| How do I write a great introduction? | | Print | |
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My first introductions were contrived, far-fetched anecdotes that ended up doing more damage to my speech than they were worth. Over the course of my first year I showed very little improvement in the development of ‘interest catchers’, and they held a constant presence as one of the biggest challenges I faced in extemp. For this reason, I can sympathize with those who are asking themselves where to start as they confront the often daunting task of writing good introductions. What’s important to keep in mind is that like the best inventions, most of the best introductions aren’t written on command—they just come to you. Sometimes, however, duty does call, and you have to crank out 3 intros on specific topics in a night (not that that’s ever happened to me…). Well, here’s how to start. If you are looking for an introduction based on some specific topic, I suggest starting with an anecdotal introduction— they are often easier to write, link better, and have a greater positive impact of your judge than alternatives. You should start either by going to a search engine and looking for anecdotes, usually funny, about your topic, or head to a website you know has good stories (one that I like to use is www.anecdotage.com). For example, if were looking to write an introduction on the US-UK relationship, I might search for “America” and “England” on anecdotage. One of the results is this story: During the Civil War, Henry Ward Beecher traveled to England in order to solicit British support for the Northern cause. While addressing a turbulent crowd of rebel sympathizers in Manchester, Beecher was asked a difficult question: "Why didn't you whip the Confederates in sixty days, as you said you would!" "Because," he replied, "we found we had Americans to fight instead of Englishmen!" Here you have a reasonably funny and useful story, but hardly an introduction. You need to make sure to do a few things before this goose is cooked. The introduction must be as word efficient as possible to save time at the start of your speech—for such efficiency, just change the phrasing to make the intro more concise. Beyond that, it must have a way that it shows a more direct link to your topic. For the link to your topic, what often works well is a few good puns put close together, which thematically link the intro to your topic. The above joke could be changed into the intro for “what is the future of UK-US ties?” as shown below. During the Civil War, Henry Ward Beecher traveled to England in order to solicit British support for the Northern cause the union. While addressing a turbulent crowd of rebel sympathizers in Manchester, Beecher was asked a difficult question: "Why didn't you whip the Confederates in sixty days, as you said you would!" Why hadn’t he whipped the Confederates in the sixty days he claimed it would take? "Because," he replied, "we found we had Americans to fight instead of Englishmen!" As the US and United Kingdom have been yanking each others chains, we find that problems of the past may condemn the future to continued tensions, as the Financial Times argued in June, the cross Atlantic relationship could have a significant positive impact on LDC development, but political tensions may resurface and prevent cooperation. The possibility makes it important we answer the question: What is the future of UK-US ties? The text of the jokes was shortened, a link was added, and some content between the joke and the question (also keep in mind, if there is conversation in a jokes, limiting direct quotes as much as possible-it gets confusing). That is the basic model to follow to write an intro for extemp. Finding jokes, though, is a whole other story. Just as with intros, many of the best jokes will just come to you, or you’ll read something that sparks your imagination in an article. Searching for jokes starts often with a search engine, a topic, and some hope… a hope often dashed down. Despite the vast expanse that is the internet, good jokes are still tough to find. Keep in mind that it will take a lot of research, and with a search like google.com, you’ll have a few pages of jokes to read through—don’t just take the top few. One great place to start for funny jokes is reading one liners and quips from late night television. When they link well, great jokes can come from Conan, J, or David. In the end, the best suggestion is to keep reading news and exposing yourself to books and journals about all topics you’ll cover in extemp. The more you read, the more often you’ll find a great introduction hidden in an article you may not have looked twice at. Great jokes and intros come from you, so you have to be the one to put in the human-hours to find great material. |
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