BEGINNING AND
ENDING YOUR
SPEECH!
COM 143
The Introduction
◦Getting Attention and Interest
◦Relate the topic to the audience.
◦State the importance.
◦Startle the audience.
◦Question the audience.
◦Begin with a quotation
◦Tell a story.
The Introduction
◦Reveal the topic.
◦Establish credibility and goodwill.
◦Preview the body of the speech (preview
statement).
Other Tips for the Intro
◦ Keep it brief. It should not be more than 10-20% of speech
content.
◦ Look for ideas while doing research.
◦ Be creative and experiment with multiple openings.
◦ Don’t worry about exact wording. You can go back and change.
◦ Work out intro in detail and practice, practice, practice.
◦ Don’t start talking too soon. Make eye contact and make sure
audience is settled.
Conclusions
“Great is the art of beginning,” said Longfellow,
“but greater the art is of ending.”
◦ Signal the end of the speech “My purpose has been..” “Let me end by saying..” “I’d like to end this with you by reminding…”
◦ Crescendo ending-builds to a zenith of power and intensity.
◦ Dissolve ending-Still strong but generates emotional appeal and fades out to a final dramatic statement.
◦ Don’t forget to reinforce your central idea: summarize the speech, end with a quotation, make a dramatic statement, refer back to
the introduction.
◦ Other Tips:
◦ Like the intro, keep an eye out for conclusion material while researching.
◦ Conclude with a bang—not a whimper. Work on several endings.
◦ Don’t make it long. 5-10 percent of the speech.
◦ Practice your ending so that you know it. You should know you introduction and conclusion and deliver it with feeling. This is one
way you set tone.