Types of openings

Ways to begin a speech are almost unlimited, but they seem to me to fall into five main categories:

Not every opening will fit neatly into one of these five categories, and some openings might have characteristics of more than one category.

Once you have decided on a topic for your speech and what you want the speech to accomplish, look at the five categories of openings to determine whether one or more will help you make a good beginning.

Now, let's take a look at some examples.

Novelty openings

Some years ago, I attended a meeting of a men's club at which the speaker was a businessman on a crusade. This man, who had survived a serious bout with cancer, was speaking under the auspices of the state chapter of the American Cancer Society. His mission was to persuade men to go to their physicians for rectal examinations.

He began his speech by tossing out to the audience several of the long plastic tubes used in that kind of exam. This was the prelude for telling his experience and for making a case for early detection.

Anyone seeing those long tubes and knowing what they were used for might not be thrilled with the idea of having such an examination. Nevertheless, tossing the tubes into the audience accomplished what the speaker intended: It got their attention. It was an effective beginning for an effective speech.

That opening could be called either a novelty opening or a dramatic opening. It was both—unquestionably novel and certainly dramatic. It was an attention-compeller and an ice-breaker.

In 1980, I wrote a speech for Jeff White, who was then executive vice president of Equifax Inc., the big credit-reporting and information services company, and who later was to become the company's chairman and chief executive officer. Mr. White was speaking to the 47th annual Credit Management Conference of the National Retail Merchants Association.

He wanted a very forward-looking speech in which he would predict a time when the relatively narrow field of consumer credit would have evolved into the much broader field of financial-transaction services.

To help him make that point in his speech, I constructed a novelty opening in which he would postulate the existence of a fictional organization called the National Consumer Financial Transaction Association, to which he would pretend to be speaking ten years in the future. Here is the opening:

Ladies and Gentlemen:

It's an honor to have been invited to address the first annual conference of the National Consumer Financial Transaction Association on this beautiful September morning in 1990. I recall that it was just 10 years ago—September 22, 1980—that I spoke to the 47th annual Credit Management Conference of the National Retail Merchants Association.

At first the audience was confused, but most soon realized what was happening. Mr. White continued the charade for perhaps a minute and a half before returning to the present in this way:

Enough of all that.

Time passes fast enough without my pretending that another decade has gone by in the twinkling of an eye.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your very generous introduction. I'm happy to be back in 1980 and delighted at the opportunity to participate in this conference and to share my views—and a few of my personal prejudices—on the past and future of consumer credit. The purpose of my brief flight on the time machine was to dramatize my opinion about where this industry is heading.

The speech was very effective, and the opening was cited in a book on speech writing that was published some years later.

An opening of that type is not without danger for the speaker and the writer. Not every speaker could have pulled it off. I would not have written it if I had not been confident that Mr. White was one who could. I also knew that it was important not to allow the charade to continue too long, lest the audience become impatient or even resentful at being taken in.

Here is another example of an effective novelty opening. This one took the audience backward instead of forward. It's from a speech made by an executive of a Fortune 500 company:

Your overall theme for this meeting—"Dialog with Washington"—reminds me of something I read recently which seems appropriate for today's program:

"It is a gloomy moment in the history of our country. Not in the lifetime of most men has there been so much grave and deep apprehension; never has the future seemed so incalculable as at this time.

"Our dollar is weak throughout the world. Prices are so high, as to be utterly impossible.

"The political cauldron seethes and bubbles with uncertainty. Russia hangs like a cloud as usual, dark and silent upon the horizon. It is a solemn moment. Of our troubles, no man can see the end."

The audience assumed, as the speaker expected they would, that the quotation was of recent vintage—until he told them it was from the October 1857 issue of Harper's Weekly. This was an effective device to begin the speech. Most people are surprised to discover that many older recitations of the world's problems sound current.

Dramatic openings

Suspense is often an element in a dramatic opening. Here's a good example:

Let me warn you that what I am about to discuss is not for the faint of heart. By the end of this century, our way of doing business will have dramatically changed. Most executives, as we now know them, will be obsolete. And it is not because they will have been replaced by a computer or a robot.

