving from the body of the speech to the conclusion
- Return to the introductory device when possible
o Refer to the device you started with in the ending to draw a full circle speech
o This suggestion cannot always be followed
o If this can be followed listeners will feel that the speech has a satisfying sense of
structure
- Practice the conclusion
o Specific words and phrases will need to be emphasized in the ending to draw the
speech to a close
Purposes of Transitions:
- Create a sense of movement
- Helps the audience remember what the speaker said
- Keep the speaker from lapsing into nervous mannerisms
- Nervous mannerisms can be so distracting that the audience starts to count them instead
of listening to the speech
Transition: a connection, or bridge, between the main elements of the speech and between the
main ideas within the body of the speech
Elements of Effective Transitions:
- Internal summary of what has been completed
o Gives the audience a brief reminder of the idea and also signals the point of
completion
- A link to what is coming next
o These are connections from one idea to the next
o Some of these are subtle others are explicit
 o If the connection seems obvious the audience might be offended by an explicit
link
o If the connection between points is complex the explicit link will be helpful
o Examples: not only but also, in addition, furthermore, moreover, however,
nonetheless, on the other hand
- Internal preview of the new idea
o Compressed version of what the speaker is about to develop
o This helps the audience to follow along with the transfer to the new main idea
- Complete transitions have all three of these parts working together
Internal Summary: a summary within the body of the speech, drawing together one of the main
ideas
Internal Preview: a preview within the body of the speech, leading into one of the main ideas
Strategies for Preparing Transitions:
- Identify main ideas succinctly
o Quickly and clearly identify the main idea being referred to
- Use parallel structure if possible
o Repeated pattern may make the link more memorable
- Use signposting
o Verbal cues that alert the audience to where the speaker is in the speech
o Can use pauses, repetition, and changes in speaking rate, pitch, or volume as
signposting to guide the audience
Signposting: using verbal cues to indicate to the audience where you are in the speech