Introductions & Conclusions

Summary

This script delves into the art of crafting impactful introductions and conclusions for speeches, leveraging the principles of primacy and recency to create lasting impressions. It emphasizes the importance of capturing attention, revealing the topic, establishing relevance, and building credibility in the introduction. For conclusions, it stresses the need to restate main points, remind of relevance, and end memorably. The speaker offers practical tips on preparation, including the order of crafting speech parts and the use of creative and polished elements to enhance audience engagement.

Takeaways

• 🎤 **Importance of Opening and Closing**: The first and last parts of any performance, including speeches, are critical as they set the tone and leave a lasting impression due to the principles of primacy and recency.
• 🎶 **Memorable Introductions**: Effective introductions should grab the audience's attention, reveal the topic and purpose, establish relevance, build credibility, and provide a preview of main points.
• 🔍 **Attention Getters**: Various techniques like quotes, stories, questions, unusual facts, suspense, humor, and references to the occasion can be used to capture the audience's interest at the start.
• 📝 **Proper Attribution**: When using quotes, ensure they are accurate and properly attributed to avoid misinformation and to maintain credibility.
• 🤔 **Storytelling**: Leveraging the human affinity for narratives through storytelling can be a powerful way to engage the audience and make the speech more relatable.
• 🗣️ **Relevance and Credibility**: It's crucial to establish why the topic matters to the audience and to convey the speaker's authority on the subject to build trust.
• 📋 **Preview of Main Points**: A clear preview of the speech's main points in the introduction helps set expectations and guides the audience through the speech.
• 🎉 **Creative and Polished Delivery**: Both the introduction and conclusion should be prepared with care, practiced for smooth delivery, and creatively crafted to leave a strong impression.
• 🔚 **Effective Conclusions**: Conclusions should restate the speech's purpose and main points, remind the audience of the relevance, and end with a memorable statement that reinforces the speech's impact.
• ⏳ **Timing Matters**: Introductions and conclusions should be brief, typically not exceeding 10% of the total speech time, to maintain focus on the core content.

Q & A

What is the significance of the first and last songs at a live rock concert according to the speaker?

The first and last songs are significant because they set the tone for the entire concert and leave a lasting impression on the audience, respectively. These songs create the energy for the show and are the main topics of discussion afterward.

What communication principle is the speaker referring to when discussing the importance of the first and last elements in any presentation?

The speaker is referring to the principle of primacy and recency, which highlights the tendency of people to remember what happens first and last in a series of events or communication.

How does the speaker demonstrate the principle of primacy and recency in a classroom setting?

The speaker demonstrates this principle by reading a list of 50 words to students, who are then asked to recall the words. Typically, students remember the first and last words more accurately than those in the middle.

What are the objectives of an introduction in a speech according to the script?

The objectives of an introduction are to grab the audience's attention, reveal the topic and purpose, establish relevance, establish credibility, and give a preview of the main points.

What are some common ways to grab the audience's attention at the beginning of a speech?

Some common ways include starting with a quote, telling a story, asking a question, stating an unusual fact or statistic, building suspense, using humor, or referring to the occasion of the speech.

Why is it important to establish the relevance of the topic to the audience during the introduction of a speech?

Establishing relevance is important because it explains to the audience why they should care about the topic and helps them understand its significance or impact on them.

How should the introduction of a speech be prepared in relation to the rest of the speech content?

The introduction should be prepared after the body of the speech is completed, as it includes a preview of the main points that have been established in the body.

What is the recommended length for an introduction in a speech?

The introduction should be relatively brief, typically not more than 10% to 15% of the total speech time, ensuring it is concise and focused on the objectives.

Why is it suggested to be creative with the speech introduction?

Being creative with the introduction helps to engage the audience more effectively, demonstrating that the speaker has put thought into the presentation and making it more memorable.

What are the objectives of a conclusion in a speech?

The objectives of a conclusion are to restate the purpose and main points, remind the audience of the relevance, and end the speech clearly and memorably, often using a variety of techniques such as quotes, dramatic statements, or questions.

How should the conclusion of a speech be prepared and delivered to maximize its impact?

The conclusion should be prepared after the body and introduction, be brief, signal the end with a transition, use emotive language if appropriate, and be practiced and polished to ensure a strong final impression.

