A speech is how we talk and present our voice in front of others, which is also called public speaking. A good speech always makes a lasting impact on the audience. But most people, especially students, don’t know how to start a speech like an expert.
According to research, 63.9% of college students face the fear of public speaking. As many as 89.3% of the students want to have their undergraduate program include classes that only focus on improving public speaking. With expert guidance and tips, You will feel confident to start a speech.
A speech is a type of public speaking, just like a presentation. A speaker delivers words, sentiments, and information in front of an audience to persuade or inspire them. To provide the speech, the speaker must have to choose a topic on which he wants to present.
And most importantly the speaker must have a firm grip on the topic. Good research, clear evidence, right use of quotes and sentiments will make the speech outstanding.
From the research, it is clear that a lot of people, especially students, have developed a fear of public speaking.
But have you ever wondered why this happens? Let’s share the author’s personal experience about why public speaking is a challenging task and how to start a speech. And we assure you these challenges are the same in every person.
“A school, college, or university life is full of fun except when it comes to speech and presentation, and the same in my case. I was also very shy in giving speeches. The main challenge that I face is to start the speech in the right way.
Grabbing the audience is a difficult task, And I was afraid that I would lose the audience’s interest. Furthermore, my fear of forgetting sentences makes it hard for me to present in front of others. Besides this, there are a lot of challenges that I face when it comes to giving a speech. Here is the breakdown of some difficulties.”
Anxiety | Lack of confidence | Fear of forgetting sentences |
Fear of making eye contact | To find the right tone | Lack of preparation |
Fear of getting laughed | Speaking fast in front of an audience | Unclear opening |
As an author, I faced these challenges because I was unaware of how to start a speech. But that’s not how I ended my studies; later on, I was a good speaker during my college days, and many of my colleagues asked me how I overcame my fear.
The tricks that I told them are now going to be mentioned below. Now, let’s see how I overcome these challenges; you guys can also follow these tips and instructions if you want to know how to start off a speech. Additionally, you can easily start your essay with the free AI essay writer tool, which is also a bonus point for you guys.
Here, we are going to discuss some tricks that are most common in people. We will not only provide you with tricks but also examples with each trick to get you to understand better what we are trying to say.
How to start a speech with a relevant question is a common question that is mostly asked. Remember, your question must be applicable to the topic, and it must grab the attention of the audience. It also should be easy to understand and depict the main concept of the speech.
For example, if you are giving a speech on an environmental topic like Pollution, then your starter question should be like.
“Think back to 20 years ago, when there were fewer industries and less noise on the roads, and our world was cleaner?”
Bonus tip: Try to avoid phrases that make your speech awkward and boring. Read our blog about common English phrases that make no sense to avoid mistakes.
A quotation is the best way to start an introduction speech for students, which will ultimately help you grab the audience’s attention. The quotation must be from an authentic source or an authentic person.
Most importantly, the quotation should be relevant to the topic and help the audience to understand the topic before the start of the speech
Otherwise, the audience may feel nervous about understanding your main theme or topic and may lose interest in you. For example, if you are want to convey a speech related to science and technology topics, then you can put a quotation.
“The science of today is the technology of tomorrow.” – Edward Teller
If you don’t know how to start a speech, let me tell you that storytelling is the best way to develop an interest of the audience in the real topic. When you put a real life story related to the topic in the start of spech, it helps the audience to make a picture of what is going to be discussed in the speech and also develop a sense of keen interest in them.
For example, if you are trying to convey a speech on the impacts of social social media, here is an example of how to start off a speech using storytelling techniques.
“One day I was sitting in a coffee shop with my friend, and we were discussing some very important thing. And suddenly, my friend got a notification on Facebook, and after that, 10 minutes passed, and he was busy on Facebook and talking with me like “Yes,” “Ok,” “Hmm,” and nothing more.”
Wait here: If you are an academic student and want to know how to start a speech in front of your school audience on a topic about completing any task, worry not; we have gathered 100+ demonstration speech topics for you guys.
The basic purpose of the joke at the start of a introduction speech for students is to develop a sense of interest in the audience. But remember that your joke must not offend any person and also stay relevant to the topic.
Here is an example of how to start a speech with a light-hearted joke, especially when you are discussing some social media issues.
“In case of fire, Exit the building immediately before updating a status on social media.”
Additional Tip: To pay tribute or praise to a person, an institution, an event, idea, or place, try to write a commemorative speech. No idea about how to write it, worry not, read our blog about how to write a commemorative speech to make a lasting impression on your audience
A statistic, evidence, or research piece will help people understand what strength the topic holds in real life. But same as before, these stats or evidence must be relevant to the main theme of the topic and also grab from some authentic resources for accurate information.
Here is an example of how to start introduction speech with proper evidences and data. Let’s assume the topic is about the Impacts of smoking on human lives.
Stop for a while: If you want to perform for a bigger audience where families and parents participate, then you must choose persuasive speech topics about family to grab the audience’s attention better.
“The American Lung Association’s 2024 “State of Tobacco Control” reports that Cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths each year in the United States. This is nearly one in five deaths.”
An act at the start of a speech that is totally unexpected to the audience may leave a lasting impact. But try to avoid unethical acts when knowing how to start a speech.
Your action must show a lesson to the audience and also be relevant to the main theme. Here, we take an example of excessive use of social media and its impact.
“Enter the Hall, stand in front of the audience, and ignore them by starting using social media on the phone. And do this act for some moments.”
This act will make an impact on the audience, and after you start your proper speech, they will definitely get the point of why you use the phone and ignore them because social media lovers mostly ignore people in their surroundings.
To understand the above concept and how this scenario works well for you, do find creative writers for hire, they can help you enough.
Sometimes, people need to be more attentive at the start of a speech and to make them awaken, try to add a statement that helps the audience to imagine any issue or topic. This may help them to develop a sense of interest in the subject.
Make sure that the statement you made for imagination stays relevant to the main topic, and you have to explain it in your speech. Let’s assume the topic of the speech is World War 2, so how to start a speech like a professional in this situation.
“Imagine cities burning in fire, destruction everywhere. The road scene is like a movie, with thousands of kids, women, and men dying on the road. That sounds scary and frightful.”
Bonus tip: These tricks and instructions with real-life process speech examples may definitely help you if you need to learn how to start off a speech. One thing more, if you don’t know how to choose a topic for your next speech, read our easy informative speech topics to find the best one for you.
After knowing how to start a speech, there are a lot of students who still feel nervous about presenting it in front of an audience, and to make sure you are fully ready for your speech, we have gathered some helpful tips.
How to start a speech? It is a mystery that is solved now, and we are sure that your hands have the right solution. We have provided you with the tricks with proper examples to help you start a speech like a professional. Furthermore, if you are still nervous, we have also written down some tips to overcome your speaking fear. Don’t think too much now and start writing your speech, because if the author can do it means anyone can do it.
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