example of introduction in entertainment speech

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How to dazzle any audience with an entertaining introduction

example of introduction in entertainment speech

Published on: February 2018

Written by: Surendra Tibrewala

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At some point in our career, most of us will be asked to introduce a speaker, often at a major event where our clients, customers, prospects and other influential people will be.

If you’re smart, you realize this is an opportunity to showcase not only the speaker, but your own command of the platform.

It’s tempting to rip the bio off a website and run through it briefly before the event, but doing an introduction “off the cuff” is a recipe for disaster. Whether you’re giving an award, acknowledging a retiring professional, or bringing up the keynote speaker for the main event that evening, your role is an important one.

Every speech has a purpose, and needs to be planned. There is nothing worse than watching someone slog through a list of a person’s accomplishments, without regard to length or significance.

Bios are not written to be read. No one cares about all that detail. Your job is to capture the essence of the person and share with the audience a few important memorable facts that will get them excited about meeting the featured speaker.

Even the most seasoned speakers can fail the job of introductions. One of the greatest public speakers of our time, Bill Clinton, first gained national recognition with a huge flop.

Clinton’s introduction of Michael Dukakis at the 1988 Democratic National Convention was so long and boring that people actually cheered at its conclusion! Johnny Carson spoofed the speech on the Tonight Show, and most political commentators at the time agreed that this was a major blow to the then Governor’s future political plans. One disgruntled delegate observed, “He wrote eight drafts, but forgot to throw out the first seven!” (Sam Smith, Shadows of Hope).

Constructing a brief yet interesting introduction is an extremely difficult task for any speaker. The first thing you should know is that it takes time to write a brief introduction. You have to learn about the person, and then capture their essence.

Alan Perlman, author of Writing Great Speeches, says the goal of any introduction is three-fold:

1. First, it should give the audience a sense of the upcoming speaker’s topic.

2. Secondly, it should make known the speaker’s personality and major accomplishments, especially those relevant to the speaking topic.

3. And, lastly, and perhaps most importantly, an introduction should create a sense of audience enthusiasm for the both the speaker and topic.

Here are four helpful tips to consider when constructing your next relevant introduction:

Finesse the obvious. Many times, important details of the person’s biography are already well-known to the audience. Preface these facts with phrases such as “As we all know…” or “most of us are probably aware…”
Watch length. If you’re having trouble keeping length to a minimum, try to remember the task at hand – you are to introduce another speaker, not give a speech of your own. We usually recommend one to two minutes.
Stay positive. Introductions should never include anything that could be construed as derogatory, condescending, or otherwise uncomplimentary. Even if it is a roast, be careful with seemingly humorous anecdotes – do they reflect positively on the speaker, as well as you?
Build anticipation! With all of the above said, don’t forget to have some fun with your introduction! Test out new techniques to build the audience’s anticipation of the speaker’s arrival. Try to discover something interesting or quirky about your speaker, then generalize that information to everyday life. Make the audience momentarily wonder where you’re going and then swiftly close in on the speaker and their topic.

Clients often ask us, “are great speakers born to greatness, or did they learn this skill?” And, we always answer in the same way – you are as good as you decide to be! Follow the above simple guidelines when planning your next introduction, and you’ll certainly avoid the embarrassment that Bubba experienced in 1988.

To learn more specialized techniques for writing great speeches, including introductions, the staff and consultants of Bates Communications recommends Alan Perlman’s “Writing Great Speeches from The Essence of Public Speaking Series.”

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9.3 Putting It Together: Steps to Complete Your Introduction

Learning objectives.

Clearly identify why an audience should listen to a speaker.
Discuss how you can build your credibility during a speech.
Understand how to write a clear thesis statement.
Design an effective preview of your speech’s content for your audience.

Erin Brown-John – puzzle – CC BY-NC 2.0.

Once you have captured your audience’s attention, it’s important to make the rest of your introduction interesting, and use it to lay out the rest of the speech. In this section, we are going to explore the five remaining parts of an effective introduction: linking to your topic, reasons to listen, stating credibility, thesis statement, and preview.

Link to Topic

After the attention-getter, the second major part of an introduction is called the link to topic. The link to topic is the shortest part of an introduction and occurs when a speaker demonstrates how an attention-getting device relates to the topic of a speech. Often the attention-getter and the link to topic are very clear. For example, if you look at the attention-getting device example under historical reference above, you’ll see that the first sentence brings up the history of the Vietnam War and then shows us how that war can help us understand the Iraq War. In this case, the attention-getter clearly flows directly to the topic. However, some attention-getters need further explanation to get to the topic of the speech. For example, both of the anecdote examples (the girl falling into the manhole while texting and the boy and the filberts) need further explanation to connect clearly to the speech topic (i.e., problems of multitasking in today’s society).

Let’s look at the first anecdote example to demonstrate how we could go from the attention-getter to the topic.

In July 2009, a high school girl named Alexa Longueira was walking along a main boulevard near her home on Staten Island, New York, typing in a message on her cell phone. Not paying attention to the world around her, she took a step and fell right into an open manhole. This anecdote illustrates the problem that many people are facing in today’s world. We are so wired into our technology that we forget to see what’s going on around us—like a big hole in front of us.

In this example, the third sentence here explains that the attention-getter was an anecdote that illustrates a real issue. The fourth sentence then introduces the actual topic of the speech.

Let’s now examine how we can make the transition from the parable or fable attention-getter to the topic:

The ancient Greek writer Aesop told a fable about a boy who put his hand into a pitcher of filberts. The boy grabbed as many of the delicious nuts as he possibly could. But when he tried to pull them out, his hand wouldn’t fit through the neck of the pitcher because he was grasping so many filberts. Instead of dropping some of them so that his hand would fit, he burst into tears and cried about his predicament. The moral of the story? “Don’t try to do too much at once.” In today’s world, many of us are us are just like the boy putting his hand into the pitcher. We are constantly trying to grab so much or do so much that it prevents us from accomplishing our goals. I would like to show you three simple techniques to manage your time so that you don’t try to pull too many filberts from your pitcher.