Outlines

00:00

🎸 The Power of Primacy and Recency in Concerts and Communication

This paragraph discusses the author's fond childhood memories of attending live rock concerts with friends, highlighting the excitement of guessing the opening and closing songs, which were believed to set the tone and leave a lasting impression. The author connects this experience to the communication principle of primacy and recency, explaining that people tend to remember what happens first and last in any given situation. To illustrate this, the author uses a teaching example of reading a list of words to students and observing that they mostly remember the first and last words. The paragraph concludes by emphasizing the importance of primacy and recency in public speaking, particularly in crafting impactful introductions and conclusions for speeches.

05:02

📝 Crafting an Engaging Speech Introduction

The second paragraph delves into the objectives of a speech introduction, which include grabbing the audience's attention, revealing the topic and purpose, establishing relevance, establishing credibility, and giving a preview of main points. The author suggests various techniques for capturing attention, such as starting with a quote, telling a story, asking a question, stating an unusual fact, building suspense, using humor, or referring to the occasion. The paragraph also provides tips for preparing the introduction, such as doing so after the body of the speech is prepared, keeping it brief, and ensuring it is practiced and polished to leverage the primacy effect.

10:03

🎉 Effective Conclusions for Lasting Impact

This paragraph focuses on the importance of conclusions in speeches, outlining their objectives to restate the purpose and main points, remind the audience of the relevance, and end clearly and memorably. The author recommends several methods to achieve a memorable conclusion, including using a quote, making a dramatic statement, referring back to the introduction, using humor, or asking a question. Tips for preparing the conclusion are also provided, such as preparing it after the body and introduction, signaling the end is near with a transition, keeping it brief, using emotive language in persuasive speeches, and ensuring it is practiced and polished to capitalize on the recency effect.

15:03

💌 Final Thoughts on Public Speaking

The final paragraph offers a closing statement on the importance of both the introduction and conclusion in public speaking, encouraging the audience to focus on making a memorable first and last impression. The author invites any questions related to public speaking and offers to discuss these topics further via email. The paragraph concludes with an encouragement for the audience to apply the principles discussed to their speech preparation, focusing on creating effective introductions and conclusions to drive their points home.

Keywords

💡Primacy and Recency

Primacy and recency are psychological principles that describe the tendency of people to remember the first and last items in a sequence more effectively than the middle items. In the context of the video, these principles are used to emphasize the importance of the opening and closing parts of a speech, suggesting that these parts will leave a lasting impression on the audience. The script illustrates this with the example of remembering the first and last songs at a concert.

💡Introduction

An introduction in a speech serves as the opening statement that sets the tone and introduces the speaker and the topic. The video explains that an effective introduction should grab the audience's attention, reveal the topic and purpose, establish relevance, establish the speaker's credibility, and provide a preview of the main points. The script uses the analogy of a concert's opening song to highlight the importance of a strong introduction.

💡Attention Getters

Attention getters are techniques used at the beginning of a speech to capture the audience's interest. The video lists several methods such as starting with a quote, telling a story, asking a question, stating an unusual fact, or using humor. These are all ways to ensure that the audience is engaged from the start, which is crucial for the success of the speech.

💡Relevance

Relevance in a speech refers to the importance or significance of the topic to the audience. The video stresses the need to explain why the audience should care about the topic being discussed. Establishing relevance helps to connect with the audience and ensures that they see the value in what the speaker is saying.

💡Credibility

Credibility in the context of public speaking is the perception of the speaker's trustworthiness and expertise on the topic. The video mentions that the speaker should provide reasons for the audience to trust them, such as listing qualifications or discussing research conducted on the topic. This helps to build the audience's confidence in the speaker's message.

💡Preview Statement

A preview statement in a speech introduction outlines the main points that the speaker will cover. The video explains that this sets the stage for the audience, giving them an idea of what to expect. It's part of the process of telling the audience what will be discussed before diving into the details of the speech.

💡Conclusion

A conclusion in a speech is the final part that wraps up the presentation. The video outlines that a conclusion should restate the purpose and main points, remind the audience of the relevance, and end with a clear and memorable statement. The script compares the conclusion to the last song of a concert, emphasizing its role in leaving a lasting impression.

