Hors d'oeuvre, appetizers, sample tidbits--these offerings by restaurants and party givers provide a model for your speech opening. Give your audience an exciting taste of what's to come rather than following the horrible old rule "tell them what you're going to tell them." If a waiter dropped an uncooked sample of a dish or a dried up portion of yesterday's meal in front of you, you'd never want to eat. That's what the old "tell 'em" rule is like to your audiences--not appetizing,appealing or attention getting.
An exciting amuse bouche (fun for your mouth) gets your taste buds ready for the feast. An imaginatively told story, a thought-provoking question or an unexpected analogy cause your audience to sit up and pay attention instantly. Their right brains are stimulated and their left brains begin to click and whir. The message you've sent is that something tasty is about to arrive on their mental table.
A recent client wanted to give a very brief history of the industry that her association supports. Suddenly the phrase "the wild, wild west" came to her as an analogy for the hard-to-follow changes that were takng place in her industry in its early years. Working together, we crafted an opening that began with "It was the wild, wild west" delivered with dramatic flair. She told me that every single IT person in the room sat up and paid attention instantly. She said she could almost hear them thinking "this is different" or "this is going to be good" or "whaaat?" They understood that she'd be talking about the roots of the organzation without her saying "In 1982..."
How do you grab your audience with your appetizer, hors d'oeuvre or delicious tidbit? Share your best opening lines through our comment link.
Get a no-cost copy of my Write a Speech Now system by sending an email to me at susan@susantrivers.com.
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