In this example, we added three new sentences to the attention-getter to connect it to the speech topic.

Reasons to Listen

Once you have linked an attention-getter to the topic of your speech, you need to explain to your audience why your topic is important. We call this the “why should I care?” part of your speech because it tells your audience why the topic is directly important to them. Sometimes you can include the significance of your topic in the same sentence as your link to the topic, but other times you may need to spell out in one or two sentences why your specific topic is important.

People in today’s world are very busy, and they do not like their time wasted. Nothing is worse than having to sit through a speech that has nothing to do with you. Imagine sitting through a speech about a new software package you don’t own and you will never hear of again. How would you react to the speaker? Most of us would be pretty annoyed at having had our time wasted in this way. Obviously, this particular speaker didn’t do a great job of analyzing her or his audience if the audience isn’t going to use the software package—but even when speaking on a topic that is highly relevant to the audience, speakers often totally forget to explain how and why it is important.

Appearing Credible

The next part of a speech is not so much a specific “part” as an important characteristic that needs to be pervasive throughout your introduction and your entire speech. As a speaker, you want to be seen as credible (competent, trustworthy, and caring/having goodwill). As mentioned earlier in this chapter, credibility is ultimately a perception that is made by your audience. While your audience determines whether they perceive you as competent, trustworthy, and caring/having goodwill, there are some strategies you can employ to make yourself appear more credible.

First, to make yourself appear competent, you can either clearly explain to your audience why you are competent about a given subject or demonstrate your competence by showing that you have thoroughly researched a topic by including relevant references within your introduction. The first method of demonstrating competence—saying it directly—is only effective if you are actually a competent person on a given subject. If you are an undergraduate student and you are delivering a speech about the importance of string theory in physics, unless you are a prodigy of some kind, you are probably not a recognized expert on the subject. Conversely, if your number one hobby in life is collecting memorabilia about the Three Stooges, then you may be an expert about the Three Stooges. However, you would need to explain to your audience your passion for collecting Three Stooges memorabilia and how this has made you an expert on the topic.

If, on the other hand, you are not actually a recognized expert on a topic, you need to demonstrate that you have done your homework to become more knowledgeable than your audience about your topic. The easiest way to demonstrate your competence is through the use of appropriate references from leading thinkers and researchers on your topic. When you demonstrate to your audience that you have done your homework, they are more likely to view you as competent.

The second characteristic of credibility, trustworthiness, is a little more complicated than competence, for it ultimately relies on audience perceptions. One way to increase the likelihood that a speaker will be perceived as trustworthy is to use reputable sources. If you’re quoting Dr. John Smith, you need to explain who Dr. John Smith is so your audience will see the quotation as being more trustworthy. As speakers we can easily manipulate our sources into appearing more credible than they actually are, which would be unethical. When you are honest about your sources with your audience, they will trust you and your information more so than when you are ambiguous. The worst thing you can do is to out-and-out lie about information during your speech. Not only is lying highly unethical, but if you are caught lying, your audience will deem you untrustworthy and perceive everything you are saying as untrustworthy. Many speakers have attempted to lie to an audience because it will serve their own purposes or even because they believe their message is in their audience’s best interest, but lying is one of the fastest ways to turn off an audience and get them to distrust both the speaker and the message.

The third characteristic of credibility to establish during the introduction is the sense of caring/goodwill. While some unethical speakers can attempt to manipulate an audience’s perception that the speaker cares, ethical speakers truly do care about their audiences and have their audience’s best interests in mind while speaking. Often speakers must speak in front of audiences that may be hostile toward the speaker’s message. In these cases, it is very important for the speaker to explain that he or she really does believe her or his message is in the audience’s best interest. One way to show that you have your audience’s best interests in mind is to acknowledge disagreement from the start:

Today I’m going to talk about why I believe we should enforce stricter immigration laws in the United States. I realize that many of you will disagree with me on this topic. I used to believe that open immigration was a necessity for the United States to survive and thrive, but after researching this topic, I’ve changed my mind. While I may not change all of your minds today, I do ask that you listen with an open mind, set your personal feelings on this topic aside, and judge my arguments on their merits.

While clearly not all audience members will be open or receptive to opening their minds and listening to your arguments, by establishing that there is known disagreement, you are telling the audience that you understand their possible views and are not trying to attack their intellect or their opinions.

Thesis Statement

A thesis statement is a short, declarative sentence that states the purpose, intent, or main idea of a speech. A strong, clear thesis statement is very valuable within an introduction because it lays out the basic goal of the entire speech. We strongly believe that it is worthwhile to invest some time in framing and writing a good thesis statement. You may even want to write your thesis statement before you even begin conducting research for your speech. While you may end up rewriting your thesis statement later, having a clear idea of your purpose, intent, or main idea before you start searching for research will help you focus on the most appropriate material. To help us understand thesis statements, we will first explore their basic functions and then discuss how to write a thesis statement.

Basic Functions of a Thesis Statement

A thesis statement helps your audience by letting them know “in a nutshell” what you are going to talk about. With a good thesis statement you will fulfill four basic functions: you express your specific purpose, provide a way to organize your main points, make your research more effective, and enhance your delivery.

Express Your Specific Purpose

To orient your audience, you need to be as clear as possible about your meaning. A strong thesis will prepare your audience effectively for the points that will follow. Here are two examples:

“Today, I want to discuss academic cheating.” (weak example)
“Today, I will clarify exactly what plagiarism is and give examples of its different types so that you can see how it leads to a loss of creative learning interaction.” (strong example)

The weak statement will probably give the impression that you have no clear position about your topic because you haven’t said what that position is. Additionally, the term “academic cheating” can refer to many behaviors—acquiring test questions ahead of time, copying answers, changing grades, or allowing others to do your coursework—so the specific topic of the speech is still not clear to the audience.