The speech was delivered by the chairman of a large international company. We can bet it got the attention of the executives in the audience. After all, the speaker was saying that most of them would be obsolete.

Here is an opening that combines suspense with a startling statement calculated to pique the audience's curiosity. The speech was designed to sell the controversial idea of deepening the harbor in Savannah, Georgia:

Today I want to talk with you about an issue of utmost importance to the economic well-being of Savannah and vicinity. Or, in plain English, what politicians sometimes call a pocketbook issue. The stakes are high: Hundreds of millions of dollars in economic benefits for businesses in the coastal area . . . thousands of jobs for local men and women . . . millions of dollars in state and local tax revenue.

All this economic activity hinges on four feet of river bottom. Four feet. The difference between thirty-eight feet, the current depth of the harbor in Savannah, and forty-two feet, the minimum depth required for Savannah to hold on to its position as a world port of call over the next few years.

Question openings

In a question opening, our third category, the speaker asks a question that may be either a rhetorical question, for which no answer is expected, or a real question that the speaker might be expected to answer. Here is an example of the latter:

It's a pleasure to visit with Town Hall of California, to talk about what we have all come to know as "the energy problem." I think most people now recognize that the basic problem is America's overdependence on foreign oil.

The question is—What can we do about it?

That speech was delivered by an official of a major oil company in the days when the question, "What do we do about our energy problem?" was on just about everyone's mind. An oil-company executive might well have been expected to provide an answer.

Here is an example of a rhetorical question used as the opening of a speech to a group of business managers:

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen:

Thank you for inviting me to be a part of your program. This evening I want you to consider with me a question that is, or should be, on the mind of every person concerned with meeting a payroll: "Can business manage to survive government?" I cannot answer that question this evening. Neither can you. But by asking it, we take a first step in ensuring that business not only can, but will, survive the crushing burden of government regulation.

Humorous openings

The fourth category, humorous openings, can be quite effective if the humor is in good taste and is delivered with the right timing. A humorous opening can be an icebreaker; set the tone for the speech; and make, support, or illustrate a point related to the subject. We'll talk in more detail about humor in a later chapter, but let me give you a couple of examples of humorous openings. The first, from my own experience, requires a brief explanation:

During the 1970s I was a public-relations/public-affairs adviser to the Japanese consulate general for the southeastern United States. In that capacity, I once wrote a speech for a Japanese diplomat to deliver to an economic development forum in Columbia, South Carolina. To appreciate this example, you have to know that in South Carolina, stores that sell alcoholic beverages are not allowed to advertise the fact. They are, however, allowed to display a huge red ball, which tells people that they do, indeed, sell liquor. Just why the state chose that particular symbol for liquor stores remains a mystery, at least to me, but that's the way it is.

In any event, the similarity of the liquor symbol to the Japanese national symbol was too good to pass up. The red ball, in fact, looks exactly like the sun symbol on the Japanese flag.

Now, the Japanese diplomat who was to make the speech spoke excellent English and had a fine sense of humor. He was puzzled, however, by the opening I wrote for his speech. I did not keep a copy of it, but as I recall, it went something like this:

I'm honored to be a part of his program, and I'm especially pleased to be here in Columbia, South Carolina. I must admit, however, that I'm overwhelmed by the welcome your city has prepared for me. Even though I have heard much about Southern hospitality, I was amazed upon my arrival here yesterday to see so many of your business establishments displaying the Japanese flag.

The speaker was reluctant to use the opening because he had not been to South Carolina before and simply didn't understand. I persuaded him to use it anyway. He did and it had the desired effect. The audience loved it!

An important point is this: There were platitudes to be expressed about Japanese-American friendship and cooperation. The humorous opening led naturally into those platitudes and put the audience in the proper frame of mind to receive them.

Self-deprecating humor—that is, poking a bit of harmless fun at yourself—can be a good speech-opening device. One caveat, though: The speaker should be careful not to denigrate his qualifications or knowledge of the subject. The audience might believe him.

