How to Start a Speech 

Holly molly! I don't care about business or sales or making speeches, but the way he talks is so bloody captivating, I ended up watching more of the videos!! lol AND in addition I learn a lot from them too, which I think will be a great help to me when I go for job interviews in future. It even helps with my poetry when I make audio versions of it! Fascinating stuff!

Three ways to start a speech (summary): 3) With a question that matters to the audience. Phrase a problem that the audience faces. 2) A fact that shocks: i.e. there are more people alive today than have ever died. Every 2 minutes, the energy reaching the earth from the sun is equal to all the energy used by all its people in one year 1) The same way we start a story to a child: "Once upon a time..." Makes us lean forward, makes us ready to hear. All trained as kids to know when a story's coming. - assume self interest; tell a story from your own life about something you find meaningful - don't talk about the software; talk about the people who make the software - they need to trust you before they decide to act

The actual best way to start a speech: "This is going to be quick"

How to start a speech: "This video is sponsored by Raid: shadow legend"

Seems simple yet we forget that presentations are stories that get your point across to a group of different personalities with varying opinions and views. I enjoy the fact that Conor Neil reaffirms this information in an engaging manner.

You know a video is old when it talks about using a Blackberry

I have taken both speech and communications classes and not once was starting a speech covered. Thank you Conor! This changes everything.

As a professional trainer and speaker, I can say that this is the best video on starting a speech I have ever seen. Conor Neill is dynamic in his delivery. He compels us to rethink how we begin a speech, to effectively engage an audience from the first moment.

In my high school speech class, we were told to tell the audience what we were going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them. That way it sinks in and will be memorable. I did that and won the speech competition. In sales it was called features and benefits. This is what it does and this is how you benefit from what it does. That and you have 2 ears and 1 mouth; listen twice as much as you talk. Good advice for your life.

1. Start with A Question. 2. Start with a relevant story. 3. Start with curious & bizarre fact.

Awesome advice - telling stories takes presentations to the next level! There are some other interesting tips I have also heard of from other coaches and leaders that I would love you to comment on: 1) start with a silent pause prior to uttering your first word to build up anticipation and attention after taking a deep breath and "landing" in your starting stance first; 2) jump into your story or first idea - do not introduce yourself or display gratitude for being invited to speak; 3) end with the same energy you start with.

Amazing point about starting with a narrative structure. You have finally articulated to me, what made some of my presentations great, the ones I received compliments from, and the ones, I wish I never did.

I watched this video like three (3) years ago when I started exploring how to take on my career in speaking and I'm glad to come back to it and still find it so vital. ❤

Phenomenal speaker -- I hope people pay attention to how he uses pauses and how he builds anticipation. Very well crafted speech.

Three ways to start a speech (connecting with the audience), summarised: 1. "Once upon a time..." 2. *shocking factoid* 3. "We know someone in common."

A real masterpiece talk. I am an English teacher, I ve learned a lot from you sir, I ve grown with many of your lectures. Fantastic

It was a privilege to have Conor as a Corporate Communications professor at IESE, so much value added advice in every lecture!

Normally when I start a speech at a gathering I start by recognizing the previous speaker and then make him feel great by saying, " I'd like to start by saying a big thank you to Nelson for that brilliant presentation, my colleague Nelson, has mentioned so many vital points and I'm going to add to what he's already said..."

Thank you for sharing this, Conor - you exemplify meaningful, motivating communication.

I stumbled on Connor's videos by accident and really love them - i have been hooked ever since. Great advice that can be put into practice.

This is phenomenal! I feel teachers of all grade levels and subjects should study public speaking. We have about 10 seconds to engage students of any age. One swing and a miss and we can lose them . It is then extremely difficult if not impossible to get them back!

Great trick, he speak about how to start a speech, but he really never started, just talked about it.

Who else came here to see how *HE* would start *HIS* speech?

Watched this video long time ago which changed my way of connecting with people. And now when I watch this video again, iam sure and certain that will improve my ways of communication. Still learning from this even watching repeatedly.

I watched this years before when I couldn't understand English it made me smile , and now when I understand words by words , it makes me more smile than before . Thank you

Excellent. I am a storyteller, and you hit the nail on the head. Well done, and thank you for sharing this with the rest of the World. My time is yet to come, but when it does it will remember me for being the Story Teller.

