power openers
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Power Openers
Power Openers
Look with favor on bold beginnings.-Virgil
The Introduction must
Gain the attention of the audienceCreate rapport between the
speaker and the audienceProvide reasons for the audience to listen
to the speakerSet the expectations of the audience.
Your goal is to
set the audiences expectationsand then surpass them!
Answer Audience Questions
The audience has several questions that they want answered within
the first few minutes of your talkWho are you? (experience)What are
you going to talk about?When will you be through?Where is this talk
going?Why should I listen?How are you going to make this
interesting?
Avoid Common Mistakes
Avoid saying, Before I beginAvoid getting the names wrong.Avoid
admitting that youd rather be anywhere elseAvoid admitting that
youre not preparedAvoid admitting that youve given the identical
speech a million times for other audiences. Avoid using offensive
humor.Avoid announcing that you had a ghostwriter.Dont
apologize.
Start with a quote from a famous person, inspirational source,
or lyrics from a song. Keep it short but powerful. Pause briefly
for effect when you are done.
Offer a proverb. Folk sayings, old wives' tales, or words of
wisdom from your country or that relate to your experience with the
project that people can relate to provide a meaningful bridge to
your speech.
Ask a rhetorical question.. Make sure the question is an
interesting or startling one to catch the attention of your
audience. Perhaps even one that is the opposite of what the
audience would expect.
Issue a challenge. Riddles, puzzles, case studies, and other
problem solving activities grab hold of listeners' minds. Promise
to deliver suggested options by the end of your
presentation.
Create a word picture.. Using sensory imagery, describe a
heart-tugging or mind-teasing scenario that immediately engages the
audience. Bringing real or imaginary characters or a scene to life
in a verbal sketch that takes just a minute or so can have a
powerful effect on drawing in your listeners.
Quote STARTLING statistics and facts - hard evidence that cannot
be debated because it is proven by logic and science. Audiences are
apt to believe a speaker who uses credible facts as evidence. They
tend to listen to a speaker who opens with this type of
information, especially if it is unusual information.
Tell a story or anecdote- Everyone loves stories, especially if
theyre real, personal, and relevant. Paint a picture, but keep the
story fairly short and make it connect to your speech.
Using a historic event. Historical references make you look
smart and put your topic in perspective. Make sure that the event
connects to your speech and that you have your facts
RIGHT!
Example of a Historical Event Opening
Julia Hughes Jones, former Auditor of Arkansas, started her speech
about women and equality with this opening: Why is a vote
important? Many times, a single vote has changed the course of
history. More than a 1,000 years ago in Greece, an entire meeting
of the Church Synod was devoted to one question: Is a woman a human
being or an animal? It was finally settled by one vote, and the
consensus was that we do indeed belong to the human race. It
passed, however, by just one vote. Other situations where one vote
made a difference: In 1776, one vote gave America the English
language instead of German.In 1845, one vote brought Texas and
California into the Union.In 1868, one vote saved President Andrew
Johnson from impeachment. In 1923, one vote determined the leader
of the new political party in Munich. His name was Adolf Hitler.In
1960, one vote change in each precinct in Illinois would have
defeated John F. Kennedy.
Avoid the pleasant but unoriginal
It is a pleasure to speak to Middletowns Kiwanis. Ive always had
great respect for your civic endeavors in the community
Im so glad that you invited me here today
Booker T. Washington
In 1875, the former slave opened his talk to the business
establishment of Atlanta with this line: Gentlemen, one-third of
the population of the South is of the Negro race.
Frederick Douglass
On July 4, 1852, he opened an address in Ohio by saying:Pardon
mewhy did you ever invite me? I and the people I represent have no
reason to celebrate this day.
Winston Churchill
On May 10, 1940, he opened his talk to members of Parliament (who
had made fun of his warnings about Hitler) with:
I speak to you for the first time as Prime Minister in a solemn
hour for the life of our country, of our Empire, of our allies and,
above all, for the cause of freedom.
Bernard Baruch
In his testimony to a commission on the atomic bomb in 1946, he
said: We are here to make a choice between the quick and the
dead.
Senator Daniel Webster
He began his oration defending the Compromise of 1850:I speak today
not as a Massachusetts man, not as a Northern man, but as an
American.
Abraham Lincoln
Lincolns reply in one of the infamous debates with Stephen Douglas:
It is true what Mr. Douglas said, that I did run a grocery store
and I did sell goods including whiskey. But I remember that in
those days that Mr. Douglas was one of my best customers. Many a
time have I stood on one side of the counter and sold whiskey to
Mr. Douglas on the other side. But the difference is that I have
left my side of the counter, but Mr. Douglas still sticks
tenaciously to his.
Harry S. Truman
Radio speech on August 6, 1945:Sixteen hours ago, an American
airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima
Chief Seattle
He opened his address to a white audience in 1854 with these
remarks:There was a time when our people covered the land as the
waves of a wind-ruffled sea covered its shell-paved floor. Now that
is a memory, a mournful memory.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
August of 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial:Fivescore years
ago, a great American in whose symbolic shadow we stand, signed the
Emancipation Proclamation
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