The strong statement not only specifies plagiarism but also states your specific concern (loss of creative learning interaction).

Provide a Way to Organize Your Main Points

A thesis statement should appear, almost verbatim, toward the end of the introduction to a speech. A thesis statement helps the audience get ready to listen to the arrangement of points that follow. Many speakers say that if they can create a strong thesis sentence, the rest of the speech tends to develop with relative ease. On the other hand, when the thesis statement is not very clear, creating a speech is an uphill battle.

When your thesis statement is sufficiently clear and decisive, you will know where you stand about your topic and where you intend to go with your speech. Having a clear thesis statement is especially important if you know a great deal about your topic or you have strong feelings about it. If this is the case for you, you need to know exactly what you are planning on talking about in order to fit within specified time limitations. Knowing where you are and where you are going is the entire point in establishing a thesis statement; it makes your speech much easier to prepare and to present.

Let’s say you have a fairly strong thesis statement, and that you’ve already brainstormed a list of information that you know about the topic. Chances are your list is too long and has no focus. Using your thesis statement, you can select only the information that (1) is directly related to the thesis and (2) can be arranged in a sequence that will make sense to the audience and will support the thesis. In essence, a strong thesis statement helps you keep useful information and weed out less useful information.

Make Your Research More Effective

If you begin your research with only a general topic in mind, you run the risk of spending hours reading mountains of excellent literature about your topic. However, mountains of literature do not always make coherent speeches. You may have little or no idea of how to tie your research all together, or even whether you should tie it together. If, on the other hand, you conduct your research with a clear thesis statement in mind, you will be better able to zero in only on material that directly relates to your chosen thesis statement. Let’s look at an example that illustrates this point:

Many traffic accidents involve drivers older than fifty-five.

While this statement may be true, you could find industrial, medical, insurance literature that can drone on ad infinitum about the details of all such accidents in just one year. Instead, focusing your thesis statement will help you narrow the scope of information you will be searching for while gathering information. Here’s an example of a more focused thesis statement:

Three factors contribute to most accidents involving drivers over fifty-five years of age: failing eyesight, slower reflexes, and rapidly changing traffic conditions.

This framing is somewhat better. This thesis statement at least provides three possible main points and some keywords for your electronic catalog search. However, if you want your audience to understand the context of older people at the wheel, consider something like:

Mature drivers over fifty-five years of age must cope with more challenging driving conditions than existed only one generation ago: more traffic moving at higher speeds, the increased imperative for quick driving decisions, and rapidly changing ramp and cloverleaf systems. Because of these challenges, I want my audience to believe that drivers over the age of sixty-five should be required to pass a driving test every five years.

This framing of the thesis provides some interesting choices. First, several terms need to be defined, and these definitions might function surprisingly well in setting the tone of the speech. Your definitions of words like “generation,” “quick driving decisions,” and “cloverleaf systems” could jolt your audience out of assumptions they have taken for granted as truth.

Second, the framing of the thesis provides you with a way to describe the specific changes as they have occurred between, say, 1970 and 2010. How much, and in what ways, have the volume and speed of traffic changed? Why are quick decisions more critical now? What is a “cloverleaf,” and how does any driver deal cognitively with exiting in the direction seemingly opposite to the desired one? Questions like this, suggested by your own thesis statement, can lead to a strong, memorable speech.

Enhance Your Delivery

When your thesis is not clear to you, your listeners will be even more clueless than you are—but if you have a good clear thesis statement, your speech becomes clear to your listeners. When you stand in front of your audience presenting your introduction, you can vocally emphasize the essence of your speech, expressed as your thesis statement. Many speakers pause for a half second, lower their vocal pitch slightly, slow down a little, and deliberately present the thesis statement, the one sentence that encapsulates its purpose. When this is done effectively, the purpose, intent, or main idea of a speech is driven home for an audience.

How to Write a Thesis Statement

Now that we’ve looked at why a thesis statement is crucial in a speech, let’s switch gears and talk about how we go about writing a solid thesis statement. A thesis statement is related to the general and specific purposes of a speech as we discussed them in Chapter 6 “Finding a Purpose and Selecting a Topic” .

Choose Your Topic

The first step in writing a good thesis statement was originally discussed in Chapter 6 “Finding a Purpose and Selecting a Topic” when we discussed how to find topics. Once you have a general topic, you are ready to go to the second step of creating a thesis statement.

Narrow Your Topic

One of the hardest parts of writing a thesis statement is narrowing a speech from a broad topic to one that can be easily covered during a five- to ten-minute speech. While five to ten minutes may sound like a long time to new public speakers, the time flies by very quickly when you are speaking. You can easily run out of time if your topic is too broad. To ascertain if your topic is narrow enough for a specific time frame, ask yourself three questions.

First, is your thesis statement narrow or is it a broad overgeneralization of a topic? An overgeneralization occurs when we classify everyone in a specific group as having a specific characteristic. For example, a speaker’s thesis statement that “all members of the National Council of La Raza are militant” is an overgeneralization of all members of the organization. Furthermore, a speaker would have to correctly demonstrate that all members of the organization are militant for the thesis statement to be proven, which is a very difficult task since the National Council of La Raza consists of millions of Hispanic Americans. A more appropriate thesis related to this topic could be, “Since the creation of the National Council of La Raza [NCLR] in 1968, the NCLR has become increasingly militant in addressing the causes of Hispanics in the United States.”

The second question to ask yourself when narrowing a topic is whether your speech’s topic is one clear topic or multiple topics. A strong thesis statement consists of only a single topic. The following is an example of a thesis statement that contains too many topics: “Medical marijuana, prostitution, and gay marriage should all be legalized in the United States.” Not only are all three fairly broad, but you also have three completely unrelated topics thrown into a single thesis statement. Instead of a thesis statement that has multiple topics, limit yourself to only one topic. Here’s an example of a thesis statement examining only one topic: “Today we’re going to examine the legalization and regulation of the oldest profession in the state of Nevada.” In this case, we’re focusing our topic to how one state has handled the legalization and regulation of prostitution.