💡Memorable Ending

A memorable ending is a conclusion that leaves a lasting impression on the audience. The video suggests using techniques such as quotes, dramatic statements, referring back to the introduction, humor, or asking a question to create this impact. The memorable ending is likened to the final song at a concert that resonates with the audience after the event has ended.

💡Practice and Polish

Practice and polish refer to the process of rehearsing and refining the speech, particularly the introduction and conclusion, to ensure they are delivered effectively. The video emphasizes the importance of being well-prepared for these parts of the speech due to the primacy and recency effects, which suggest that the audience is most influenced by what they hear first and last.

💡Public Speaking

Public speaking is the act of addressing an audience, which is the central theme of the video. The script discusses various aspects of public speaking, including the structure of a speech, the importance of engaging the audience, and techniques to make a speech memorable. The entire script is a guide on how to improve public speaking skills.

Highlights

The importance of the first and last songs in a concert setting as a metaphor for the primacy and recency effect in communication.

The primacy effect emphasizes the impact of initial events on memory retention.

The recency effect highlights the lasting impression of the final events in a sequence.

Demonstration of primacy and recency through a classroom activity involving word recall.

The significance of primacy and recency in crafting introductions and conclusions for speeches.

Objectives of a speech introduction: grabbing attention, revealing topic and purpose, establishing relevance, credibility, and previewing main points.

Strategies for capturing audience attention, including quotes, stories, questions, unusual facts, suspense, humor, and references to the occasion.

The necessity of being clear about the topic and purpose early in the speech introduction.

The importance of establishing the relevance of the topic to the audience in the introduction.

Establishing the speaker's credibility to the audience during the introduction.

The role of a preview statement in setting expectations for the main points of the speech.

Tips for preparing a speech introduction, including the order of preparation and the desired brevity.

The need for a polished and practiced introduction due to the primacy effect.

Encouragement to be creative in the speech introduction to engage the audience.

The objectives of a speech conclusion, including restating purpose and main points and reminding the audience of relevance.

Methods for crafting memorable conclusions, such as quotes, dramatic statements, referring back to the introduction, humor, and questions.

Preparing the conclusion after the body and introduction for a coherent speech structure.

Signaling the conclusion with a clear transition to help the audience recognize the end of the speech.

The recommendation for a conclusion to be shorter than the introduction and to contain emotive language in persuasive speeches.

The importance of practicing and polishing the conclusion to leverage the recency effect and leave a lasting impression.

Transcripts

When I was growing up, one of my favorite activities

to do with my friends was to go to live rock concerts.

We always enjoyed getting to see our favorite bands live

and one of our favorite games when we did this was to guess each of us

would make a guess as to what the first song would be

and what the last song would be that the band would play

because we knew that those songs were critically important.

That was going to set the tone.

The opening song was going to set the tone for the entire concert

and just kind of create the kind of energy that was going to be there,

the entire show.

And then the last song was going to be what stayed with us

and what we talked about on the way out to the parking lot on the drive home

and things is how things wrapped up that that was going to be

the two most exciting parts of the show really

were going to be the very first song and the very last song.

What we didn't know at that time

is that we were really talking about a communication principle

known as primacy and recency primacy, meaning just what happens

first and recency, meaning what happens last, and that those two things

in the in the area of communication have great significance

because we tend to remember what happens first and what happens last.

Those leave a really lasting impression on us.

Sometimes when I'm teaching, you know, a face to face or synchronous

live type environment.

one activity

I'll do in class to demonstrate this is to just bring in a list of 50 words.

It doesn't matter what the words are,

and I'll just read these words off to students

and then I'll read them once and then put them away.

And then I'll say, OK, who can tell me, you know what words I listed

and ask them to write down what words I read off without fail.

Almost all students can remember will get seven or eight of the first ten words

and and six or seven of the last ten words and end of the 30 in the middle.

Maybe another handful, maybe six

or seven of those words, too, because of primacy and recency.

People remember what happens first and what happens last.

Whether it's a list of words, whether it's songs at a rock concert doesn't matter.

Primacy and recency dictates that people are going to be most influenced

and retain and recall and and hear best.

What happens first and what happens last?

So what does that have to do with what we're talking about in this video?

Well, as you're probably aware, this video has to do with introductions

and conclusions of a speech and really primacy and recency,

please.

Just as much a role

in public speaking as it does in any other form of communication.

