214 10.1 IntroducIng Your Speech
example, a student began a pro-life speech with a graphic description of the
abortion process. She caught her audience’s attention but made them so uncom-
fortable that they could hardly concentrate on the rest of her speech.
Another student gave a speech on the importance of donating blood. Without
a word, he began by appearing to savagely slash his wrists in front of his stunned
audience. As blood spurted, audience members screamed, and one fainted. The
blood was real blood, but it wasn’t his. The speaker worked at a blood bank,
and he was using the bank’s blood. He had placed a device under each arm that
allowed him to pump out the blood as if from his wrists. He certainly captured his
audience’s attention! But they never heard his message. The shock and disgust of
seeing such a display made that impossible. He did not gain favorable attention.
The moral of our two tales: By all means, be creative in your speech introduc-
tions. But also use common sense in deciding how best to gain the favorable atten-
tion of your audience members. Alienating them is even worse than boring them.Give the Audience a Reason to Listen
Even after you have captured your listeners’ attention, you have to give them
some reason to want to listen to the rest of your speech. An unmotivated listener
quickly tunes out. You can help to establish listening motivation by showing the
members of your audience how the topic affects them directly.
In Chapter 8, we presented seven criteria for determining the effectiveness of
your supporting material. One of those criteria for determining the effectiveness
of your supporting material is proximity, the degree to which the information
affects your listeners directly. Just as proximity is important to supporting
materials, it is important to speech introductions. “This concerns me” is a
powerful reason to listen. Notice how Lauren involved her listeners firsthand
with abhorrent labor conditions in Florida tomato fields:
[If] you’ve eaten a tomato from a fast-food restaurant, grocery store, or
food services business in the last year, you’ve eaten a tomato picked by
the hand of a slave. [She shows two tomatoes to the audience.] Can you
tell which one? Now I know I’m taking a chance here offering tomatoes
to an audience at the beginning of a speech. But the difference between
these two is the difference between a fair market and slavery.^2
Sheena also used proximity to motivate her audience to empathize with
people who suffer from exposure to toxic mold:
Headaches, fatigue, dizziness, and memory impairment seem like ail-
ments that each person in this room has had at one point, right? You stay
up late cramming for an exam. The next day, you are fatigued, dizzy, and
cannot remember the answers.^3
It does not matter so much how or when you demonstrate proximity. But
it is essential that, like Lauren and Sheena, you do at some point establish that
your topic is of vital personal concern to your listeners.