13.8 The Introduction

What should go into your introduction? The most obvious requirement is an attention-getter, also known as a “hook,” to make your audience want to listen. In many situations, the audience is required to listen no matter what, so you might wonder why an attention-getter is necessary. The answer should shape what kind of technique you use.

If the idea is literally just to get them to pull their attention away from whatever they’re doing at the moment, any technique will do: making a loud banging noise, squawking like a chicken, or whispering “Whose $20 bill is this?” I remember a student who began his speech by shouting “Sex!” and then saying, “Now that I have your attention, let me tell you all about warehouse pallets;” he proceeded to give a speech that was as exciting as you’d expect a speech about pallets to be (see the discussion in Chapter 6 about techniques for gaining attention that undermine the acceptance of your message – LINK TO 6.D).

Think instead of the concept from Chapter 4 that “paying attention” is an economic transaction. Your intro is a way of telling the audience that their time will be well-spent because your speech will be enlightening, entertaining, or, at least, something they haven’t heard before. Begin with a fascinating tidbit of information, a story, a scenario, or a puzzling question.^[1] If you have a clear theme, think of a way to weave that theme into the hook.

Your intro should also provide the audience with the background information they’ll need to understand the main points of your speech. This might include “big picture” statistics showing why the topic is significant, a bit about the history of the subject, or details on how it relates to them personally. A student in one of my classes began his speech by asking if anyone in the room chewed tobacco. When no one raised their hand, he could have been discouraged and felt like he had done the opposite of what an intro should do: he had signaled that no one needed to listen. But he was well-prepared: he had statistics showing the likelihood that people in his audience knew someone who used chewing tobacco — a family member, friend or acquaintance — so they had a reason to care.

Intros are the time to define the concepts and terms your audience will need to know, and perhaps the broader frame these concepts and terms fit into (e.g., “price fixing is when different companies reach an agreement to all raise prices at the same time, which is an example of anti-trust laws that protect competition in the marketplace”).

Instructors disagree on whether a speech intro should include a preview of what you will cover, like “Today I will be talking about what price fixing is, why it hurts consumers, and how companies get away with it even though it’s against the law.” This is an example of the deductive style, and it follows the advice, “Tell what you’re going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them.” In terms of clarity and expectations, this can be a helpful guide to the audience.

I’m not a fan of it, however; I prefer the inductive style, where you lead the audience down a path with an unknown destination. Perhaps it’s because I love movies, and wouldn’t want to see a movie that began with the director explaining “Here’s exactly what’s going to happen in this movie from beginning to end…”. If your audience trusts you to take them on a worthwhile journey, it’s more fun for them to not know where they’re going.