I really think this man has a lot to offer. I liked how he paced his words, engaged his audience & kept everyone interested. So well done there. Not too keen on his nose picking though, as it has me wondering if I will or won't shake his hand.

I enjoyed both the ideas he presented and how he presented them. Since he's talking about how to be more engaging, just watching how he does it is itself great.

Connor, I have seen many speeches and completed many training programs, your tips here are amongst the best I have heard. Simple, concise and reasoned! Thank you..

Conor I tried your method in my presentation for a grant recently. And it worked! Thank you very much for helping me! I was really grateful to you and your talk !

Thanks for your insight... So simple and true but fear gets in the way. Story telling is key.

Great topics on how to start and engage your audience. I also, as a teacher/coach for 13 years, now in sales for 15 plus years, like to throw in a little humor during my talk time. It helps to keep whoever you are talking to engaged. It’s real easy to see cues that you are losing them. Especially in a sales pitch. At that point, you’ve lost them and maybe the sale. Be quick, concise with points, get them engaged and asking questions.

Hello and greetings from Paris ! I saw this 7 years ago and it is still so great ! Happy speech to all !

As a prof who taught public speaking for a few years, this is one presentation I'd have students view! Salient 3 points as I continue to be a speaker. Thank you Conor

Dojng great. He is catching our attention He didn’t tell those three things quickly but he made the speech long and explained to us In one way it was great in another way he took our time so much.

The video beautifully emphasizes the power of storytelling in public speaking. The speaker's approach to capturing audience attention through relatable anecdotes is both insightful and engaging. It highlights the importance of connecting on a personal level to build trust and interest. Overall, a valuable lesson in effective communication!

Very interesting to see agent coulson giving out suggestions on how to give out a speech.

How could this have possibly received over 5k thumbs down? This is quite possibly THE BEST RU-vid video I have EVER watched! Thank you, Conor. I have learned much from you. This has most definitely boosted my confidence. I look forward to seeing more from you-I hope I can find some more out on the net! Or a book? Cheers!

Thank you this helped a lot. We prepped our speech using this and it worked out great.

Conor - you add so much value! Thank you for sharing these gems :-)

I love this! This was a great tip and topic in my opinion and I believe I have learned a lot! Thank you Mr. Neil!!

Thank you for posting your interesting approach to public speaking. As a military instructor charged with making astronautics interesting and relevant to non-technical people, I found a good opening for each new class was: "How many of you have been in space or want to go?" After a pause of several seconds, suggest "Every one of us has, and is, at this moment, in space, aboard Spaceship Earth. We are space travelers riding this large rock and going about a billion kilometers around our star, the Sun, every year. If you do the math, that means our huge planet is traveling a little over 100,000 kilometers per hour in our orbit." pause for effect. "As a child I was fascinated by those people who left the atmosphere of our Spaceship's surface and went into freefall around our planet orbiting every 90 minutes or so at more than 28,000 kilometers per hour. I learned years later that someday, humans will need to venture out to find a new spaceship when in a billion years or so, our sun begins to expand to once day incinerate our planet and moon and everything between our star and us. How will we decide where to go, who to send, and what they will take with them? How will we communicate with them over vast distances where radio transmissions take months and years instead of seconds? We need to learn how to leave while keeping our ship alive long enough to provide the things we will need to go out to other stars, and galaxies; to ensure our species survives, and thrives." another pause. "We are all space farers, like it or not. Who is ready to learn about this fascinating subject?"

Thanks Connor, I follow you from Syria. I love watching all your posts to learn from them. Thank you for what you provide for us.

I completely watched this video till the end. Never Imagined that. This is the true meaning of evergreen content here on RU-vid. Keep growing Sir.

how NOT to start a speech: "how are yall doin this morning?!" i cant HEAR YOU!!! "HOW ARE YALL DOIN THIS MORNING!?!??!" *walks out of room*

When shooting a tiger walking speaker, it is smoother and easier on the viewer to have a slightly wider shot, i.e., medium. That way, the camera can keep up with the speaker with less jumps or quick pans.