The last question a speaker should ask when making sure a topic is sufficiently narrow is whether the topic has direction. If your basic topic is too broad, you will never have a solid thesis statement or a coherent speech. For example, if you start off with the topic “Barack Obama is a role model for everyone,” what do you mean by this statement? Do you think President Obama is a role model because of his dedication to civic service? Do you think he’s a role model because he’s a good basketball player? Do you think he’s a good role model because he’s an excellent public speaker? When your topic is too broad, almost anything can become part of the topic. This ultimately leads to a lack of direction and coherence within the speech itself. To make a cleaner topic, a speaker needs to narrow her or his topic to one specific area. For example, you may want to examine why President Obama is a good speaker.

Put Your Topic into a Sentence

Once you’ve narrowed your topic to something that is reasonably manageable given the constraints placed on your speech, you can then formalize that topic as a complete sentence. For example, you could turn the topic of President Obama’s public speaking skills into the following sentence: “Because of his unique sense of lyricism and his well-developed presentational skills, President Barack Obama is a modern symbol of the power of public speaking.” Once you have a clear topic sentence, you can start tweaking the thesis statement to help set up the purpose of your speech.

Add Your Argument, Viewpoint, or Opinion

This function only applies if you are giving a speech to persuade. If your topic is informative, your job is to make sure that the thesis statement is nonargumentative and focuses on facts. For example, in the preceding thesis statement we have a couple of opinion-oriented terms that should be avoided for informative speeches: “unique sense,” “well-developed,” and “power.” All three of these terms are laced with an individual’s opinion, which is fine for a persuasive speech but not for an informative speech. For informative speeches, the goal of a thesis statement is to explain what the speech will be informing the audience about, not attempting to add the speaker’s opinion about the speech’s topic. For an informative speech, you could rewrite the thesis statement to read, “This speech is going to analyze Barack Obama’s use of lyricism in his speech, ‘A World That Stands as One,’ delivered July 2008 in Berlin.”

On the other hand, if your topic is persuasive, you want to make sure that your argument, viewpoint, or opinion is clearly indicated within the thesis statement. If you are going to argue that Barack Obama is a great speaker, then you should set up this argument within your thesis statement.

Use the Thesis Checklist

Once you have written a first draft of your thesis statement, you’re probably going to end up revising your thesis statement a number of times prior to delivering your actual speech. A thesis statement is something that is constantly tweaked until the speech is given. As your speech develops, often your thesis will need to be rewritten to whatever direction the speech itself has taken. We often start with a speech going in one direction, and find out through our research that we should have gone in a different direction. When you think you finally have a thesis statement that is good to go for your speech, take a second and make sure it adheres to the criteria shown in Table 9.1 “Thesis Checklist”

Table 9.1 Thesis Checklist

Preview of Speech

The final part of an introduction contains a preview of the major points to be covered within your speech. I’m sure we’ve all seen signs that have three cities listed on them with the mileage to reach each city. This mileage sign is an indication of what is to come. A preview works the same way. A preview foreshadows what the main body points will be in the speech. For example, to preview a speech on bullying in the workplace, one could say, “To understand the nature of bullying in the modern workplace, I will first define what workplace bullying is and the types of bullying, I will then discuss the common characteristics of both workplace bullies and their targets, and lastly, I will explore some possible solutions to workplace bullying.” In this case, each of the phrases mentioned in the preview would be a single distinct point made in the speech itself. In other words, the first major body point in this speech would examine what workplace bullying is and the types of bullying; the second major body point in this speech would discuss the common characteristics of both workplace bullies and their targets; and lastly, the third body point in this speech would explore some possible solutions to workplace bullying.

Key Takeaways

Linking the attention-getter to the speech topic is essential so that you maintain audience attention and so that the relevance of the attention-getter is clear to your audience.
Establishing how your speech topic is relevant and important shows the audience why they should listen to your speech.
To be an effective speaker, you should convey all three components of credibility, competence, trustworthiness, and caring/goodwill, by the content and delivery of your introduction.
A clear thesis statement is essential to provide structure for a speaker and clarity for an audience.
An effective preview identifies the specific main points that will be present in the speech body.
Make a list of the attention-getting devices you might use to give a speech on the importance of recycling. Which do you think would be most effective? Why?
Create a thesis statement for a speech related to the topic of collegiate athletics. Make sure that your thesis statement is narrow enough to be adequately covered in a five- to six-minute speech.
Discuss with a partner three possible body points you could utilize for the speech on the topic of volunteerism.
Fill out the introduction worksheet to help work through your introduction for your next speech. Please make sure that you answer all the questions clearly and concisely.

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PRDV008: Preparing and Delivering Presentations

Entertaining speeches.

Read this chapter to learn about presentations whose general purpose is to entertain.

The final general purpose people can have for public speaking is to entertain. Whereas informative and persuasive speech making is focused on the end result of the speech process, entertainment speaking is focused on the theme and occasion of the speech. An entertaining speech can be either informative or persuasive at its root, but the context or theme of the speech requires speakers to think about the speech primarily in terms of audience enjoyment.

Why We Entertain

Entertaining speeches are very common in everyday life. The fundamental goal of an entertaining speech is audience enjoyment, which can come in a variety of forms. Entertaining speeches can be funny or serious. Overall, entertaining speeches are not designed to give an audience a deep understanding of life but instead to function as a way to divert an audience from their day-to-day lives for a short period of time. This is not to say that an entertaining speech cannot have real content that is highly informative or persuasive, but its goal is primarily about the entertaining aspects of the speech and not focused on the informative or persuasive quality of the speech.

