Your hook needs bait to catch those fish
Author : Robert Green DTM

Date : 03-06-2005

What has fishing got to do with making an effective speech? If you throw a fishing line into the water without any bait it will take a lot of time and effort to attract any attention and you may find yourself going hungry. Likewise a speech without an effective introduction will require more effort to hook the attention of your audience.

Adult learning principals state that the parts of any presentation that people are most likely to remember are the beginning and the end. Winston Churchill recognised this in his theory of speech writing "Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them". So what should we be using as bait?

Like different types of fish, different speech topics and different audiences will be attracted by different things, and what is a highly effective opening to o­ne presentation will not work with another. Some speakers have been told that if they are nervous, they should start their presentation with a joke. However when a speaker recently introduced his speech o­n suicide prevention amongst teenagers with a joke, the general feeling from the audience was that it was not appropriate to the topic. If the purpose of your presentation is to entertain a joke would certainly set the scene and capture your audiences attention. A speech o­n a serious topic, such as the example of suicide prevention mentioned earlier, might lend itself more to using o­ne of the following types of openings:

Statistics: While many people take statistics, particularly those which are credited to a recognised authority with some amount of disbelief, a statistic can be an effective opening line of your presentation ... for example " The AMA states that X number of people between 18 and 35 took their own lives in the last 12 months". The use of a quote establishes that the presentation has been researched and that the topic is o­ne you want your audience to take seriously.

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A Question: Asking your audience to consider a question allows them to consider an issue being put before them, there are really two types of questions that can be used in this way, they are an Obvious question and a Topical question. The obvious question is o­ne in which you as the presenter feel confident you will get the same answer from the whole audience, such as "Have you learnt for life's lessons over the last ten years? Do you know more now than you did a decade ago?". This question is obviously expecting the answer of yes, as is the question "Would you like to save money?" used so often in advertising. Using this question means that the audience is starting the journey through your presentation in agreement with you. The second type of question is a topical question. Rather than the obvious question whose purpose is to establish agreement between speaker and audience, the topical question is to focus attention o­n an issue, for example "What has been the most important thing you have learned over the last decade". Each individual will have a personal answer to that question but it serves to focus attention o­n the question or topic itself.

Personal Story: A personal story has power and impact. Because you are sharing something of yourself, it establishes a rapport with the audience, it also has the advantage of setting a very personal setting to the presentation. Church groups often use the power of Testimonials to good effect but they are equally powerful for other types of presentations.

A Quote: Citing a piece of well known literature or a famous speech can capture your audiences attention, particularly if it is a quote that they know. For example "I have a dream". The points of caution I would suggest with using a quote are that you ensure you get the wording correct and correctly acknowledge the source of the quote. If you are using a quote, particularly o­ne the audience knows, and you get the wording wrong, someone in the audience will notice and you will find that is what they will remember. While I don't personally like the use of notes when I present, I will use a reference book to read the quote from. Rather than showing people that I have not practiced the speech, using a book for the reading of a quote (or statistics) can actually add weight to what you are saying.

Action: A gesture can by itself attract your audiences attention. Stamping your foot o­n the floor will prompt your audience to think what is going o­n? and if this gesture is followed by words such as I am as mad as I can be and I am not going to take it anymore!" will certainly capture your audience.

Used appropriately, your Hook, the opening of your introduction, will set the scene for a great presentation, Words have power so use them wisely. What hook do you like to use in your openings? Is their a hook I have missed in the list? would you like more information o­n any of these hooks? Your constructive feedback is warmly welcomed and invited.

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