Chapter 14, p. 384
CHAPTER 14
Developing the Introduction and Conclusion
CHAPTER CONTENT OUTLINE
I. Prepare the introduction.
A. Audience members will decide if they are interested in your speech topic within the first
few minutes of your speech.
B. An introduction is good when it:
2. Introduces your topic and purpose
4. Previews your main points
C. Gain audience attention.
1. Use a quotation. A good quotation culled from literature, poetry, film, or the
2. Tell a story. Brief stories are “surefire attention-getters.”
a. Stories personalize issues, encouraging audience identification with the speaker,
3. Establish common ground. This can win over the audience.
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4. Offer unusual information. Startling statements based on unusual or incredible
5. Pose questions. Speakers can capture attention by posing a rhetorical question, or one
designed to make the audience think.
6. Use humor—perhaps. Humor can build rapport and set a positive tone for the speech.
a. The speaker should use humor with caution, however, making certain it is
D. Preview the topic and purpose.
2. Use caution about forewarning the audience when trying to persuade as it may
E. Establish credibility as a speaker.
1. Simply state your qualifications for speaking on the topic.
1. Make the topic relevant and establish your credibility as a speaker.
2. Audience members assess a speaker’s credibility during the introduction, so the
speaker must establish credibility right away.
II. Prepare the conclusion.
A. The conclusion provides the speaker with a final opportunity to drive the purpose home,
B. Signal the end of the speech and provide closure.
2. Signal closure by varying your tone, pitch, rhythm, and rate of speech to indicate the
C. Summarize the key points.
1. Emphasizing the main points three times (during the introduction, body, and
conclusion) helps the audience remember them.
D. Reiterate the topic and the speech purpose.
E. Challenge the audience to respond.
2. Persuasive speeches challenge audience members with a call to action, to act in
1. Use the same types of devices used in the introduction to capture the audience’s
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2. Bring the speech full circle by continuing with the same story or idea mentioned in the
introduction.
KEY TERMS
rhetorical question question that does not invite actual responses but is used to make the listener
or the audience anticipate answers from the speaker
CHAPTER STUDY GUIDE
I. SUMMARY QUESTIONS
What are the functions of introductions?
Introductions serve five functions: They arouse the audience’s attention; introduce the topic
What are some of the most effective ways to capture an audience’s attention?
Introductions must first gain the attention of the audience. Some of the most effective ways to
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What are the functions of conclusions?
Conclusions serve five functions: They alert the audience that the speech is coming to an end,
How does a speaker alert an audience that the speech is about to end?
Audiences like to know whether the speaker is at the beginning, middle, or end of the
presentation. Just as you use transition words, phrases, and statements to cue in the audience to
shifts within the body of the speech, you can use them to conclude the speech. Signpost words and
Why is it important to challenge an audience to respond to the speech?
Challenging the audience to respond is important because it shows listeners that the problem or
issue that has been addressed is real and is personally relevant to them. In the introduction, part of
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II. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Have you ever listened only to the introduction of a speech and tuned out the rest? If so, what
characteristics of the speaker’s introduction contributed to you tuning out? What could the
speaker have done to engage you?
Whether the audience tunes out the body of the speech may depend on the effectiveness of
the introduction and conclusion, or it may simply be due to extraneous factors (e.g.,
2. How can speakers develop introductions that interest audience members enough to make them
listen all the way through a speech? What clever strategies can you think of?
This is a good opportunity for students to incorporate what they have learned from the
chapter into a written in-class or homework assignment. Strategies include using rhetorical
3. Think about the best introductions to television shows or movies that you have seen. What
made these introductions so effective? Discuss as many features as you can think of. How
could these techniques be applied to a speech introduction?
Have students view several openers of television shows in class and identify the strategies
4. To what extent does a speaker’s personal style affect the type of conclusion he or she selects?
Should a serious person try a humorous conclusion or stick with a quotation or a rhetorical
question instead? Should someone who has a keen sense of humor take advantage of it or try
something like a somber story or an anecdote instead?
CONTENT PRESENTATION IDEAS
I. STUDENT ACTIVITIES
1. Practice writing introductions based on narratives or stories for each of the following speech
topics.
• Drunk driving
• Illegal immigration
This could be repeated or changed for each of the kinds of introduction in this chapter.
2. Think of two of your personal hobbies or interests. If you were to write a speech about them,
how would you build credibility in the introduction?
List statements you might make for each to support your credibility.
3. Get students into groups to share their speech topics, after which they can write sample
conclusions for each topic.
4. Think of two current events or news stories. If you were to write a persuasive speech about
them, how would you create an appropriate conclusion? List several ideas for a conclusion.
Encourage students to take an inventory of their expertise or knowledge of the chosen news
II. GROUP ACTIVITIES
1. In a group of three or four people, find copies of three or four speeches from a speech archive
such as www.americanrhetoric.com or by searching the internet. Isolate the introductions for
each speech. In a paragraph, describe the type of introduction used in the speech: A story?
Quotations? Humor? Did the speaker select appropriate opening material for the occasion and
audience? Be prepared to discuss your findings with the class.
2. Working individually, write a paragraph describing a funny incident that has happened to you.
Next, divide into groups of four or five students, and take turns telling your stories to the group.
Were you comfortable using humor? Why or why not? Were the audience members
comfortable with your use of humor? Why or why not?
As a supplement to this activity, encourage students to use humor as an attention-getting
3. As part of a small group exercise, watch a few speeches delivered by members of the Senate or
the House of Representatives. Make a list of the most common methods of introducing a
speech in Congress. Do these speakers use effective introductions and conclusions? Why or
why not? In a short report, give examples that support your conclusions.