Common Forms of Entertainment Topics

There are three basic types of entertaining speeches: the after-dinner speech, the ceremonial speech, and the inspirational speech. The after-dinner speech is a form of speaking where a speaker takes a serious speech topic (either informative or persuasive) and injects a level of humor into the speech to make it entertaining. Some novice speakers will attempt to turn an after-dinner speech into a stand-up comedy routine, which doesn't have the same focus. Roye, S. (2010). Austan Goolsbee a funny stand-up comedian? Not even close… [Web log post]. After-dinner speeches are first and foremost speeches.

A ceremonial speech is a type of entertaining speech where the specific context of the speech is the driving force of the speech. Common types of ceremonial speeches include introductions, toasts, and eulogies. In each of these cases, there are specific events that drive the speech. Maybe you're introducing an individual who is about to receive an award, giving a toast at your best friend's wedding, or delivering the eulogy at a relative's funeral. In each of these cases, the speech and the purpose of the speech is determined by the context of the event and not by the desire to inform or persuade.

The final type of entertaining speech is one where the speaker's primary goal is to inspire her or his audience. Inspirational speeches are based in emotion with the goal to motivate listeners to alter their lives in some significant way. Florence Littauer, a famous professional speaker, delivers an emotionally charged speech titled "Silver Boxes". In the speech, Mrs. Littauer demonstrates how people can use positive comments to encourage others in their daily lives. The title comes from a story she tells at the beginning of the speech where she was teaching a group of children about using positive speech, and one of the children defined positive speech as giving people little silver boxes with bows on top.

Sample: Adam Fink's Entertainment Speech

The following speech, by an undergraduate student named Adam Fink, is an entertainment speech. Specifically, this speech is a ceremonial speech given at Mr. Fink's graduation. As with our earlier examples, while this speech is written out as a text for purposes of analysis, in your public speaking course you will most likely be assigned to speak from an outline or notes, not a fully written script. Notice that the tenor of this speech is persuasive but that it persuades in a more inspiring way than just building and proving an argument.

Good evening! I've spent the last few months looking over commencement speeches on YouTube. The most notable ones had eight things in common. They reflected on the past, pondered about the future. They encouraged the honorees. They all included some sort of personal story and application. They made people laugh at least fifteen times. They referred to the university as the finest university in the nation or world, and last but not least they all greeted the people in attendance. I'll begin by doing so now.

President Holst, thank you for coming. Faculty members and staff, salutations to you all. Distinguished guests, we are happy to have you. Family members and friends, we could not be here without you. Finally, ladies and gentlemen of the class of 2009, welcome to your commencement day here at Concordia University, Saint Paul, this, the finest university in the galaxy, nay, universe. Really, it's right up there with South Harlem Institute of Technology, the School of Hard Knocks, and Harvard. Check and check!

Graduates, we are not here to watch as our siblings, our parents, friends, or other family walk across this stage. We are here because today is our graduation day. I am going to go off on a tangent for a little bit. Over the past umpteen years, I have seen my fair share of graduations and ceremonies. In fact, I remember getting dragged along to my older brothers' and sisters' graduations, all 8,000 of them – at least it seems like there were that many now. Seriously, I have more family members than friends.

I remember sitting here in these very seats, intently listening to the president and other distinguished guests speak, again saying welcome and thank you for coming. Each year, I got a little bit better at staying awake throughout the entire ceremony. Every time I would come up with something new to keep myself awake, daydreams, pinching my arms, or pulling leg hair; I was a very creative individual.

I am proud to say that I have been awake for the entirety of this ceremony. I would like to personally thank my classmates and colleagues sitting around me for slapping me every time I even thought about dozing off. Personal story, check and now, application!

Graduates, don't sleep through life. If you need a close friend or colleague to keep you awake, ask. Don't get bored with life. In the words of one of my mentors, the Australian film director, screen writer, and producer Baz Luhrman, "Do one thing every day that scares you". Keep yourself on your toes. Stay occupied but leave room for relaxation; embrace your hobbies. Don't get stuck in a job you hate. I am sure many of you have seen the "Did You Know?" film on YouTube. The film montages hundreds of statistics together, laying down the ground work to tell viewers that we are approaching a crossroad. The way we live is about to change dramatically. We are living in exponential times. It's a good thing that we are exponential people.

We are at a crossing point here, now. Each of us is graduating; we are preparing to leave this place we have called home for the past few years. It's time to move on and flourish. But let's not leave this place for good. Let us walk away with happy memories. We have been fortunate enough to see more change in our time here than most alumni see at their alma mater in a lifetime. We have seen the destruction of Centennial, Minnesota, and Walther.

Ladies, it might not mean a lot to you, but gentlemen, we had some good times there. We have seen the building and completion of the new Residence Life Center. We now see the beginnings of our very own stadium. We have seen enough offices and departments move to last any business a lifetime.

Let us remember these things, the flooding of the knoll, Ultimate Frisbee beginning at ten o'clock at night, and two back-to-back Volleyball National Championship teams, with one of those championship games held where you are sitting now. I encourage all of you to walk out of this place with flashes of the old times flickering through your brains. Reflection, check!

Honorees, in the words of Michael Scott, only slightly altered, "They have no idea how high [we] can fly". Right now you are surrounded by future politicians, film critics, producers, directors, actors, actresses, church workers, artists, the teachers of tomorrow, musicians, people who will change the world. We are all held together right here and now, by a common bond of unity. We are one graduating class.

In one of his speeches this year, President Barack Obama said, "Generations of Americans have connected their stories to the larger American story through service and helped move our country forward. We need that service now". He is right. America needs selfless acts of service.

Hebrews 10:23–25 reads, "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching".

Let us not leave this place as enemies but rather as friends and companions. Let us come back next fall for our first reunion, the Zero Class Reunion hosted by the wonderful and amazing workers in the alumni department. Let us go and make disciples of all nations, guided by His Word. Let us spread God's peace, joy, and love through service to others. Congratulations, graduates! I hope to see you next homecoming. Encouragement, check!