These lines touched my heart

I have taken many spoken English classes and never got benefitted from those, today I find you for this first time and i am feeling excited to start this discipline, thank you from Kolkata India

Every 1 Minute , 60 seconds pass in Africa. Facts

The same story telling technique can be used in writing and online videos as well, thanks for sharing. I'll ponder on what you said and use it in my work onwards.

I'm 68 now and I have always been entertaining, funny and informative thanks to watching every Seinfeld episode. Being born hyperactive helps. My mom used to say she has two sons, one has diarrhea of the mouth and the other one is constipated. Guess which one I am. I'm also a psychologist since '78 and used hypnosis in my practice since 2000. My huge family has always asked me why I'm so happy all the time and I tell them I just look at you guys and do the opposite.

1st time listening these kind of audio and i am already in love

Start a speech on something you believe in. Don’t let the audience to feel that your present is because you want to sell something. If you really believe in something, let others to feel the same way. ( emotion) is reachable. Thanks from Saudi Arabia.

Some one needs to tell him that stat about more people being alive today than all the combined death is totally false.

What an amazing professional man ever I've seen!

You can't go wrong with "BLOOD ALONE MOVES THE WHEELS OF HISTORY!"

Don't give out incorrect "facts," that's also a good place to start.

Thank you for sharing this!

I walked into my teacher’s classroom and saw her watching this.. she closed the tab right away and pushed it off the table-

This is my second time to watch this video, at my first time I didn't understand it well cause of my level of language, but now I realized it , it's very helpful for anyone in any field, thanks a lot ☺️

"once upon a time" so that's why I remember 90% from my history lessons because my teacher always start with this phrase!

So genuine. Wish Ted talks would get back to this good stuff

Thanks for the tips! I've been using the opener "there are more people alive today than have ever died" to start off my Engineering lectures. It was interesting the first time, but the students were tired of it after the 2nd and 3rd time.

I never get enough from this video. Thanks a lot 💕

I clicked on the video because of RU-vid suggestion. I watch the whole thing because of this guy.

Many years ago I started a new teaching job. At the end of the very first lesson a girl came up to me and said, 'Sir, you should leave.... and tell stories.' What great advice and encouragement from a teenage girl in a physics class. I have been doing it ever since even when adult leaders told me to keep it straight and stick to the content only. 'Once upon a time'...

00:00 Starting a speech and engaging the audience 01:08 Tips for Effective Speeches 02:09 Tips for successful networking 03:10 Factoids can shock and change perception 04:32 Starting a speech like a story to a child 05:37 Effective storytelling in business 06:39 Effective speaking involves connecting through personal stories 07:51 Stories are about people, not objects or things.

In short: 1. Begin by engaging the audience with a relevant question, framing a problem they face. 2. Alternatively, startle them with a surprising factoid. 3. Finally, captivate them with a compelling story that connects to the topic and its significance.

This is a very good speech, especially about how to engage people with stories. His voice then takes a whole new depth. This is a neat way to bring pathos to a speech.

Good points... "Encourage ye the school children, from their earliest years, to deliver speeches of high quality, so that in their leisure time they will engage in giving cogent and effective talks, expressing themselves with clarity and eloquence." ~ Baha'i Faith

Wow; I was literally learning to pronounce a company's name that I wanted to apply for a job. I have to do a video presentation and then your "how to start and end a speech" came on afterward and I thought what perfect timing. I rewrote everything after watching your video. Rather than dreading the event, I can't wait to get my rehearsals completed so that I can go for it! Thank you!

Excellent points! As a former (now retired) Dale Carnegie trainer, and public speaker, I would just add one more point---Eliminate Distractions. Like frequently scratching your nose and head.

First two sentences in Arthur C. Clark's 2001: A Space Oddyssey: "Behind every man now alive stand thirty ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living. Since the dawn of time, roughly a hundred billion human beings have walked the planet Earth." There you have it, you can actually do an introduction with an interesting fact without lying (at that time in 1968, the ratio is probably lower now).

That speaker-Conor Neill- is surely an honest great man.

Wow! This was very intersting and well said! Thank you so much, I needed this information for an English speech in school.

