Not knowing THIS could ruin your speech…

TL;DR

1. The most important part of any speech

2. Lessons from 10 of the greatest speeches in history

The most important part of any speech

Some people seem to have no problem keeping their audiences hanging on their every word.

If that’s you… well done. If not, keep reading…

You see, like most things in life, the secret to a speech worth listening to is in how you start.

Because the way you start, is how your listeners will expect you to continue.

You may think that’s unfair, but it’s true nevertheless.

So to be interesting – start interesting.

That’s why the opening few sentences – especially the first – make up the most important part of any speech.

Of EVERY speech.

In the world of direct response marketing, a lot of ad writers spend more than half their time just working on the headline.

Why?

Because long experience has told them that 80% of readers make their decision to keep reading based on the headline.

Now, speeches aren’t ads – but I think they do belong in the direct response marketing world.

Why?

Because every speech wants – needs – a direct response.

If you don’t capture your audience’s interest immediately – you’ll have a hell of a time trying to win it back afterwards.

So treat your opening sentences like the headline of an ad.

It’s the single most important thing you can do – after deciding on your ONE message.

Lessons from 10 of the greatest speeches in history

Now you might be wondering how to make your opening interesting.

Well, there are lots of ways. And I’ll probably talk about some of them another time.

But a great place to start is just by looking at the openings of some of your favourite speeches.

To illustrate this, let me take you through the opening of the top 10 best speeches in history, according to this reader survey. I don’t necessarily agree with all of them being in the top 10, but they’ll do…

1. Dr Martin Luther King Jr. I have a dream, 28 August 1963, Washington DC.

Here’s how MLK opened his famous speech 61 years ago:

“I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.”

The first line is a perfect opening.

King immediately signals the purpose of his speech, and the purpose of the event – to speak for freedom.

He’s speaking to an audience not just on the grass before him,, but glued to the TV screens at home.

He knows this is a momentous occasion.

So do they.

So he starts with a promise – you won’t forget this.

The second sentence cuts to the heart of every American. Because every American learns the Gettysburg address in school, with its famous opening, “Four score and seven years ago…”

King’s speech is deliberately echoing that.

This is made all the more important since, not only is it Lincoln he’s talking about – Lincoln gave that speech during a crisis that was ostensibly about and against slavery.

2. Jesus. Sermon on the Mount. c27.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Damn that’s a good opening.

Christ doesn’t beat about the bush.

He doesn’t waste time saying ‘I’d like to talk to you today about…”

He gets straight to the point.

His opening is punchy.

It’s direct.

And it’s challenging – “Whoa,” his audience thinks, “The poor in spirit are the ones who get to heaven?”

Any opening that gets a “Whoa” (even if only hypothetically), is a good opening.

3. Paul Keating. The Redfern Address, 10 December 1992, Redfern Park.

Paul Keating starts his speech a little more traditionally:

“Ladies and gentlemen, I am very pleased to be here today at the launch of Australia's celebration of the 1993 International Year of the World's Indigenous People.

It will be a year of great significance for Australia.

It comes at a time when we have committed ourselves to succeeding in the test

which so far we have always failed.”

“Ladies and gentleman” is not a terrible opening, as long as you don’t hang about there.

One of my pet peeves is when a speaker spends the first 3 minutes of his or her speech acknowledging and thanking people.

It’s boring, and people switch off.

Fortunately, Keating knows that, and leaves it at just ‘ladies and gentlemen.’

Next, his opening follows a similar structure to King’s – he’s declaring the momentousness of the occasion.

And then he has people sitting up in their seats by declaring openly that “we have always failed.”

A solid opening.

The similarity to King’s is worth noting, by the way – a solid opening doesn’t have to be ‘never-done-before.’

It just has to be strong.

Looking at and adapting the opening of speeches of the past is a pretty solid ‘hack’.

4. Winston Churchill. We Shall Fight on the Beaches, 4 June 1940, House of Commons.

“From the moment that the French defences at Sedan and on the Meuse were broken at the end of the second week of May, only a rapid retreat to Amiens and the south could have saved the British and French Armies who had entered Belgium at the appeal of the Belgian King; but this strategic fact was not immediately realised.”

Ah, Churchill – what a guy.

The length is unusual – it’s often best to start a speech with something shorter, punchier.

But Churchill gets away with it.

Why?

Because, despite its length, not a single word is wasted.

He describes perfectly the situation, and has people wanting to hear more by saying ‘this strategic fact was not immediately realised.’

He doesn’t beat about the bush, either.

He launches right into the reality of the situation – defences were broken, a retreat was the only option.

That option wasn’t seen immediately.

“What happened next?” ask his listeners.

He’s got ‘em hooked.

