Art Of Great Speaking

An effective speaker will choose an opening that fits the circumstances and their personality. There are many different ways that a speaker can start their speech. And there are only 3 general rules in selecting an opening
(i)    Keep it brief
(ii)    Keep it relevant
(iii)    Keep it interesting
With that in mind here are examples of 5 effective ways that a speaker can open their speech:
Funny Story
This is an effective way to start if you can tell stories and you have a good story to tell. The story should be memorized because (a) humor is difficult to get across when read and (b) if you stumble over the punch line you lose the opportunity. If the story falls flat, move on as if you didn’t expect a laugh anyway.
The Casual Beginning
This is always an effective way to start speech. The audience does not realize you have started and you are into your speech straight away. As the speaker stands up they look over at their neighbour and says “I just saying to “Y” that it is plain to see you are all very interested in ….” And off you go.
Open With A Question
Use a question that makes the audience think and gets their attention. The question should be interesting and not to commonplace. A question like “Do you know what do of the week it is?”, does not ask enough of the audience to get them thinking. However, a question along the lines of “Have you ever played intercollegiate football on a muddy field during a cloudburst?”, will get the right audience interested.
Opening With Facts
This beginning gets you straight into your speech. However, facts can be boring. Try to add some interest when stating your fact. For example, starting your speech with “26,000 birds died along this stretch of coast this year because of oil spills” is ok. But a better way is to express this fact is “Oil spills are a killer and a very painful one at that. It is estimated that 26,000 birds died in agony, along our coastline this year because of this killer.”
Use A Quotation
A relevant quotation will get the speech off on the right note. The quote is given first and is followed by the reason for quoting it. It is easy to find suitable quotes either by traditional means or through the internet. Although they are easy to find an audience is impressed by a speaker who knows them off by heart.
There are other many other openings that can be used such as stories opening, empathy opening, shock opening etc. The type of opening used is dependent on the situation and the speaker. To become a more effective speaker, try out a variety of beginnings rather than sticking to one tried and tested opening.

My previous post on openings in public speaking discusses the importance of them in getting started on the right note.

Note, an interesting and informative speech may be highly entertaining without being humorous. You will be speaking because you are informed about your subject and it is interesting to your listeners. If they wanted to be entertained they would have invited an entertainer. When starting in public speaking plan how to spice your speech. Radio and television performers, with few exceptions follow their scripts so closely they would not even “ad lib” a sneeze.

Make sure the story or humorous anecdote fits the speech and the occasion. Keep it brief use only the words neceesay to tell the story. You don’t want it to drag. Try to tell fresh jokes rather than old “standing” jokes. 

Also don’t introduce you joke by saying that you are going to tell a joke and the audience will die laughing at it. You will find that at least some in the audience will prefer to “choke to death” rather than laugh.

Don’t milk the story or joke for more than one laugh. Also ensure you remember the punchline. You do not want to recount every last detail until the end when he asks “how did that go?”  

Remember, keep the humor close to the subject. 

For more information on confident public speaking and conversation visit http://www.SelfConfidentSpeaking.com to claim a free preview of The Art of Great Conversation