What happens first in your speech and what happens last in your speech

will create a memorable impression

on the audience will help establish a variety of things.

So we want to pay careful attention in our speeches to the introductions

and conclusions and have those be carefully prepared and well thought out.

So let's take a look at each of those things as a part of our

our advancement as public speakers.

Starting with introductions,

getting your speech off on the right foot.

Your introduction verbally, at least, is the first exposure

the audience will have to you as a speaker.

Now they'll see you before they hear you.

Most cases, right, they'll see you approach the podium

so you get set up or whatever.

But once you start speaking, your introduction

is your first opportunity to make an impression

on the audience with something we need to take very seriously.

And there are a few things we need to accomplish as a part of the introduction.

So the objectives of an introduction are as follow.

The first thing we want to do in an introduction is grab

the audience's attention.

We have just a short period of time to give the audience

a reason to listen to us.

And there are variety of ways that we can do this,

but we want to do something at the very beginning

to grab the audience's attention.

Some of the things that we can do, some more common things that happen

as attention getters

and the introduction of a speech are first of all, you can begin with a quote.

This is tried and true.

It's a classic way to start a speech, and quotes are easily, easily accessible.

In the days of the internet, here you can find quotes anywhere.

Let me, first of all, make two comments about quotes.

first, make sure your quotes are accurate and that they are attributed properly.

There's, you know you can find all kinds of quotes on the internet, right?

But that doesn't mean they're correctly attributed to the right person.

So do do a little research and dig in and make sure that the quote you're using

is actually from the person you say it's from.

The other thing with a quote and with any of these really is

that they need to be applicable to what you're talking about.

You can't just open with with a quote because it's a really cool quote.

It should have something to do with what you're going to be talking about

in some way. Be related, right?

But if you can find a quote that is related

to what you're talking about and you can attribute it properly

and make sure that it's being attributed appropriately, then a quote

can be a great way to open a speech and really grab the audience's attention.

You could tell a story.

As humans, we are narrative creatures.

We like stories.

We operate oftentimes in stories.

And so we are sort of, by nature, both storytellers and story hearers.

So you can tell a story

to grab an audience's attention, and that can be an effective way to do so .

You can ask the audience a question whether that's a real question

where you're asking for them to raise their hands or,

you know, kind of taking an informal poll or whatever.

Or if it's just a rhetorical question,

a question can be an effective way to pick an audience's interest.

You can state an unusual fact or statistic,

you know, kind of a dead, you know, type situation.

You can build suspense with the delayed reveal

and and kind of build up to build some mystery

into revealing your topic and incorporate that.

And I can pick the audience's interest in that way.

You can use humor.

It can sense that humor is appropriate.

And for that, for that situation and for that topic and things,

you can use humor to kind of break the ice with an audience.

You can refer to the occasion.

What is it you're giving a speech about?

Or what's the occasion for you to be giving the speech in the first place?

You can refer to that occasion and somehow tie it in

and grab the audience's attention by somehow

referring to that occasion and and acknowledging that occasion.

So there are variety of ways you can grab the audience's attention, but

what we do know is that right off the top, you've got to do something to pull that

audience in, give them a reason to want to listen

and give them a reason to to start focusing on what you're doing

and ignore some of the other distractions that may be going on for them.

So we want to grab the audience's attention.

We also then,

as part of the introduction, want to reveal the topic and the purpose.

This may sound like overly simple, but you'd be amazed how many times

people get up to give a speech and they're halfway through the speech

before the audience is aware of, Oh, this is what they're talking about.

You want to make very clear at the beginning of the speech, this is my topic.

This is why I'm giving this speech.

This is why I've chosen this topic, you know?

And again, you can take the context into account.

If the audience has a has a program that that lists off the details

of why you're there and what you're talking about.

If you're a major keynote speaker or something like that,

that may be a little bit different,

although you still want to acknowledge this in the introduction.

But if not, if it's just a general classroom type setting, for example,

you need to be very clear in revealing that topic and purpose rate

at the introduction of your speech,

you need to establish relevance.

Not only do you need to pull the audience in to gain their attention,

but you need to explain to the audience why does this matter to them?

Why should they care about any of this?

You've got to establish a relevance with the audience and explain to them

and connect with them why they should care about this topic at all.