I happened to be strolling one Saturday morning thru my usual jaunts through the vistas of the YT land. And suddenly, out of nowhere the algos kicked in and presented me with one of the most gems and communitcator I have seen. Thank you!

One point missed here - and I'm afraid sadly demonstrated - is not to fall so in love with the sound of your own voice that a speech takes three times as long as necessary.

I'm 15 yrs old and I've been searching and watching tips about speeches and anything related about it. I'm gonna be speaking to the whole junior high department..a candidacy speech...I really want to win..This vid helped me a lot.. but a bit nervous because days are dropping, it will be next week, God bless to me 🙏🙏🙏

On of the best videos on art of speaking 💕🙏

I've learnt alot today, i can feel it in my nerves 🙏🏽 I promise i would use what I've learnt today henceforth 🖐🏽

I worked with a man close to 20 years. He is a special man. An Irishman. A kind, sincere and ethical man. He took a 20 million dollar annual business to 1.5 billion dollars annually, within 30 years of its operation. He has the knack of making people listen and for telling true stories in an utterly captivating and convincing manner that his 6,000 strong employees rally behind him and the company's every objective. How did he achieve all that? Together with many other disciplines and actions, he also utilizes the 3 possible ways in making a speech that Conor Neil mentions in this talk. Of-course this man was way ahead of Conor and possessed this skill inherently. Yet the fact is - Niel's theories are absolutely spot-on and have produced phenomenal results when followed. Well done Neil.

I didn’t know Todd Packer was such a good public speaker.

A very charismatic gentleman. He knows exactly what he is doing.

Its really helpful, loved the way he spoke with passion.

A few points to avoid when giving a speech or talk: Avoid starting sentences with the word "so" and ending them with the word "right?" That implies that the audience agrees with you when it may not. Avoid using the "pthe" sound. Avoid saying "uh." Avoid using cliches such as "at the end of the day" and "best version of yourself."

Les Brown - Step Into Your Greatness (Live Seminar) ------ to see how to bookend and give an unstoppable speech!

Thanks alot, speaking infront of people is such a challenge,.you are helping and did a young man get some tips on the idea of getting to atleast mumble something in stage situations. Thanks so much.🙏

I like the two start-a-speech tips: (1) ask a relevant question or (2) state an interesting fact. Makes me think how _true_ the interesting fact has to be...

How to start a speech: "Thank you, chairman, for the introduction." :-D

It makes absolute sense. In Spanish, we call it "chisme", probably the most efficient way to engage people.

This works. I changed up my presentation to begin it like this. They bought the system. Capital investment. Was told later by customer, he was on the fence before the presentation and he said I made him feel better about us. I shared a personal story that involved me and my company when I was a user of the system long before I was an employee of the company. 1 caveat: this was in an intimate setting, just two guys from customer and my associate on Zoom. Gave the story before the pres started. I think I will have to alter how I tell it in front of a larger audience.

I never had seen a great person like you before

I start my speeches by asking “What.....does Marcellus Wallace.....look like?”

Amazing video and great tips by Conor Neill on how to start a speech and not to bore the audience from the start who might quickly drift to their mobile devices!

Besides a very interesting and captivating topic, I never once heard you say "um". A quiet pause is far better than filling the silence with "um". It drives me crazy having to listen to a speech where the speaker "ums" his way to the end. Conor, you are "good". This is a very interesting video. Thank you.

Thank you. What is learnt is Speech is one way mostly, while the message is being conveyed, the audience should also feel pleasant.

Starting A Speech 0:33 Repeating What You Already Know 1:03 2:26 How do you get engagement? 2:58 3rd Best: Begin with a question 3:15 2nd Best: Use A Factoid That Shocks 4:57 Best: *_Once Upon A Time_* 6:24 The Last Time I was in this room 7:05 Assume Self-Interest 7:40 *Quality of Life.* *_Stories are about People_*

You made me stop MANY TIMES in the middle of my work and pay attention to you like it was the extra work and this is the important thing. That's how good you are Of course you know that but this will make me one of your fans :)

I can feel he has great energy and power from his deep mind even I don't understand all of them

Anecdotes with a purpose for sharing can be good tools. I am a visual & descriptive person. I enjoy stories.