Chapter 14, p. 393
4. Form a small group of students, and have each member separately observe a speaker on
campus, at a community center, or at a religious gathering. Have the group meet and discuss
how each speaker uses introductions to gain attention. How do the speakers use conclusions to
reinforce the message? Collaboratively write your answers in a short essay.
Students can use this activity as a way to persuade other students to observe the same
III. ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES
QUESTIONS
The following questions may be used by instructors to help illustrate important points in the
chapter and to facilitate students’ learning of this material. These questions can be used as:
• Homework questions
1. What are some functions of an introduction?
• To arouse the audience’s attention
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2. The text mentions techniques that are designed to win the audience’s attention. Please identify
some of them.
• Using a quotation
• Telling a story
3. Give an example of introducing the purpose and topic within the introduction of a speech.
4. Provide an example of previewing the main points. You can use the same topic that you used in
the previous question.
5. How do you motivate the audience to accept your goals? Cite an example of how you would do
this.
6. In the introduction, the audience needs to be given a reason to believe the speaker. What should
the speaker do in the introduction in order to achieve this goal?
A speaker needs to build his or her credibility in the introduction. The speaker needs to make a
Chapter 14, p. 395
7. What are the functions of a conclusion?
• To alert the audience that the speech is coming to an end
• To summarize the key points
8. What are some of the techniques a speaker can use to give closure to a speech? What is one
technique a speaker can use in a conclusion?
Quotations, stories, imagery, humor, and rhetorical questions can be used by a speaker to
9. Explain what a call to action is, and provide an example of ending a speech with one.
Call to action: a concluding statement to a persuasive speech in which a speaker challenges the
audience to act in response to the speech, see the problem in a new way, or change both their
actions and beliefs about the problem.
ACTIVITIES
Starting Out Right
Purpose: To gain experience in writing introductions.
1. Something unusual or extraordinary that you have done (personal story)
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3. Extramarital affairs and cheating (startling facts or statistics; you may make up “data” for
this activity)
5. How to make something (rhetorical question)
7. Some aspect of your school (express interest in the audience)
Two Heads Are Better Than One: Developing Introductions
Purpose: To help students prepare for their upcoming speeches.
Instructions: Students should come to class with their speech topics in mind. Organize students in
groups of four or five and ask them to brainstorm appropriate attention-getters for each of the
Purpose: To give students practice in making topics relevant and in establishing credibility.
Instructions: Instructors should provide students with ten possible speech topics; these topics may
be picked up from other class activities or taken from the following list of topics. Students should
briefly describe how they would make this topic relevant to the audience as well as how they
would establish credibility.
Chapter 14, p. 397
Discussion: The instructor can ask students to read their answers, discussing how well or how
poorly they succeeded in meeting the objectives of the assignment.
What’s Hot and What’s Not?
Purpose: To give students an opportunity to practice developing introductions and to find out
what students think are important current topics or people.
Instructions: Ask students to think of recent events and people who are in the public eye.
Generate a list of all the hot events and people that students mention. This will get discussion and
class participation going. Then narrow the list down to one event and one person. Next, construct
Begin with the End in Mind
Purpose: To gain experience in creating introductions and conclusions, and to practice linking the
introduction and conclusion to bring the speech full circle.
Instructions: In the space provided, write a creative introduction and conclusion for two of the
Chapter 14, p. 398
3. Volunteering (ask a rhetorical question)
4. Cooking for one (humor)
Conclusions Workshop
Purpose: To help students prepare for their upcoming speeches.
Instructions: Students should come to class with their speech topics in mind. Organize students in
I Spy: Identifying Good Conclusions
Purpose: To identify effective and ineffective conclusions.
Instructions: For completion outside class: Students need to find a speech in Vital Speeches of the
Day, in another printed source, at www.americanrhetoric.com, or on a video or audio recording.
Ask students to evaluate the effectiveness of the speech’s conclusion. Students can use the
following questions to help guide their evaluations.
1. Who is the speaker, and what is the topic he or she is speaking about?
2. Did the conclusion achieve the five functions described in the chapter (alert listeners to the
end of the speech, summarize key points, reiterate the central idea, challenge them to
respond, and end the speech memorably)?
Chapter 14, p. 399
RECOMMENDED SUPPLEMENTARY RESOURCES
Bartlett, J. (2002). Bartlett’s familiar quotations: A collection of passages, phrases, and proverbs
traced to their sources in ancient and modern literature (17th ed.). Boston, MA: Little, Brown.
Davis, E. (2007). Get ’em laughing: Public speaking humor, quotes, and illustrations. Victoria,
BC, Canada: Trafford.
Fuller, E. (1980). 2500 anecdotes for all occasions. New York, NY: Avenel Books.
Hodgin, M. (1995). 1001 humorous illustrations for public speaking: Fresh, timely, and
compelling illustrations for preachers, teachers, and speakers. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Kerr, C., & Middleton, S. (2000). What’s so funny?: How to get humor and good storytelling into
your speeches and presentations. Santa Ana, CA: ExecuProv.
Langellier, K. M. (1989). Personal narratives: Perspectives on theory and research. Text and
Performance Quarterly, 9, 243–276.
Chapter 14, p. 400
SUGGESTED WEBSITES
American Rhetoric <www.americanrhetoric.com>
Bartleby.com <www.bartleby.com/100>
CHA’s Quotations by Topic < www.cha4mot.com/q_cha.html >
History Channel <www.historychannel.com/broadband/home>