In the first place,

you need to establish credibility, give the audience a reason to trust you

or let them know why they should trust you,

whether this is listing off your qualifications.

If you're if you're not known to the audience

or discussing the amount of research you've done on this topic and,

you know, informing the audience of of your background in that way,

in some way,

you've got to let the audience know why they should trust you on this topic, why

they should believe or care about what you have to say on this particular topic,

and then you want to give a preview of your main points.

A previous statement is incredibly important.

In the introduction,

it lays the groundwork and sets the stage for the audience

as far as what you're going to be talking about.

So your preview statement should identify the main points of your speech and

at a professor won't harm you.

So let's say first, you're going to tell them what you're going to tell them.

Then you tell them, then you tell them what you told them.

That's the idea of the preview and the main points and the.

Review statement, right, so first,

you are going to tell them what you're going to tell them.

Give the audience an advance preview so that they have an idea of what's coming.

So these are the five objectives of an introduction

every really pretty much every speech introduction ought to contain.

Each of these five things not necessarily in this order

and not necessarily totally balanced.

Sometimes you can have to spend more time on credibility than you will others.

But but, you know, for example,

but in some way, you ought to be touching on each of these five things from making

sure these five things are accomplished within your speech introduction.

So let me offer a

few tips for preparing and delivering your speech introduction.

first of all,

you want to prepare the introduction after you prepare the body of your speech.

For example, you're not going to know what's

going to be in the preview statement until you've already established

your main points and know what those are going to be.

So when you're preparing your speech, first focus on the main points

focus on your organization and transition and those types of things.

Then you can go back and effectively prepare

for the speech introduction because you'll know

what you want to talk about, what it is you're going to be introducing.

So the introduction should be prepared after the body of the speech.

The introduction should be relatively brief.

Probably not more than ten to 15 minutes of the total time of the speech or

or at least the body of the speech time. Right.

So if you have a three minute speech, for example, just take a nice round number

three minute speech so you're not going to want to take more than 10%

or ten or 15% of that three minutes as part of the introduction.

So it should go fairly quickly.

You shouldn't spend all your time in the introduction.

You should you should accomplish what you need to accomplish those five objectives,

but then move on to the real core of the speech,

the body of the speech, and spend more time discussing those main points in detail.

Remember the primacy effect?

We just talked about primacy and recency.

So remember that the audience cares about what happens first.

So with that in mind, we need the introduction to be prepared

and polished.

So you want to practice and be polished with your introduction,

even an extemporaneous speech

if you're going to overprepared or over manuscript any part .

I would make it the introduction so that you have a good flow there.

You know what's going on in the speech.

You're not just winging it in the introduction,

that introduction is your chance to make a good first impression on the audience.

And so it needs to be practiced and it needs to be polished

because that's what they're going to hear first,

and that's going to affect the primacy effect.

You also want to be creative in your introduction to a certain degree nugget.

You shouldn't spend all your time

preparing or crafting your introduction, but but you do want to be creative.

I can tell you one of my kind of pet peeves, so to speak, is when time somebody

starts a speech with the definition of so-and-so is blah blah blah.

I mean, that's that's not very creative.

It's not very engaging for the audience. It's not very interesting.

It doesn't demonstrate to the audience

that you've taken the time and that you really care about this topic.

So be a little bit creative in your in your introduction.

Don't be afraid to to get creative in how you present your topic and how you

how you set the stage for the speech.

OK. The flip side of this is, of course, conclusions.

Once we've opened the speech with the introduction

and we've given and delivered the body of our speech effectively,

we need to leave a lasting impression

with the audience and we need to wrap it all up neatly.

So there are a couple of objectives for conclusions as well.

And in some ways, these are kind of the flip side,

but not entirely the flip side of introduction objectives.

But we do want to restate our purpose and main points.

So in the introduction, we had the previous statement.

Right now, we're going to have a review statement.

So again, you want to tell the audience what you're going to tell them.

Then you tell them, then you tell them what you told them.

This is your chance to really hammer home those main points to state them

one more time and to make those things clear for the audience

as clear as possible, right?

So restate then the purpose and main points of your speech.

You can really just take that previous statement.

Flip it around in the review, at the very least, and the most

simplest way to do that is just to reword it so that it's now in past tense.

So this is what we did instead of.

This is what we're going to do.

