The introduction of a speech is a map for your audience. It tells them who you are as their guide, the destination, the goal of your presentation, why you want to go there, and how you guys will get there together. An effective introduction has three main elements. Number one, reaching your audience by saying hello and giving the names of yourself and your presentation topic. Two, the context, background information about your topic, showing why it is important to learn about. And three, an outline of the main points that you will cover in your talk. The greeting gets your audience's attention. Show them where you are on the map. They need to feel comfortable with you, so don't forget to smile. Start with a friendly hello, hi or good morning. Then pronounce your name clearly, if necessary, give some details about your qualifications, such as the school or the company that you're affiliated with, and how long you've been in this field. Finally, state the topic or the title of your presentation. For example, "Hi, I'm Judy. I'm an English professor at UCI. I've been a teacher for over 15 years. Today, I'd like to give you some tips for giving a presentation in English." The second step is to provide helpful context about your topic. Give the bigger picture of how your topic fits into the real-world map. Before you go into your topic in detail, what background information does the audience need to know? Maybe you'll need to provide some historical context or define a few words that they don't yet understand. It is also important to show the relevance of your topic to the audience's lives, why they should care about this topic. Here are some phrases that you can use. I've chosen this topic because giving a speech in front of strangers can be a frightening experience. You may have wondered how you can improve your public speaking skills. Over the last few decades, more professors have been requiring students to give oral presentations. This is important because most people will have to give speeches at some point in their careers. Outline the last part of the introduction is a checklist of the main points that you will cover in your talk. They're turn by turn directions to your destination. Divide the content of your speech into 2-5 manageable sections. If you don't break up the content into smaller sections, then there is only one big section and the audience may not be able to identify your main ideas during your talk. On the other hand, if you have like 10 or 15 sections, then your audience will not be able to remember them all. Two to five sections is just the right amount. For instance, I've divided my discussion into three parts. In the first part, I will describe the elements of an effective presentation. Next, we'll turn our attention to strategies that can help you speak clearly and concisely. Finally, we'll explore ways to handle any unexpected problems that may arise. Greeting, context, outline. If these three elements aren't covered in your introduction, then your audience, including your professor or your future boss, will feel completely lost. They won't know who you are, why you're talking, and what you really want them to learn. Let's watch an ineffective, not so good introduction. In this example, please pretend that I'm your classmate. You have never met me. Today, I'm going to tell you about the different types of shoppers. In that example, there was no greeting, no context, no outline. Saying only the topics name just isn't enough information for most audiences. Now let's watch an effective, much improved version. Hi. I'm Judy. I've been asked to give you an overview of the first part of Chapter 4 in our textbook. In Chapter 3, we learned about the different types of retail stores, Chapter 4 focuses on the behavior of consumers. They are important because these consumers are the people who shop in our retail stores. They make purchases and therefore are the golden key to any company's bottom line. I will cover three main types of shoppers, target shooters, bargain hunters, and impulse buyers. In that example, there was a clear greeting, a friendly hello, the name of the speaker and the name of the presentation. Context, background information about Chapter 3, why chapter 4 is important, and an outline with three sections, target shooters, bargain hunters, and impulse buyers. This may seem like a lot of information at the beginning of a speech, but remember that it must also be concise. Be direct. Get to your points. If you spend too much time on the introduction, you will have less time for the rest of your presentation. As stated at the beginning of this lesson, the introduction of a speech really should be a clear map for your audience. It gets their attention by showing them who you are, the goal of your presentation, and what they will learn along the way.
