218 10.2 IntroducIng Your Speech
completely stubborn, but she always brought out the best in anyone she
was around. Here was a woman who always ate proper foods and was
conscientious of her health in general, every day of her life.
Ask anyone who knew her well what their favorite memory of Algeta
was, and I can almost guarantee it’s of her carrying around a bright red
Nalgene water bottle. This way, she could get her 64 daily ounces of water
with certainty. Unfortunately, this happy memory of how she always had
her water bottle might change with some information that has come to
light recently.^8
Matt’s story effectively captured the attention of his audience and introduced
the subject of his speech.Startling Facts or Statistics
A second method of introducing a speech is to use a startling fact or statistic.
Startling an audience with the extent of a situation or problem invariably catches
listeners’ attention, motivates them to listen further, and helps them remember
afterward what you had to say. Will’s audience of prospective law students must
have been startled to attention by this statistic in his introduction:
98 percent of the 2012 graduates of the Thomas Jefferson School of Law
in San Diego, California, graduated with an average of $168,800 in
student debt.^9Quotations
Using an appropriate quotation to introduce a speech is a common practice.
Often, another writer or speaker has expressed an opinion on your topic that
is more authoritative, comprehensive, or memorable than what you can say.
Terrika opened her speech on the importance of community with a quotation
from poet Johari Kungufu:
Sisters, Men
What are we doin?
What about the babies, our children?
When we was real we never had orphans or children in joints.
Come spirits
drive out the nonsense from our minds and the crap from our dreams
make us remember what we need, that children are the next life.
bring us back to the real
bring us back to the real
“The Real.” Johari Kungufu, in her poem, specifically alludes to a time in
African history when children were not confused about who they were.^10
A different kind of quotation, this one from an expert, was chosen by
another speaker to introduce the topic of the disappearance of childhood in
America: