2 Key Factors You Can’t Ignore If You Want To Start Your Speech Successfully

There are two main factors that need to be taken into consideration when crafting the start of your speech. Those factors are:

 

• the audience
• the event

Let’s take a look at each one of those factors more closely.

 

The Audience

 

There are a number of things you’ll want to know about your audience. The more information you can get, the better off you’ll be. Here’s a partial list of information you’ll want to know.

 

• does the audience know you?
• does the audience know why you’re credible to speak on this topic?
• how much does the audience know about the topic you’re going to speak about?
• does the audience share your point of view on the topic?
• what are the job titles and positions of the audience members?
• what other speakers has the audience heard before?
• if this is an association meeting, which organizations are represented in the meeting?
• how many people are expected to be in attendance?
• what is the gender ratio of the audience?
• what is the age range of the audience?
• which topics are considered taboo with this audience?

Answering each of the above questions will give you a better idea of what your audience must hear from you if they are going to be engaged, show interest and participate in your speech. But a study of the audience alone is not enough to determine what functions your opening will serve. You’ll still need to examine the event.

 

The Event

 

Will the audience be:

 

• tired?
• enthused?
• slightly inebriated?
• nervous?
• optimistic?
• hostile?
• receptive?

Very often, you can get an accurate idea of the energy level and enthusiasm of your audience by examining the event. Different events will foster different moods, so you’ll need to prepare an opening that’s appropriate for the mood.

 

For example, an annual meeting probably won’t take on the same light-hearted approach that would exist in a staff day awards celebration.

 

A morning networking meeting would most likely have people trying to wake themselves up with coffee. A dinner event, on the other hand, may find people being put to sleep by too many glasses of red wine.

 

If there are going to be a number of speakers during a full-day conference, you’d be more likely to encounter an energetic audience at the start of the day than you would at the end.

 

If the event is a multi-day conference and you happen to be speaking on the morning after the big celebration dinner, a hung-over audience may factor into the equation.

 

What happens during the event will have a significant impact on the type of audience you speak to, so do as much as you can to find out as much as you can about the intricate details of the event.

 

Once you’ve researched the audience and the event, you will know what to expect in terms of the energy level and attitude of your audience, as well as the possible challenges you’ll be facing when you start your speech. Knowing this information will help you determine exactly what you’ll need to do to make the opening of your speech successful.

 

This article is excerpted from the special report, “How to Successfully Start Your Speech“. To get the full report and discover the secrets of “How to Successfully Start Your Speech”, visit http://www.wellwrittenwellsaid.com/startspeech.html

Tagged as: How to begin a speech, How to open a speech, How to start a speech, Presentation Skills, Public Speaking, Speech Writing