5. Abraham Lincoln. Gettysburg Address, 19 November 1863.

Ah, the Gettysburg Address.

One of the most famous speeches of history – delivered in under 2 minutes.

It followed a 2 hour oration by a famous speaker called Everett.

But nobody’s ever heard Everett’s since.

In fact, so the story goes, Everett wrote Lincoln a note afterwards and said that it would be a compliment to himself to think he managed to say in 2 hours what Lincoln said in 2 minutes.

And, like several speeches on this list, Lincoln didn’t waste time:

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

Right out of the gate, he connects his speech to the foundation of the Republic. “This,” he seems to say, “Is what we’re here for, what our men have died for.”

The rest, as they say, is history.

6. John F. Kennedy. Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. Inaugural speech 20 January 1961, Washington DC.

Another classic.

“Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, reverend clergy, fellow citizens:

We observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom -- symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning -- signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three-quarters ago.”

Personally, I’m never a fan of the standard acknowledgement opening.

I know it’s standard.

But it wastes time.

Jump straight into it, and nobody’s offended.

If you really want to acknowledge them, do it at the end.

Rant over.

That aside, notice how the opening frames the occasion, like Keating and King.

Notice, too, how he connects this moment to the foundation of the Republic – like Lincoln did.

Notice, too, that he ‘democratises’ his victory.

It’s not his victory. It’s not his party’s victory.

It’s a victory of freedom. It’s America’s victory…

Much like, he seems to suggest, the victory of the American Revolution.

If he’d come out and said it, that would have been ridiculous, and his speech would have been weak.

But because he DOESN’T say it, and only gently suggests it, it gives his opening strength and vigour.

7. Earl Spencer. Funeral Oration for Diana Princess of Wales, 6 September 1997, Westminster Abbey.

“"I stand before you today the representative of a family in grief, in a country in mourning before a world in shock.

"We are all united not only in our desire to pay our respects to Diana but rather in our need to do so.”

Another excellent ‘inclusion’ opener.

Like Keating, King, and Kennedy, Spencer is gathering his audience in with his first line.

He’s acknowledging the occasion, and its meaning.

He’s acknowledging the sympathy of emotion shared with his audience.

He doesn’t try to sound grand – he tells it like it is.

8. Henry V Act IV Scene III. Author William Shakespeare c 1599. St Crispin’s Day speech made before the Battle of Agincourt (which occurred on 25 October 1415).

“If we are marked to die, we are enough

To do our country loss; and if to live,

The fewer men, the greater share of honour.”

Again, great because of its directness.

He’s speaking before a battle.

They all know they will either die or live.

So he addresses that head on, and claims that BOTH options are options for glory and patriotism.

I’'s precisely because Henry’s not afraid to address his soldiers’ fears head on that it seems so natural to believe his message.

In general this kind of ‘If x, then y, if a, then b” opening is always a strong one

(If appropriate, of course.)

9. Gough Whitlam. The Dismissal, 11 November 1975, Parliament House steps.

“Well may we say, ‘God save the Quen’ – because nothing will save the Governor-General.”

Damn, that’s a strong start.

For context, Whitlam had just been dismissed as Prime Minister via a proclamation by the Governor-General.

That proclamation ended ‘God save the Queen.’

Which, of course, makes Whitlam’s opening incredibly powerful.

And a strong indication of how he feels about the proclamation!

If you’d got the guts to be candid, it’s usually a strong start.

Also, notice the structure here:

“Well may we say this, because nothing can do that.”

Not a bad structure if you can use it.

10. Queen Elizabeth I. I have the heart and stomach of a king, 9 August 1588. (Address to the troops at Tilbury as the Spanish Armada approached Britain.)

Lucky last, as my drama teacher used to say.

“My loving people,

We have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we commit our selves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery; but I assure you I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people.”

Here’s a case where I don’t mind the ‘acknowledgement’ opening.

The reason is that saying ‘my loving people’ immediately appeals to her audience’s sense of compassion and virtue.

It then contrasts nicely with the rest of the opening sentence.

She has called them loving. Then she says that ‘some’ would advise her not to trust her mean in case they betray her.

But, she says, she would never distrust them – her ‘faithful and loving’ people.

Immediately she shows that she isn’t afraid.

She may be a woman, the implication is, but she’s not weak (a theme to which she returns – it is the 16^th century, after all).

But at the same time she’s complimenting her audience – she’s saying “I know you’re trustworthy, not treacherous.”

Praising her audience while allaying their fears – a nice way to win them over at the start.

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That’s all for this week. If you’re stuck with how to start…

…try imitating (appropriate to the occasion, of course) one of these 10 openers.

Worth a go, anyway!

Until next week,

Alexander

P.S.

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