Format & Structure
¨ Introduction
¨ Paragraph 1: Use a topic sentence
¨ Paragraph 2: Use a topic sentence
¨ Paragraph 3: Use a topic sentence
¨ Paragraph 4: Use a topic sentence
¨ Conclusion
7 Ways to Open Your Speech
• Quote: Opening with a relevant quote
can help set the tone
• “What If” Scenario: Immediately
drawing your audience into your
speech works wonders.
• “Imagine” Scenario: A similar
method, but more relevant for
sensational examples.
• Question: Ask a rhetorical or literal
question.
• Silence: A pause, whether two
seconds or 10 seconds, allows your
audience to sit and quiet down.
• Statistic: Use a surprising, powerful,
personalized statistic that will
resonate with the audience to get
your message across right away.
• Powerful Statement/Phrase
A statement or phrase can catch the
audience’s attention by keeping them
guessing as to what you’re about to
say next.
Joseph R. Biden, the former vice president of the United States and
a man who had twice before run unsuccessfully for the presidency,
formally accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for president
late August with a speech that has been universally hailed as the best
he had given in his 47 years of public service.
Good evening.
Ella Baker, a giant of the civil rights movement, left us with this wisdom: Give people
light and they will find a way. Give people light. Those are words for our time.
The current president has cloaked America in darkness for much too long. Too much
anger. Too much fear. Too much division. Here and now, I give you my word: If you
entrust me with the presidency, I will draw on the best of us not the worst. I will be an
ally of the light not of the darkness.
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