The Benefits of Effectively Opening Your Speech

The opening of your speech is probably the most important part. This is your opportunity to draw your audience in a make them interested in what you have to say for the rest of the time. If you can pull them in at this point, then there is a good chance that they will stay alert and listening during your entire speech. But where do you begin? How do you know what to say to captivate your audience?

The truth is that you have many choices in front of you and you may want to choose one based on your own personality. If you are a serious person, using humor is probably not your best option and vice versa. Your opening should also flow smoothly into the body or mid section of your speech, so you have to remember that you need to relevantly tie the two together when deciding how to plan your opening. Let’s go through your three main opening options.

Using Humor To Lighten The Mood

You could start by telling a joke or using your humorous side in some other way to get your audience interested. Humor is one of the best ways to make your audience feel good about your speech before it has even started because we relate laughter with having a fun time. Automatically, they will feel like they are in the presence of a public speaker who will entertain them while educating them and keeping them from being bored.

This may be especially important with a young audience or an audience that is required to attend your speech. Already this group is feeling as though they are being forced to sit through a long and lengthy seminar, which does not usually go over well. They want to find someway to keep the experience as painless as possible. With humor, you are showing them that they can have a good time while still listening to information on your subject.

Getting Your Audience To Think