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Originally Posted by Brutha  2) Don't open a speech like that. Just cut that part out. Take responsibilty for bringing the message to your audience. Don't say them: You won't agree with me either way, but at least listen to me. |
Agreed. Your introduction should be about why your audience should pay close attention to the rest of your speech. Why does it matter to them? What is in it for them? How can you grab their attention?
Example of this kind of intro: "Have you ever felt you had low self estem? Do you know anyone in your family with low self estem and feel that it is affecting them tremendously? Self-estem affects so many people in our society, and tonight, I'm going to talk about its causes and how we can rectify it."
This is just a quick attempt at an introduction for your topic, I'm sure you can come up with one better then what I just did. That intro is an example of a way to draw your audience into your speech, to make it more personal and more interesting to them, to answer the big question in the audience mind of "Why should I bother listen".