"Today, our young people have little chance to get happiness from marriage. The rise in our divorce rate is shocking. 1930, five to six marriages 1 will hit the rocks; By 1940, we expect it to rise to 4 piles.
"If this symbol lasts for a long time, then 1950 is 2 to 1."
Mike Lu, the founder of an important magazine, said, "A good magazine article is just a series of scares."
These articles aroused a kind of vigilance in our hearts. They want to remind us of this and get our attention. Look at the following example:
One was Brand of Baltimore who gave a speech entitled "Miracle of Radio". He said at the beginning:
"Do you know that the subtle sound made by a fly walking on the glass window of new york can spread to Central Africa by radio, or it can make it sound as magical as Niagara Falls?"
Mr. Harry Jones, President of Harry Jones Company in new york, made the following opening remarks in a speech on "Crime Situation":
"Taft, the former chief justice of the US Supreme Court, once declared:' Our management of criminal law is a disgrace to civilization.' "
His sentence has two bright spots: it is not only a shocking opening remark; This is an amazing statement quoted from judicial authority.
Paul Gibbons, former president of the Philadelphia Optimist Club, made the following jaw-dropping remarks when he spoke on the topic of "evil":
"Americans are the most guilty nation in human civilization. This statement is shocking, but equally shocking is that it is indeed a fact. There are six times as many murderers in Cleveland, Ohio as in London. In proportion to the population, the number of robberies in London is 170 times. Cleveland has more people robbed by gangsters or businesses every year than England, Scotland and Wales combined. More people are murdered in St. Louis every year than in England and Wales. The number of murders in new york is higher than that in France, Germany, Italy and Britain. There is a sad fact: criminals have not been punished. If you murder a person, your chances of being executed are less than 1%. Everyone here is a kind citizen who pursues peace, but your chances of dying of cancer are 10 times that of shooting a person and hanging. "
This prologue was very successful, because Gibbons' words revealed incomparable strength and enthusiasm. His speech is full of energy. However, I also heard other students use similar examples as their opening remarks when talking about crime. But their opening remarks are very dull. Why? Empty talk has no substance. Their structural skills are impeccable, but their spirit is zero. Their attitude destroyed and weakened everything they said.
Here are a few examples that also start with "amazing events":
"It is predicted that on the first night of the atomic war, 20 million Americans will be killed."
"A few years ago, SCULLY HOWARD spent 176000 dollars to conduct a survey in the form of a newspaper to find out what customers don't like about retail stores. This is by far the most expensive, scientific and thorough investigation on the retail problem. The questionnaire was sent to 45047 families in 16 different cities. One of the questions is: "What don't you like about the shops in this town?"
"Almost two-fifths of the answer to this question is the same: rude clerk!"
At the beginning of the speech, there were amazing words. The reason why we can establish communication with the audience is because it has ideological shock. This is a "shocking technique", which attracts the audience's attention to the theme of the speech in an unexpected way.
A student in my Washington class used this method to arouse curiosity. Her nickname is Meg Hill. The following is her opening remarks:
"I used to be a prisoner of 10. Not in an ordinary prison, but in a prison that is worried that it is a poor prison wall and afraid of being criticized. "
Don't you want to know about this real person?
There is a danger that should be avoided at the beginning of stunning, that is, being too dramatic and playing tricks. I remember a guy who started his speech by firing a gun into the air. He originally wanted to attract people's attention, but he broke the audience's eardrum.
The opening remarks should be approachable, just like talking to others. There is a very effective way to know whether your opening remarks are really like a normal conversation, and that is to try them at the dinner table. If the way you speak is not approachable enough to reach the table, I'm afraid you are not kind enough to the audience.
However, it is common that the beginning that should interest the audience is often the most boring part of the speech. For example, I recently heard a speaker begin by saying, "Depend on God and believe in your own ability ..." This kind of sermon is so heavy that it is just like boiled water! But after listening to his second sentence, it gradually became interesting, and there was a power that made my heart beat. "19 18 My mother has just been widowed, and she has three children to educate, but she has no money ..." Why didn't the speaker tell the story of my widowed mother leading three starving children to survive in the first sentence? In a speech, if you want to interest the audience, don't start with an aphorism, but jump to the core of the story from the beginning.
Frank Bigger, the author of How I Succeed in Sales, did just that. He is a master of suspense, and the first sentence can create suspense. I know him because, under the sponsorship of the American Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he and I toured around the United States to talk about sales tips. His speech is very "enthusiastic" and the opening way is even more wonderful, which has always made me sincerely admire.
As soon as he opened his mouth, he jumped to the core of the topic. Please listen to how he started when he talked about "enthusiasm":
"Shortly after I started to be a professional baseball player, the most shocking thing happened in my life."
Do you know what kind of influence this opening has on the audience? I saw their reaction with my own eyes at the scene-he immediately attracted everyone's attention, and everyone was anxious to know why he was shocked and what he would do afterwards.
What the audience likes best when listening to a speech is that the speaker tells stories from his own life experiences. Russell Conwill delivered his famous speech How to Find Opportunities more than 6,000 times, earning millions of dollars. Do you know how his most famous speech began? Please see:
"At 1870, we traveled to the Tigris River. We hired a tour guide in Baghdad and asked him to show us around Persepolis, Nineveh and Babylon.
This is his prologue-a story. This way can immediately attract the attention of the audience. Such opening remarks are almost foolproof and rarely fail. It urges you to move forward with him, and we, as listeners, pay close attention to what will happen soon.
In the Saturday Evening Post, there are two works that begin with stories, and the excerpts are as follows:
"A sharp gunshot broke the silence."
"In the first week of July, something happened at the Mountain View Hotel in Vatican City. As far as the matter itself is concerned, it is only a trivial matter, but judging from the possible consequences, it is serious. This incident aroused the strong curiosity of Gabel, the hotel manager, so he told Steve Farari, the owner of Mountain View Hotel. A few days later, when Mr. Farari visited several hotels under his command, he told the staff of six other hotels about it. "
Please note that there are movements in both paragraphs. They have had an effect from the beginning and aroused your curiosity. You want to read it. You want to know more; Do you want to know what these two works are trying to say?
As long as you master the method of arousing the audience's curiosity with this storytelling technique, even inexperienced beginners can successfully create a good opening statement.