How to Open Your Speech With Style

An innovative way to open your speech with style might take advantage of external props, lighting or sound effects. It could involve you speaking from somewhere other than the podium – perhaps from the middle of the audience seating area. It works because the novelty builds interest and appreciation right from the start.

A dramatic start to your speech with some style could involve a serious tone of voice, an exclamation or a shout. It might entail a news item or some note of heightened urgency. So, consider a dramatic and novelty opening when you begin your presentation. Of course, you can always use music as an opening. Certainly that’s what they used for this Jeremy Corbyn speech in Liverpool.

When you raise a rhetorical question during your opening you don’t expect it to be answered by your audience. Instead you use the question to set the framework for your speech. So you pose an answer and then build the interest. That was always a favourite with an Ed Miliband speech.

A humorous style start to your speech should succeed in setting the tone for the rest of your speech. But note that good humour has to be planned and timed to perfection. You can see how President Obama handled this with his Alfred Smith Memorial Dinner speech. So, you should aim to practise and test this way of opening your speech. Note also that any humour should be safe for your particular audience.

Referring to other events, people, places and pastimes can be an effective and stylish way to open your speech. That’s because references set out parallel paths, connections and links that deserve further exploration. The most popular of all speech beginnings, the reference is a simple and effective start. And, of course, you can always tie this in with a quotation for even more impact. That’s what you hear with this Michael Gove speech.