Here is an opening in which the president of a large public utility made a funny reference to his age:

As I was planning my remarks for today, I recalled the advice that a wise, old politician gave me some thirty years ago. He said a speech is something like a love affair. Almost any fool can start one, but ending it gracefully calls for considerable skill. This morning, my wife told me I was too old for a love affair, so she hoped I did well with the speech.

That opening could very easily be used as a closing. In fact, it might be better as a closing.

Reference openings

Reference openings, category five, are by far the most common. In a reference opening, the speaker makes a reference of some sort and uses the reference as a kind of launching pad for the speech. You'll see how this is done in the next chapter as you examine some of my favorite reference openings.

"This Breed Called Americans"

To close this chapter, I have selected President Ronald Reagan's masterful first inaugural address, January 20, 1981. Note especially the simple language, a characteristic of good speeches, and how each idea flows into another:

Thank you. Senator Hatfield, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. President [Carter], Vice President Bush, Vice President Mondale, Senator Baker, Speaker O'Neill, Reverend Moomaw, and my fellow citizens:

To a few of us here today this is a solemn and most momentous occasion. And, yet, in the history of our nation it is a commonplace occurrence.

The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place as it has for almost two centuries and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many in the world, this every-four-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle.

Mr. President, I want our fellow citizens to know how much you did to carry on this tradition.

By your gracious cooperation in the transition process you have shown a watching world that we are a united people pledged to maintaining a political system which guarantees individual liberty to a greater degree than any other. And I thank you and your people for all your help in maintaining the continuity which is the bulwark of our republic.

The business of our nation goes forward.

These United States are confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions.

We suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history. It distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift and crushes the struggling young and the fixed-income elderly alike. It threatens to shatter the lives of millions of our people.

Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, human misery and personal indignity.

Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement and keeps us from maintaining full productivity.

But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending. For decades we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present.

To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political and economic upheavals.

You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why then should we think that collectively, as a nation, we are not bound by that same limitation?

We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be no misunderstanding—we're going to begin to act beginning today.

The economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades. They ill not go away in days, weeks or months, but they will go away. They will go away because we as Americans have the capacity now, as we have had in the past, to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.

From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by and of the people.

But if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?

All of us together—in and out of government—must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.

We hear much of special interest groups. Well, our concern must be for a special interest group that has been too long neglected.

It knows no sectional boundaries, or ethnic and racial divisions, and it crosses political party lines. It is made up of men and women who raise our food, patrol our streets, man our mines and factories, teach our children, keep our homes and heal us when we're sick.

Professionals, industrialists, shopkeepers, clerks, cabbies and truck drivers. They are, in short, "We the people." This breed called Americans.

Well, this Administration's objective will be a healthy, vigorous, growing economy that provides equal opportunities for all Americans with no barriers born of bigotry or discrimination.

Putting America back to work means putting all Americans back to work. Ending inflation means freeing all Americans from the terror of runaway living costs. All must share in the productive work of this "new beginning," and all must share in the bounty of a revived economy.

With the idealism and fair play which are the core of our system and our strength, we can have a strong, prosperous America at peace with itself and the world.

So as we begin, let us take inventory.

We are a nation that has a government, not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the earth.

Our Government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.

It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to the states or to the people.

All of us—all of us—need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not create the states; the states created the Federal Government.

Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it's not my intention to do away with government.

It is rather to make it work—work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.

If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before.

Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on earth. The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay that price.

It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of Government.

It is time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We're not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing.

So, with all the creative energy at our command let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage and our strength. And let us renew our faith and our hope. We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes—they just don't know where to look. You can see heroes every day going in and out of factory gates. Others, a handful in number, produce enough food to feed all of us and then the world beyond.

You meet heroes across a counter—and they're on both sides of that counter. There are entrepreneurs with faith in themselves and faith in an idea, who create new jobs, new wealth and opportunity.

There are individuals and families whose taxes support the Government and whose voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art and education. Their patriotism is quiet but deep. Their values sustain our national life.

Now, I have used the words "they" and "their" in speaking of these heroes. I could say "you" and "your" because I'm addressing the heroes of whom I speak—you, the citizens of this blessed land.