Introduction Speech Examples That Increase Speaker Credibility

Introduction speeches examples - Main speaker

You may be called upon to introduce yourself in a speech or introduce a speaker, a guest, an employee, a product, or a concept. Your job is to grab the audience’s attention so that they are ready to receive the main message. Here are some introduction speech examples to help you.

Table of Contents

What Is A Speech Of Introduction?

In public speaking, a speech of introduction introduces someone to the audience members. It can also be a self-introduction speech wherein the speaker does the introduction.

Whether the speaker will deliver an informative speech, persuasive speech, or any type of speech, the speech of introduction aims to help establish the speaker’s background. Who are they? What do they do? What makes them credible to talk about the topic they will discuss?

How Do I Start A Speech To Introduce Someone?

If your job is to introduce someone before their speech or presentation, the first fundamental thing to remember is to keep things short and sweet. Your goal is to set the tone and entice the crowd to listen to the rest of the speech the speaker will deliver.

When writing such a speech, you must bear in mind the following:

You must grab the audience’s attention. Though it depends on the setting and theme of the occasion, the general rule is to have an upbeat opening that will help you grab the audience’s attention. You can begin with a simple “Good morning/Good evening, ladies and gentlemen”; then state the purpose of your speech — introducing the topic, the purpose of the speech, and the guest speaker.
You must effectively establish the speaker’s qualifications. Introduction speeches are considered commemorative speeches in the sense that they celebrate the achievements and milestones of someone. In your speech, you must concisely provide an overview of the qualifications, expertise, and relevant accomplishments of the individual you’re introducing. This is a way to establish credibility and entice the audience to listen attentively.
You must make the speaker welcome. As someone tasked to introduce the speaker, you serve as the bridge that helps connect them with the audience. However, your goal isn’t just to prepare the audience for the speech. You must make the speaker also feel welcome with an enthusiastic tone and body language. If you have personal anecdotes or connections to share, you can do so — briefly and with the utmost authenticity.

Introduction speeches examples - introducing the speaker

What Is A Welcome Speech, And Can It Be Used to Introduce Someone?

A welcome speech or address is a type of speech that sets the mood for a specific event.

While it can serve as an excellent introduction to the guest speaker, it’s also an opportune time to emphasize what the event is all about and acknowledge the organization or individual behind the occasion. An excellent welcome speech can also preview what the attendees can expect — apart from the remarks by the speaker.

How Do You Introduce Yourself In Speech Examples?

In speech writing and public speaking, knowing how to introduce the speaker properly is essential. In some instances, speakers briefly introduce themselves before their speech proper. They can also incorporate it into their speech opening.

In any self-introduction speech example (check out this TED Talks compilation of intros), you will observe that there are common ingredients behind an effective self-introduction speech.

This speech must help the audience get to know you, showcase your qualification (without sounding boastful), establish connections with and create value for your listeners, and introduce your speech topics and main points. This portion aims to give your audience a reason to stick with you and hear the rest of your speech. Also, note that first impressions last, so you must ensure your intro is impactful and engaging.

See the examples below to give you an idea of how to introduce yourself while still having effective attention-getters (e.g., a rhetorical question, an anecdote, a statistic, or a bold statement).

“Good morning/afternoon/evening. I’m X, and I’m here to talk about Y. To begin, I’d like to share a story…”
“Have you heard about X? I’m Y, and today, I’ll share with you my thoughts about…”
“What if overcoming your biggest fear doesn’t have to be as hard as you thought it would be? My name is X. And I’m a testament to how….”
“Hi, I’m X, and I wanted to know: How many of you have experienced Y?”
“Did you know that X? My name is Y, and I was asked to discuss…”

What Are Introduction Speech Examples For?

When you look for speech examples for a short introduction of speech or a self-introductory speech, you’ll find that this type of speech has a great variety.

You can use it to introduce a public speaker and a guest. In a business setting, you can also use an introduction speech to introduce an employee or present a product. Even in academe or civilian environments (e.g., you’re a high school public teacher or a personal development coach), you can count on an introduction speech to introduce a concept.

Here’s a template you can follow.

A public speaker or a guest

Attention-getter
State your role
Introduce the speaker/guest
Note the speaker/guest’s credibility and contributions
State the topic
A personal connection, story, or experience
What can the audience expect/ how can the speaker provide value
Transition to the speaker

An employee

Introduce the employee
Highlight their tenure/experience, achievements, skills, and qualities
State what the employee will be discussing
State the significance of the employee’s work/impact on the audience
Transition to the employee

A product or a concept

Attention-getter
State the purpose of your speech
Introduce the product or concept
Share its significance
Share its benefits
Showcase the key features
Do a demonstration
Explain the potential impact
Cite supporting facts
Deliver a strong call to action
Transition to the next phase or proportion of the event

No matter who or what you’re introducing in your speech, the key is to create a concise yet comprehensive one. Your speech must prepare the audience and make the speaker feel welcome. While remaining factual and genuine, you must write and deliver this piece in a way that generates interest and sets an excellent tone for the speech proper — and the rest of the event.

How to Write an Entertaining Speech for Any Occasion

When we hear the word “entertainment,” the first association that comes to mind is laughing and smiling. Jokes, comedies, stand-up — we consider these genres to be entertaining.

However, entertainment isn’t only about fun and laughter. Horror stories, tragic plays, and sad movies are also aimed at entertaining the audience. Therefore, entertainment is about holding the attention of your audience and triggering strong emotions.

Giving entertaining speeches requires confidence, well-developed public speaking skills, and, of course, charisma. You can improve all these skills and abilities and deliver great speeches on any occasion. We hope that our guide on how to write an entertaining speech will be helpful.

Read our instructions, tips, and example and entertain your audience like a professional!

How to Write an Entertaining Speech Step by Step

As we’ve mentioned, entertaining speeches aren’t necessarily funny. You may give an entertaining speech at a wedding, birthday party, or Christmas party — these speeches are called special-occasion speeches.

