Introductions, Conclusions & Transitions

1. Introductions, Conclusions & Transitions

2. Introduction Has Four Objectives: • Get the attention and interest of your audience • Reveal the topic of your speech • Establish your credibility • Preview the body of the speech

3. Getting Attention • If your audience doesn’t immediately give you their attention, wait patiently. • Look directly at the audience without saying a word.

4. Relate to the Audience • People pay attention to things that affect them directly. • Relate the topic to your listeners.

5. Six Ways to Grab the Audience’s Attention • State the Importance of Your Topic • Startle the Audience with a Statistic • Stir Up Curiosity • Question the Audience • Begin with a Quotation • Tell a Story

6. State the Importance of Your Topic • Hopefully, you think your speech is important—tell your audience why they should think so too. • Think about ways to demonstrate or prove to the audience the importance of your topic.

7. Startle the Audience with a Statistic • Startle your listeners with statistic they’d be surprised to hear. • Example: More American soldiers die from suicide than from fighting in combat. • Make sure it relates directly to the subject of your speech.

8. Stir Up the Curiosity of the Audience • Draw people into your speech with a series of statements that gradually stir up curiosity about the subject of your speech.

9. Curiosity Introduction Example • “It is the most common chronic disease in the US. Controllable but incurable, it is a symptomless disease. You can have it for years and never know until it kills you. Some 73 million Americans have this disease, and 300,000 will die from it before the year is out. Odds are that five of us in this class have it. What am I talking about? Not cancer. Not AIDS. Not heart disease. I am talking about hypertension, high blood pressure.” VS. • “Today I am going to talk about high blood pressure.”

10. Question the Audience • Ask a rhetorical question to get your listeners thinking about your speech. • Rhetorical Question: a question that the audience answers mentally rather than out loud

11. Question the Audience Examples • Sometimes a single question will do. • Example: How would you respond if a loved one was a victim of terrorism? • You may want to ask a series of questions, making sure to pause after each question. • Example: Have you ever spent a sleepless night studying for an exam? Can you remember rushing to finish a term paper? Do you often feel overwhelmed by all of 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.

12. Begin with a Quotation • You might choose a quotation from Shakespeare, the Bible, from a poem, song, film. • Don’t pick a long quotation. Not more than three sentences.

13. Tell a Story • Tell a story based on your own or someone else’s experiences. • The effectiveness of the story depends on the speaker’s delivery as well as the story itself.

14. Story Introduction Example • There I stood, wearing a surgical mask, in the middle of a large, brightly lit room. In the center of the room where five figures huddled over a table. I found it difficult to see since everything was draped in blue sheets, yet I didn’t dare take a step forward. Then one of the figures called to me, “Robby, get over here and take a closer look.” My knees buckled as I walked through the sterile environment. But eventually I was there, standing over an unconscious body in the operating room.

15. Reveal the Topic • In the process of gaining attention, be sure to clearly state the topic of your speech. • If you do not, your listeners will be confused, and you will lose their attention. • Even if they already know your topic, you should restate it clearly and concisely.

16. Preview • Preview statement: a sentence or two in the introduction that identifies the main points you will discuss in the body of the speech. • Your preview statement should come at the very end of your Introduction and signal that the body of your speech is about to begin.

17. The Conclusion

18. Two Objectives of the Conclusion • To let the audience know you are ending the speech. • To reinforce the audience’s understanding of the main idea.

19. Make it Obvious • Make it obvious your speech is about to end with telling phrases like: • In conclusion… • My purpose has been… • Let me end by saying… • To conclude • In closing • So you can see… • One final thought… • If you remember just one thing I’ve said today, remember this…

20. Conclusion Don’ts! • Don’t say you forgot to mention something. • Don’t say “that’s it” or “the end.” • Don’t add new points at the end. • Should review what you’ve already said

21. Transitions

22. Transitions • Transitions: words or phrases that let the audience know when a speaker has just completed one thought and is moving on to another. • Your transition should state both the idea you are leaving and the idea you are coming up to.

23. Transition Examples • Now that we have a clear understanding of the problem, let me share the solution with you. • Keeping these points in mind about sign language, let’s return to the sentence I started with and learn the signs for “you are my friend.”

24. Transition Preview • Transition Preview: a statement that lets the audience know what the speaker is going to discuss next. • It goes into more detail than a regular transition. • It helps listeners keep track of your ideas.

25. Transition Preview Example • Now that we have seen how serious the problem of faulty credit reports is, let’s look at some solutions. I will focus on three solutions—instituting tighter government regulation of credit bureaus, holding credit bureaus financially responsible for their errors, and giving individuals easier access to their credit reports.

26. Transition Summary • Transition Summary: a statement that summarizes what the speaker just said. • They are the reverse of the transition preview. • They remind listeners of what they have just heard. • Used when a speaker finishes a complicated or important main point.

27. Helpful Phrases • Focus on key ideas • The most important thing to remember is… • Be sure to keep this in mind… • This is crucial to understanding the rest of the process/speech • Above all, you need to know… • Numbers • The first thing you want to do… • The next step is to… • Finally… • Introduce your main points with a question • So how serious is this problem? • So how can we solve this problem?