Your dreams, your hopes, your goals are going to be the dreams, the hopes and the goals of this Administration, so help me God.

We shall reflect the compassion that is so much a part of your makeup. How can we love our country and not love our countrymen? And loving them reach out a hand when they fall, heal them when they're sick and provide opportunity to make them self-sufficient so they will be equal in fact and not just in theory?

Can we solve the problems confronting us? Well, the answer is an unequivocal and emphatic yes.

To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I did not take the oath I've just taken with the intention of presiding over the dissolution of the world's strongest economy.

In the days ahead I will propose removing the roadblocks that have slowed our economy and reduced productivity.

Steps will be taken aimed at restoring the balance between the various levels of government. Progress may be slow "measured in inches and feet, not miles" but we will progress.

It is time to reawaken this industrial giant, to get government back within its means and to lighten our punitive tax burden.

And these will be our first priorities, and on these principles there will be no compromise.

On the eve of our struggle for independence a man who might've been one of the greatest among the Founding Fathers, Dr. Joseph Warren, president of the Massachusetts Congress, said to his fellow Americans, "Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of. On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important questions upon which rest the happiness and the liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves."

Well, I believe we the Americans of today are ready to act worthy of ourselves, ready to do what must be done to ensure happiness and liberty for ourselves, our children and our children's children.

And as we renew ourselves here in our own land we will be seen as having greater strength throughout the world. We will again be the exemplar of freedom and a beacon of hope for those who do not now have freedom.

To those neighbors and allies who share our freedom, we will strengthen our historic ties and assure them of our support and firm commitment.

We will match loyalty with loyalty. We will strive for mutually beneficial relations. We will not use our friendship to impose on their sovereignty, for our own sovereignty is not for sale.

As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest aspiration of the American people. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it; we will not surrender for it—now or ever.

Our forbearance should never be misunderstood. Our reluctance for conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of will.

When action is required to preserve our national security, we will act. We will maintain sufficient strength to prevail if need be, knowing that if we do we have the best chance of never having to use that strength.

Above all we must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.

It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have.

It is a weapon that we as Americans do have.

Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors.

I am told that tens of thousands of prayer meetings are being held on this day; for that I am deeply grateful. We are a nation under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free. It would be fitting and good, I think, if on each inaugural day in future years it should be declared a day of prayer.

This is the first time in our history that this ceremony has been held, as you've been told, on this West Front of the Capitol.

Standing here, one faces a magnificent vista, opening up on this city's special beauty and history.

At the end of this open mall are those shrines to the giants on whose shoulders we stand.

Directly in front of me, the monument to a monumental man, George Washington, father of our country. A man of humility who came to greatness reluctantly. He led America out of revolutionary victory into infant nationhood.

Off to one side, the stately memorial to Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration of Independence flames with his eloquence.

And then beyond the Reflecting Pool, the dignified columns of the Lincoln Memorial. Whoever would understand in his heart the meaning of America will find it in the life of Abraham Lincoln.

Beyond those monuments to heroism is the Potomac River, and on the far shore the sloping hills of Arlington National Cemetery with its row upon row of simple white markers bearing crosses or Stars of David. They add up to only a tiny fraction of the price that has been paid for our freedom.

Each one of those markers is a monument to the kind of hero I spoke of earlier.

Their lives ended in places called Belleau Wood, the Argonne, Omaha Beach, Salerno and halfway around the world on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Pork Chop Hill, the Chosin Reservoir, and in a hundred rice paddies and jungles of a place called Vietnam.

Under such a marker lies a young man, Martin Treptow, who left his job in a small town barber shop in 1917 to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division.

There, on the Western front, he was killed trying to carry a message between battalions under heavy artillery fire.

We are told that on his body was found a diary.

On the flyleaf under the heading, "My Pledge," he had written these words:

"America must win this war. Therefore I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone."

The crisis we are facing today does not require of us the kind of sacrifice that Martin Treptow and so many thousands of others were called upon to make.

It does require, however, our best effort and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds; to believe that together with God's help we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us.

And after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans.

God bless you and thank you. Thank you very much.