Asking Questions
“According to the U.N., roughly 734 million people live on less than two dollars a day. Could you?”
(Select the player to hear the quote)
This rhetorical question, or question designed to evoke a thought or emotive response from an audience, requires no answer. Starting a speech with a question like the one above immediately cuts to the point, while simultaneously provides the audience concrete information and gets them to think about the main idea of the speech. Delivering a rhetorical question effectively requires skill, though, so inexperienced public speakers should avoid using them until they gain a bit more experience. Deliver the question slowly, deliberately, and follow it with a brief pause that allows the audience to consider what they heard. Too short a pause, and the audience does not have adequate time to think, while too long a pause runs the risk of having the audience actually start responding to the question.
Finding the right balance of time takes skill, but once perfected, gives the speaker a powerful opening tool for grabbing attention. In addition to this deft use of a pause, the speaker should also follow up the question by explaining how the rest of the speech will address the nature of the question.
In a quick poll the speaker poses a question that requires little commitment from the audience, other than raising a hand. For example, using the topic above, the speaker might start by saying,
“Can I get a quick show of hands for everyone in this room who currently has a job?”
Gaining a small showing of audience involvement like this provides a highly effective way to grab attention, and the critically thinking speaker can combine this technique with the rhetorical question to further drive home an important point. For example, following the question above, the speaker could say,
“Now, keep your hand up if you make less than two dollars a day at your job, just like the other 734 million people in the world who make this wage or less, according to the U.N.”
Such strategies have risks though, especially when they backfire, such as when audience members do not raise their hands as expected, or when a speaker ends up with more audience involvement than previously desired. Use discretion, and always have a backup plan.
Unexpected Information
“Just how big is a billion? To put this in perspective, let us look at a single second. Now, let’s figure out how much time passes in one billion seconds. Any guesses? It takes more than 31 years. If you started counting to one billion when Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds radio broadcast convinced some Americans that aliens had invaded the country in 1938, you’d finish counting around the time Neil Armstrong took his first step on the moon.”
Using a set of statements like this to arrive at an unexpected conclusion would provide a great segue to kick off a speech explaining a concept like the federal deficit, especially if the speaker wished to put into perspective the scope of the federal budget. Statements such as these stimulate audience members’ curiosity and keep them listening for more useful information.
Another way of approaching this, but also combining the technique with gaining audience involvement, would occur if the speaker asked the following:
“Would every other male in the room raise his hand? And now, would every third female in the room raise her hand as well? According to the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, statistics show that the people with their hands in the air represent the odds of receiving a positive diagnosis for some form of cancer.”
While sobering and somewhat macabre, such involvement causes the audience to feel invested and personally related to the topic from that point forward.
Visual Aids and Demonstrations
Though other chapters cover visual aids more in depth, suffice to say, visual aids can provide a speaker with powerfully gripping opening techniques. Additionally, demonstrations may provide an audience with a visually compelling reason to listen as well.
Read through the slides below to get some ideas of ways you can incorporate visual aids in your speech. Use the < and > at the bottom of the slides to navigate through the slides.
Refer to Current or Historical Events
“Last week we noted the founding of this great college in 1886, with a big celebration in the campus commons. The first students to graduate were nursing students, and they received their diplomas in 1890. Since then, there have been thousands of nurses who got their education right here.”
The above example refers to both the past and the present. A nursing student attending this college might use this as a good attention getter for a speech about some element of nursing or the medical field. Generic yet personal, it immediately engages the audience and brings them personally closer to the topic and its relevance.
The purpose of an introduction is threefold:
- Orient the audience to the topic
- Set the tone for the remainder of the speech
- Hook the audience’s attention and show them that their investment of time and energy spent listening will seem worth it in the end
Great introductions fulfill these purposes without giving away too much of the “good stuff,” which speakers keep in their back pocket until the body of the speech.
Let’s Recap
Answer the following questions to see if you can identify the different ways of Gaining Attention in the introduction of your speech.