But this kind of speech is very specific — every company and group of friends needs an individual approach. That’s why we’ll give you recommendations on how to write an entertaining speech for an unknown audience, for example, for a contest.

1. Pick the topic

If the topic isn’t specified, you may pick it by yourself. We recommend you to choose a theme that is related somehow to your experience and worldview. In such a manner, you’ll sound more persuasive and confident.

2. Generate and select the best ideas

Brainstorming works well even if you don’t have a team, but work on your own. Think about all the associations related to your topic. Read a few articles, or watch inspirational movies. Write down all your ideas (even the weirdest) and then choose the best ones.

3. Make an outline

Your entertaining speech, like an essay, should be well structured. Compose an outline and think about smooth transitions between different parts of your entertaining speech.

4. Think of examples

Examples make any speech more understandable and exciting. Think about real-life stories or episodes from popular movies/books that may help to illustrate your speech.

5. Write jokes and test them

Entertainment isn’t only about laughter; entertaining speeches are mostly aimed at amusing your audience. And jokes are an effective way to make someone smile. Before giving a speech, we recommend you to test your jokes and make sure that they are fun not only for you.

6. Practice and note the time

Public speeches have time limits — you can’t talk forever. Read your speech out loud and write down the time. Make sure that you don’t go beyond the specified limits.

7. Mind your gestures and body language

Your speech might be brilliant, but you won’t be able to make a good impression if you don’t control your body and gestures. Practice in front of the mirror and mind your gestures.

8. Use various intonations

Your voice is your main tool. Slow down, make emphasis on concrete phrases, or talk quietly — every change in your intonation will attract the attention of your listeners.

9. Compose a motivating and memorable ending

Your audience will get a general impression from your speech, but the only thing that they probably will remember is the ending. You have to do your best while composing your final sentences.

10. Give a test speech

Even professionals rehearse before going on stage. Practice at home, with your friends, and in front of the mirror to make sure that you’re ready for a bigger challenge.

How to Write an Entertaining Speech: Quick-Fire Tips

A good plan isn’t enough to write an impressive entertaining speech. You need some tips to make it smooth and memorable. Below, you’ll find tips both about the writing process and public speaking:

Start with a greeting

An unusual greeting will grab the attention of your audience and make them interested. Instead of a standard “Hello everyone,” you can say something unexpected or ask a question to make contact with your listeners.

Keep in mind your audience

Although you don’t know everyone in your audience personally, you are probably aware of some basic characteristics — average age, interests, level of education, etc. You should understand that entertaining speeches for college students, adolescents, and grown-ups are totally different. Students won’t understand jokes about raising kids, while adults won’t get your superhero movies quotations.

This tip is basic, but amateur speakers frequently find it challenging. Smiling is an indispensable part of your charisma. Remember that even though your listeners don’t know you as a person, they can still see the difference between a sincere smile and a forced facial contortion. So, forget about your worries and give your audience your best smile!

Visual aids

Pictures are much easier to memorize than words. If you want to entertain your audience but also teach them something at the same time, prepare a presentation for your speech.

Be confident

Being confident is key to a successful speech. You should worry about how you speak, look, and move before your performance. As soon as you walk on the stage — forget about your anxiety. Be 100% confident about your words, clothes, and gestures. And you’ll rock it!

Engage with the audience

Engaging with the audience is crucial for an entertaining speech. There are three basic methods to build a connection with your listeners. The first and most classy technique is eye contact. You can’t look at all the faces simultaneously, but you should never look at the ceiling or floor. Imagine that you’re serving champagne to your listeners:focus on one guest, then move to the next.

The second standard way to interact with your audience is to ask questions — rhetorical or real. The third technique is to make your listeners do something, for example, raise hands or clap. That will keep them awake!

Forget about complex sentences

You’re not at an exam! Forget about complexity. Use simple words, expressions, and sentences. Don’t make your audience google every single word you say.

Adopt your speeches

When you’re giving a speech, you always need a back-up plan. If your audience seems bored — add some humor. If your audience is eager for communication — don’t be afraid of asking some extra questions.

Keep an eye on time

Inspiration and adrenaline may take you far, but don’t forget that you have time limits. If you’re bad at sensing the time, then you should take care of it before the presentation. You may wear a watch or ask an assistant to give you a sign.

Enjoy your speech

Sincerity is the key to the heart of your audience. Your entertaining speech is your opportunity to share your emotions and worldview with the general public. It might be scary, but you’ll enjoy it – we promise!

How to Write an Entertaining Speech: Example With Comments

The best way to explain something is to give a good example. Below, you’ll find an entertaining speech provided by one of our writers. We’ve also added comments so that you can learn more about the proper structure of entertaining speeches.

Click the images to see their full size.

how to write an entertaining speech example

Now, you know how to write an entertaining speech and amuse your audience! We hope that our guide, tips, and example are enough to inspire you for writing your own speech. Remember that entertaining speeches require as much hard work and preparation as a speech at a conference or wedding.

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43 18.1 Understanding Entertaining Speeches

Learning objectives.

Understand the purpose of entertaining speeches.
Explain the four ingredients of a good entertaining speech.

In broad terms, an entertaining speech is a speech designed to captivate an audience’s attention and regale or amuse them while delivering a message. Like more traditional informative or persuasive speeches, entertaining speeches should communicate a clear message, but the manner of speaking used in an entertaining speech is typically different. Entertaining speeches are often delivered on special occasions (e.g., a toast at a wedding, an acceptance speech at an awards banquet, a motivational speech at a conference), which is why they are sometimes referred to as special-occasion speeches. However, they can also be given on more mundane occasions, where their purpose is primarily to amuse audience members or arouse them emotionally in some way. Remember, when we use the word “entertain,” we are referring not just to humor but also to drama. The goal of an entertaining speech is to stir an audience’s emotions.

