William Jennings Bryan had said, “Eloquent speech is not from lip to ear. But rather from heart to hear.” Through your speech, you should be capable of conveying your thoughts and ideas and yet not bore the listener. It means that you need to have all the elements right to keep the listener engrossed and immersed. A powerful speech can captivate and motivate people.
Unfortunately, not all presenters and speakers take care to prepare their speeches or organize their thought-process well. They leave the audience confused and bored. But you would not want to do that to your audiences, right? If you ensure that you have all the basic elements right, the chances are that you can leave many of your listeners impressed beyond words.
While preparations are crucial, people often overlook one essential aspect: ‘ how to start a speech?’ Wishing your audience, getting straight to the point, starting with a stress buster, etc., are some of the tried-and-tested methods. But do they always work? Not really.
Whether your audience knows you or not, the initial few moments of your speech are when they judge how the future course will be. Those opening few seconds or minutes are the best opportunity to make an indelible impression on the listener. Those are the golden moments, and if missed, you will get very few chances to create an impact on the listener’s mind and heart. These seconds are what you have got to create the first impression, and we all know how important first impressions are – they are, after all, the last impressions.
We are sharing a few simple, realistic tips on how to start a speech.
- Start with showing gratitude for being invited to speak. It is important to mention the names of the people, remember the correct seniority, and thank them all in the open forum.
- Also, remember to thank your audience for their time. After all, they took out time to attend the session. This may seem trivial; however, it is imperative to create a personal connection with each member. You should also ensure that you mention that you feel honored to be a part of the August gathering. Giving respect and regard to the audience members is one of the best ways to drive enthusiasm and eagerness in the audience.
- Open the speech with something from the current happenings in the world. In most cases, your audience will be aware of the latest events, and therefore, it is easy to find the connection. It is a challenge for every speaker to find a common link or ground to start the speech. Once the link is established, it is simpler to proceed with the topic of the day.
- Another way of finding common ground is to talk about events that have happened in the past, for example, historical events. Choose an event or events that have some symbolic relevance to your speech for the day. Abstain from picking any arbitrary event that may not make much sense or help you connect with your listeners.
- Some of the other ways to start a speech are – to take the reference of a famous personality, share quotes, statistics, recent data, authoritative research, etc., to make the opening of your speech.
- Always keep your speech optimistic, on the positive side. Whatever be the purpose of the session, your speech should be buoyant and upbeat. The underlying aim is to inspire the listeners, and filling your speech with hope is the best way to drive positivity.
For more tips on ‘how to start a speech,’ get in touch with a professional training and coaching institute. Experts will help you with other aspects of your speech, such as how to memorize a speech, how to deliver one with force, etc.
