Creating the Introduction &
Conclusion
Introductions and Conclusions:
 Primacy-Recency effect: The audience
is more likely to remember the first and
last items conveyed orally in a series
than the items in between.
Goals of the Introduction:
I. Attention Getter
II. Listener Relevance
III. Speaker Credibility
IV. Preview of Main Points (thesis)
The introduction is usually only 10-15% of the
length of your entire speech.
Attention Getters:
Create an opening that will win your audience’s
attention:
 Use of startling fact or statistic
 Ask a rhetorical question (question seeking a mental response




rather than a direct response)
Use a quotation
Tell a short story
Use humor (not reccommended……)
Perform a task (action, video clip, etc.)
Listener Relevance:
 A Listener relevance link is a statement of
how and why your speech relates to or
might affect your audience.
 Sometimes, your attention getter will serve
this function. Therefore, it might not be
necessary to include an additional listener
relevance statement.
Speaker Credibility:
 This builds your authority on the subject and
convinces your audience that you are a reliable
and credible speaker.
 Sometimes, your attention getter will serve this
function. Therefore, it might not be necessary
to include an additional speaker credibility
statement.
 Anytime you use a statistic, fact, or quotation
(and provide citations), you are proving that you
researched your topic.
Preview of Points (Thesis)
 You must preview your main points. Be
straightforward! This also serves as
your thesis statement.
Goals of the Conclusion:
I. Signal Conclusion / Review
main points
II. Clincher / call to action
The introduction is seldom no more than 5%
of the length of your entire speech.
Signal Conclusion / Review Main Points:
 Signal conclusion verbally and nonverbally:
 Verbally – Simply say “In conlcusion.”
 Nonverbally – Slow speech rate. Pause. Step closer to
audience.
 Remind your audience of your main points:
 So, in conclusion, we have discussed the
three most common types of eating
disorders: anorexia, bulimia, and obesity.
Clincher:
 A one to two sentence statement that provides a
sense of closure. This is usually accomplished by
providing one of the attention getters discussed
earlier. You can also refer back to your attention
getter to give a nice “book-end” effect.
 If doing a persuasive speech, you can leave your
audience with an “call to action” that describes
the behavior you want your listeners to follow.
Introduction example:
(Attention Getter / Listener Relevance / Speaker
Credibility) Take a moment and think about 5 women in
your life. Now imagine one of them having an eating
disorder. This information came Paula Kruger’s July 20,
2007 article titled “1 in 5 girls display eating disorder
behavior: study” found on the ABC news website.
II. (Listener Relevance / Speaker Credibility) Learning about
common eating disorders is crucial, because according to
the same article, the number of teenage girls with eating
disorders has doubled in the past six years.
III. (Preview of Points / Thesis) So, today, we will take a closer
look at three common eating disorders facing our nation:
anorexia, bulimia, and obesity.
I.
Conclusion example:
I.
II.
(Signal Conclusion / Review of Main Points) In
conclusion, today we have examined three common eating
disorders: anorexia, bulimia, and obesity.
(Clincher) Take a moment and think back to those five
women in your life. How can use the information learned
today to hopefully identity and combat this growing
problem?