Week 6 - Preparing a Speech Outline -

Introduction & Conclusion

 INTRODUCTION (Length/duration is 5-10% of speech)

A. Attention Getter (Don’t start your speech by telling your

audience what your topic is. Start with an attention getter – a
statement, question or story etc, related to your topic, to grab
your audience’s attention. See types and examples below).
B. Reveal Topic (Now tell your audience what your topic is, and
why it is important).
C. Credibility (Your experience, interest, qualification or expertise
to gain your audience’s trust–
why they should trust/believe you. You can also mention what
you have extensively read or what/who your sources are).
D. Thesis Statement: (In the outline it can be part of Introduction
or comes after Introduction)
 CONCLUSION (Length/duration is 5% of speech)

A. Summary Statement (The content is the same as the Thesis

Statement, but start with a phrase that shows that you have
come to the end of your speech, such as “To conclude … “)

B. Memorable Concluding Remark (Your final statement to give

an impact to your audience and also make them remember
your speech. See examples next page).
 Types & Examples of Attention Getters

• 1. Startling Statement

• Take a moment and think of the three women closest to

you. Who comes to mind? Your mother? Your sister? Your
best friend? Now guess which one will be sexually
assaulted during her lifetime. It’s not a pleasant thought,
but according to the U.S. Department of Justice, one of
every three American women will be sexually assaulted
sometime during her life.
 Types & Examples of Attention Getters

• 2. Rhetorical Question

• Have you ever spent a sleepless night studying for an

exam? Can you remember rushing to finish a term paper
because you waited too long to start writing it? Do you
often feel overwhelmed by all the things you have to get
done at school? At work? At home?
• If so, you may be the victim of poor time management.
Fortunately, there are proven strategies you can follow to
use your time more effectively and to keep control of your
life.
 Types & Examples of Attention Getters

• 3. Story

• I can visualize the scene again and again: 11.30 p.m.,

Saturday night, the 15th of August, Mumbai International
Airport, India. I was leaving home for the University of
Richmond. And as I said that final goodbye to my parents,
my family, and my friends; and as I saw hope, expectation,
even a tinge of sadness, in their eyes; and as I stepped
aboard the Boeing 747 in front, I knew my life had changed
forever.
 Types & Examples of Attention Getters

• 4. Personal Reference

• Were you panting when you got to the top of those four
flights of stairs this morning? I’ll bet there were a few of
you who vowed you’re never going to take a class on the
top floor of this building again. But did you ever stop to
think that maybe the problem isn’t that this class is on the
top floor? It just might be that you are not getting enough
exercise.
• Today I want to talk with you about how you can build an
exercise programme that will get you and keep you in
shape, yet will only cost you three hours a week, and not
one cent!
 Types & Examples of Attention Getters

• 5. Quotation

• “If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform

one million realities…” These words from poet and writer
Maya Angelou could apply easily to the dedicated
researcher Jonas Salk, who created a vaccine for polio. A
half century ago this crippling disease struck
indiscriminately, but today widespread use of the vaccine
has virtually wiped out polio. I my talk, I would like to …
 Types & Examples of Attention Getters

• 6. Suspense

• It is the most common chronic disease in the United

States. Controllable but incurable, it is a symptomless
disease. You can have it for years and never know until it
kills you. No wonder it is known as the ‘silent killer’.
Some 40 million Americans have this disease, and
300,000 will die from it before the year is out. Odds are
that five of us in class have it.
• What am I talking about? Not cancer. Not AIDS. Not
heart disease. I am talking about hypertension - high
blood pressure.
Types & Examples of Memorable Concluding Remarks

1. Appeal To Action

• We have to stop thinking someone else will change the

world. We’ve got to get it that we are the ones. As you
drive home tonight, remember to lift while you climb and
outstretch that hand to help another woman, another girl.
Let’s be women who are agents of change. Will you be that
woman?
Types & Examples of Memorable Concluding Remarks

2. Emotional Impact

• I ask again, how long could you take walking into that
hospital room and looking at your brother or father in a
coma, knowing he would rather be allowed to die a natural
death than be kept alive in such a degrading manner? I’ve
crossed that doorstep – I’ve gone into that hospital room,
and let me tell you, it’s hell. I think it’s time we reconsider
our law concerning euthanasia.
Don’t you?
Types & Examples of Memorable Concluding Remarks

3. Story

• It is now more than three years since Greg received his

bone marrow transplant. In that time, he has changed from
a very sick young boy to a busy, healthy, active young man.
Greg says of his donor: ”Without her, I wouldn’t be here
today. I owe my whole life, and everything I ever
accomplish, to her.” Through bone marrow donation, all of
us have the opportunity to make that kind of contribution
Types & Examples of Memorable Concluding Remarks

4. Call For A Change In Belief

• In conclusion, we must realize that capital punishment is

discriminatory. We must realize that capital punishment is
immoral. And finally, we must realize that capital
punishment is not an effective deterrent to crime. I would
urge all of you who support capital punishment to reassess
your views and to see its injustice, its immorality, and its
ineffectiveness as a deterrent to crime.
Types & Examples of Memorable Concluding Remarks

5. Call For Action

• So, I encourage you to enroll in a self-defense course,

whether it be through a physical education class or through
a private organization and whether you do it here or back in
your hometown. Even if you do not enroll right away, I
encourage you to do so in the near future. Taking such a
course could mean keeping your money, protecting your
property, defending yourself, your family or friends. It could
even mean the difference between life and death. Don’t
ever think, “It could never happen to me.” Why not be
prepared? As Patrick Lee said, “Ask yourself, do you want to
be the victim or the survivor?”