Writing a Strong Introduction

Writing a Strong Introduction

Page 269

Like a lead paragraph of a news story that hooks readers, the introduction to your speech must accomplish three crucial tasks: it must grab your audience’s attention, it must offer a preview of your main points, and it must give your listeners a sense of who you are and why they should want to hear what you have to say. Recall the primacy effect discussed earlier in this chapter. Your introduction is the first thing your audience will hear; it therefore sets the tone and the stage for the rest of your speech.

Like a lead paragraph of a news story that hooks readers, the introduction to your speech must accomplish three crucial tasks: it must grab your audience’s attention, it must offer a preview of your main points, and it must give your listeners a sense of who you are and why they should want to hear what you have to say.