The most memorable parts of your speech are the beginning and the end.  The concept of “primacy” means that people will remember most vividly what they hear at the beginning of a speech.  So, the beginning of your speech must grab your audience’s attention and get them excited to listen to you.  The concept of “recency” means that people will strongly recall what you say at the end of a speech.  So, the end of your speech must also grab your audience’s attention and get them excited to take your message and with them.

Making A First Impression

The second you walk on the stage, the audience is deciding whether or not they like you. 

Even before your speech begins, first impressions are being made. If the audience sees you walking around before the event, or waiting in the front row to be introduced, how you handle yourself before the presentation will not go unnoticed. If you greet people and are warm and friendly (not immediately trying to promote your book or, worse, ignoring everyone around you because you are “getting into the zone”), the audience will notice. Your actions and attitude will have an effect on how your audience receives your message when you do take the stage.

If you are not in view before you are introduced, the audience has less time to make a first impression, and the beginning of your speech will be critical to the initial engagement of your audience. How you begin your speech sets the entire tone of your presentation.

When you are called to the stage, smile, jump up from your chair and energetically bounce onto the stage to show how excited you are to be there and how enthusiastic you are to share what you know! When you get up there, look out at the audience and give them a smile. Move the lectern out of the way and own the stage!

If you are presenting virtually, you can’t run enthusiastically onto the stage.  But remember that people can see you on their screen even when you are not speaking.  Your posture, dress, eye contact, body language, and attitude are equally important during a virtual meeting.

Whether you are on stage or on the screen, you want to appear friendly, excited, and in command. Your physical presence, body language, and facial expressions will go a long way toward helping your audience relate to you, build your credibility, and show that you are in control.

Beginning Your Speech

Great, so now that we’ve covered basic body language and pre-speech interactions, what should you actually say to begin your speech? Of these two options, which opening do you prefer?

1. “Good afternoon. I’m Jane Smith with ABC Corporation. Thank you for having me. Today I’d like to talk to you about how to improve your productivity by meditating.”
2. “Imagine if you could simply close your eyes for a few minutes every day and become more productive at work.”

The first example is actually wasting your audience’s time because you will have already been introduced by your host. Or, when people sign up for your presentation, the information will have told them who you are and what you are speaking about. 

The second example is more enticing and interesting and makes the audience think, “Wow! Tell me more!”

The beginning of your speech… 

• Must be instantly engaging! Aim to “hook and grab” your audience within the first 60 seconds.
• Sets the entire tone of your speech! People will set their expectations within the first minute. 
• Let the audience know what’s in it for them. Is your topic relevant? Useful? Interesting? Funny? Pressing?
• Establishes believability and credibility. What is your background? What are your intentions?

In summary: you are letting your audience know why they should listen to you! 

Ways to Begin Your Speech

There are innumerable ways to begin your speech, so you have a lot of options to make a positive first impression! Here are a few ideas to get your wheels turning:

• Acknowledge the date, the occasion, or the space. Are you speaking on 9/11, veteran’s day, the day before everyone leaves for a holiday vacation? Where are you all gathered today? Can you relate this occasion to the topic of your speech?
• Ask the audience to visualize something.
  • “Imagine you are…” (Use second person – “you” – and present tense)
  • “Close your eyes and picture…” (just remember to tell them to reopen their eyes!)
• Preview your main ideas.
  • “First… , next… , finally … ”
  • Tell them what you’re going to tell them so that they know what to pay attention to and can follow along your roadmap.
• Explain the relevance of your topic.
  • Why should the audience listen to this speech? What does your speech have to offer to them?
  • What are their needs? Know your audience – what is appropriate?
  • Make a bold statement of your unique point of view: “52% of employers provided mindfulness classes or training to their employees in 2018. Why? Because meditating regularly can help reduce insomnia, increase your attention span, and decrease anxiety.”
  • What is the purpose of your speech? “When you leave here this afternoon, you will have a clear understanding as to why you need to incorporate mindfulness training will improve productivity, health and well-being of your staff.”
  • Don’t assume your audience knows what you are speaking about.  This “Curse of Knowledge” will prevent you from explaining something that some in your audience may not know.
• Grab their attention with something surprising or resonant.
  • Statistic: According to “The Good Body, It is estimated that 200-500 million people meditate worldwide.”
  • To quote Dan Millman, The Peaceful Warrior, said “The goal of meditation isn’t to control your thoughts, it is to stop letting them control you.”  (State the source first, not last, so that the last thing the audience hears is the quote.) 
  • Short recording or song.
  • Anecdote or story.
  • Callback to previous speech or speaker.
  • Humor – always good to start off with a laugh – the audience will start off liking you.  Just make sure you are funny!
  • Reference a current event or news story.
  • Prop or visual aid.
• Ask a question, but be sure to pause to wait for an answer from the audience. 
  • Ask a rhetorical question to add intrigue and cause your audience to think “What if…”, “Remember when…”, “Would it surprise you that…”
  • Hypothetical example “What if you could reduce your risk of heart disease by 87%”
  • Ask a polling question “Raise your hands if you have ever….” 
  • Speak to everyone, talk to one. Ask the question to one person while addressing the entire audience “Have you ever tried…” Not “How many of you have ever tried…”

Avoid weakening your opening with:

• “Today I’m Going to Talk About” – BORING!
• “I’ve been asked to speak about.” or “My topic is…” – The audience knows this. That’s why they are there.
• “Let me tell you a story” – Just tell the story!
• “I heard a funny joke” – Just tell the joke!
• “What a beautiful day it is” – Yeah, but we’re stuck here watching a speech!
• “Before I begin…” – You’ve already begun!
• “Sorry if” or “Sorry for” – Don’t draw attention to something negative right off the bat.
• Looking down – Did you drop something?
• Looking up – Are you praying for Divine Guidance?

How to End The Speech

Only 7 of the 217 speeches listed in William Safire’s anthology “Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History” conclude with “Thank you.” Give the audience something to remember, a take-away, a special phrase, a Call To Action.  Consider this:  why would you thank the audience for listening to you?  They should be thanking you for sharing your expertise!  (If you are stuck on wanting to say “Thank you,” you can always say it after you have wowed your audience with an inspiring close.)

If you were introduced by someone, deliver your creative closing and then hold your hand out to that person to welcome them back on stage.

Here are several clever ways to end your speech and leave your audience inspired and more likely to remember your message:

• Callback – Refer back to your introduction, a story you told, or an example that you gave. This helps the entire speech to come full circle.  Think about how a sitcom, such as “Seinfeld” or “Friends,” has a call back at the end of the episode that relates all of the jokes together and make sense.  
• Challenge –  Encourage your audience to take action on what you spoke about. Challenge them to try a new habit for 10 days, or to call their Senator, or to use that new technology to improve their sales.
• Echo Close – Choose a word or phrase, repeat it, and focus on it:
  • “More than 450 years before the birth of Christ, Confucius said: ‘What I hear, I forget; what I see, I remember; what I do, I understand.’
  • Let’s do it together. We’ve heard what we have to do. We’ve seen what we need to do. Now is the time to do it, and, together, we can do it.”
• Title Close – Use your speech title in the closing of your speech.  This is similar to a callback. 
• Sing Song Close – Have the audience repeat what you say – like a rally cry.
• Quote – Find an appropriate and motivating quote from a movie, book or famous person.  Remember to cite the source first and then say the quote.

Don’t weaken your ending with:

• I think I’ve bored you enough.
• I don’t have enough time, so I’ll power through these next points.
• That’s all I have.
• Ummm, OK!

The beginning and ending of your speech should be memorized for the most impact.  As an added bonus, memorizing your beginning helps to calm your nerves because you will be starting off on the right foot.  Memorizing your ending will help you focus on your audience and deliver the final message you want them to take away.

Spend some time and effort developing your beginning and ending and be creative!  Using the ideas mentioned above, you will take advantage of primacy and recency, develop a positive first impression, and leave your audience motivated and inspired!