But you want to restate the purpose and the main points of your speech.

You also want to remind the audience of the relevance.

If this is an informative speech or if it's a persuasive speech,

you want to call the audience to some sort of action

or push them toward some sort of action for a persuasive speech.

So this depends on the type of speech

you're giving, but in some way you ought to either come back to.

This is why this is important.

This is why we should care about this

or push the audience toward this is what you want to do with this information.

This is what I encourage you to encourage you to take action

with the information that I just provided or based on the information

that I just gave you.

And so we're either going to, you know, reestablish our relevance

or push that audience toward action in a persuasive speech.

And really,

we want to end clearly and memorably in the introduction.

We wanted to gain the attention of the audience.

Now we want to provide something that's going

to make this really last with them, make, you know,

important lasting impression.

Again, that last song.

The concert, if you will, that's going to have the audience talking on the way out.

What is it

that's going to have this topic resonate with them and the main points here

resonate with them even after you've stopped speaking,

just like in the introduction with the attention getters,

there are a variety of ways you can do this again using a quote.

Just like in the beginning, this is another tried and true effective,

potentially a memorable end and clear end and a way to wrap things up.

You could make a dramatic statement,

something that's really going to make an impression on the event,

something dramatic that will stick with them.

You can refer back to the introduction.

Maybe you started a story in the introduction and you come back

and provide the conclusion now in the conclusion of your speech, so

you can refer back to something that you discussed in the introduction.

You can use humor again, just like you did with the attention getter.

Humor can be a good way to leave the audience on a on a good note,

on a positive note, on something memorable and or you can ask a question.

So what are you going to do that we need some way to end?

first of all, indicate to the audience that this is ending.

You don't want to cut it off abruptly and leave the audience

surprised at the ending.

So these things can help with that.

But they'll also provide some sort of memorable ending something that's going to

linger and

last for the audience and in their mind.

Few tips for the conclusion I can you should prepare the conclusion

after the body and after the introduction, probably too.

So the first thing you want to do is prepare the body of the speech

because none of you're not going to know what to talk about

in the introduction to the conclusion.

If you don't know what you're talking about in the body of the speech,

so both of these things come after the body,

and probably the conclusion is going to be prepared after the introduction.

You want to signal the end is near.

With a transition to the conclusion.

So this can be really, really simple by saying something like in conclusion

or as I conclude, as I wrap up, as I bring things to a close here,

and that's going to help the audience know that the conclusion is coming.

It's going to be more

satisfying in that way as opposed to something that just ends abruptly.

Think about watching a movie or a song, or something that just cuts off

without explanation and just just ends abruptly.

It's not very satisfying.

It's not very memorable.

So you want to signal the end is coming.

With that transition, a very simple transition into the conclusion

and then with that memorable statement as well, that will kind of

let the audience know you're bringing this thing in for a landing.

The conclusion should actually be a little shorter than the introduction,

probably because you're not doing quite as much here, so you want to be brief.

Usually, no more than 10% of the total time dedicated to the body of the speech

should be dedicated to the conclusion. Again, keep it short.

Spend the majority of your time in the majority of your focus on the body

of the speech.

In a persuasive speech, you can use emotive language as well.

Again, you're pushing the audience toward action.

So use language that has some emotion and has some drive in it.

And then finally, we talked about remember the recency effect,

just like we want to remember primacy in the introduction,

what the audience hears last is going to be important.

So much like the introduction,

your conclusion should be practiced and polished.

It should be something that's prepared and you should have a very clear idea

of how you're going to get out of this thing.

Don't be left rambling at the end, trying to come up with a way

on the spot and winging it as to how you're going to conclude this thing.

Have an idea in advance.

And I think just like the introduction, be creative here.

Be creative.

Don't necessarily go with the

just the same thing everybody else is doing.

But if you have a creative way

to end this thing, that's going to help it be more memorable

for the audience, which is important in leaving that final impression.

If you have questions about introductions, conclusions, anything else

about public speaking, please feel free to email me.

I'd be happy to chat with you via email about any of these items.

In the meantime, I hope you're getting out there.

You're at this point thoroughly prepared the body of the speech that you're working

on, and now you can start focusing on, Okay,

what can I do to make a memorable first impression and a memorable

final impression to help drive my points home

with this audience through an effective introduction and conclusion?