Introduction

An introduction's primary purpose is to capture the audience's interest and give them a reason to believe they are going to here something in the speech to justify further attention. Beyond this "grabbing" effect, an introduction helps establish your trustworthiness and reliability as a speaker. A good introduction reassures the audience that your are prepared, have something to say of merit, and are not going to waste audience's time. (For more on Introductions see p. 168 in Metcalfe.)

Attention-getter

You can get your audience's attention in several ways, such as by telling a story or personal experience, asking a rhetorical question, making a startling statement, giving a demonstration, or using a quotation. (Other attention-getting devises can be found in Metcalfe on pp. 168-178. You might also want to explore this link to http://writing.colostate.edu/references/speaking/infomod/pop8a.cfm

Tie to the Audience

Audiences are selfish. They want to know that your speech has some practical, everyday application to their lives or, if not that, at least shows promise that you can raise their curiosity and interest about a topic they previously not considered. The tie to the audience moves an audience's initial interest into a belief there is relevance in what they will hear.

Preview Your Speech

The preview reassures your audience you are prepared and know where you are headed in this speech. You can give them a quick, first statement of your main points, or you can give brief overview of what they will hear in the body of the speech. Either way, the audience should know before they are well invested in you as a speaker that you will be using their time purposefully.

Establish Your Credibility and Common Ground with the Audience

Your "credibility" with your audience rests in their willingness to trust you. If you are credible with them, you are believable. They accept you as knowledgeable and informed. If you lack credibility with your audience, they stop listening. You motivate your audience to listen to you by establishing your credibility early your speech. Usually this is done by citing sources you have used in the preparation of the speech and other qualifications that you bring to your topic.

With some topics sources and qualifications are less important to your audience than knowing necessary background information to follow your speech. Don't make the mistake of assuming that your audience knows what you know. Also you may want to show them that you and they share things in common. Commonalities between speaker and audience build rapport, and rapport enhances credibility.

Central Idea

The central idea (or thesis) is a single sentence expressing the speaker's point of view, or personal perspective, of the topic. The central idea should not be confused with the specific purpose statement, which is a statement of intent, of what the speech will accomplish with the audience. The central idea "colors" the topic with the speaker's opinion, interpretation, or judgment. It gives the audience, then, a view of why the information is important as the speaker sees it. You may wish to look at additional review material by selecting "Central Idea" from the menu on this web page.