Of all the types of speeches we come in contact with during our lives, the bulk of them will probably fall into the category of entertainment. If you spend just one evening watching a major awards show (e.g., the Grammys, the Tonys, the Oscars), you’ll see dozens of acceptance speeches. While some of these acceptance speeches are good and others may be terrible, they all belong in the category of speaking to entertain.

Other speeches that fall into the entertaining category are designed to inspire or motivate an audience to do something. These are, however, different from a traditional persuasive speech. While entertaining speeches are often persuasive, we differentiate the two often based on the rhetorical situation itself. Maybe your school has hired a speaker to talk about his or her life story in an attempt to inspire the audience to try harder in school and reach for the best that life has to offer. You can imagine how this speech would be different from a traditional persuasive speech focusing on, say, the statistics related to scholastic achievement and success later in life.

Entertaining speeches are definitely very common, but that doesn’t mean they don’t require effort and preparation. A frequent trap is that people often think of entertaining speeches as corny. As a result, they don’t prepare seriously but rather stand up to speak with the idea that they can “wing it” by acting silly and telling a few jokes. Instead of being entertaining, the speech falls flat. To help us think through how to be effective in delivering entertaining speeches, let’s look at four key ingredients: preparation, adaptation to the occasion, adaptation to the audience, and mindfulness about the time.

Be Prepared

First, and foremost, the biggest mistake you can make when standing to deliver an entertaining speech is to underprepare or simply not prepare at all. We’ve stressed the need for preparation throughout this text, so just because you’re giving a wedding toast or a eulogy doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think through the speech before you stand up and speak out. If the situation is impromptu, even jotting some basic notes on a napkin is better than not having any plan for what you are going to say. Remember, when you get anxious, as it inevitably happens in front of an audience, your brain doesn’t function as well as when you are having a relaxed conversation with friends. You often forget information. By writing down some simple notes, you’ll be less likely to deliver a bad speech.

Be Adaptive to the Occasion

Not all content is appropriate for all occasions. If you are asked to deliver a speech commemorating the first anniversary of a school shooting, then obviously using humor and telling jokes wouldn’t be appropriate. But some decisions about adapting to the occasion are less obvious. Consider the following examples:

You are the maid of honor giving a toast at the wedding of your younger sister.
You are receiving a Most Valuable Player award in your favorite sport.
You are a sales representative speaking to a group of clients after a mistake has been discovered.
You are a cancer survivor speaking at a high school student assembly.

How might you adapt your message and speaking style to successfully entertain these various audiences?

Remember that being a competent speaker is about being both personally effective and socially appropriate. Different occasions will call for different levels of social appropriateness. One of the biggest mistakes entertaining speakers can make is to deliver one generic speech to different groups without adapting the speech to the specific occasion. In fact, professional speakers always make sure that their speeches are tailored for different occasions by getting information about the occasion from their hosts. When we tailor speeches for special occasions, people are more likely to remember those speeches than if we give a generic speech.

Be Adaptive to Your Audience

Once again, we cannot stress the importance of audience adaptation enough in this text. Different audiences will respond differently to speech material, so the more you know about your audience the more likely you’ll succeed in your speech. One of our coauthors was once at a conference for teachers of public speaking. The keynote speaker stood and delivered a speech on the importance of public speaking. While the speaker was good and funny, the speech really fell flat. The keynote speaker basically told the public speaking teachers that they should take public speaking courses because public speaking is important. Right speech, wrong audience!

Be Mindful of the Time

The last major consideration for delivering entertaining speeches successfully is to be mindful of your time. Different entertaining speech situations have their own conventions and rules with regard to time. Acceptance speeches and toasts, for example, should be relatively short (typically under five minutes). A speech of introduction should be extremely brief—just long enough to tell the audience what they need to know about the person being introduced in a style that prepares them to appreciate that person’s remarks. In contrast, commencement speeches and speeches to commemorate events can run ten to twenty minutes in length.

It’s also important to recognize that audiences on different occasions will expect speeches of various lengths. For example, although it’s true that graduation commencement speakers generally speak for ten to twenty minutes, the closer that speaker heads toward twenty minutes the more fidgety the audience becomes. To hold the audience’s attention and fulfill the goal of entertaining, a commencement speaker would do well to make the closing minutes of the speech the most engaging and inspiring portion of the speech. If you’re not sure about the expected time frame for a speech, either ask the person who has invited you to speak or do some quick research to see what the average speech times in the given context tend to be.

Key Takeaways

Entertaining speeches are speeches designed to captivate an audience’s attention and regale or amuse them while delivering a clear message. Speakers engage in entertaining speeches generally at special occasions (e.g., weddings, funerals) or are asked to deliver a keynote address.
Entertaining speeches should include four key considerations: preparation, adaptation to the occasion, adaptation to the audience, and mindfulness of the time. As with all speeches, speakers need to prepare the speech. Second, speakers need to think about the specific occasion. Third, speakers need to adapt their speeches to the specific audience. Lastly, speakers need to think about how long they should speak.
Type in the word “roast” into YouTube and watch a few minutes of a roast. Did the speaker clearly exhibit the four clear ingredients of an entertaining speech?
Watch several toasts and acceptance speeches on YouTube. Can you identify specific ways in which each speaker adapts the speech to the occasion and the audience?

Share This Book

18.1 Understanding Entertaining Speeches

Learning objectives.

Understand the purpose of entertaining speeches.
Explain the four ingredients of a good entertaining speech.

In broad terms, an entertaining speech Speech designed to captivate an audience’s attention and regale or amuse them while delivering a clear message. is a speech designed to captivate an audience’s attention and regale or amuse them while delivering a message. Like more traditional informative or persuasive speeches, entertaining speeches should communicate a clear message, but the manner of speaking used in an entertaining speech is typically different. Entertaining speeches are often delivered on special occasions (e.g., a toast at a wedding, an acceptance speech at an awards banquet, a motivational speech at a conference), which is why they are sometimes referred to as special-occasion speeches. However, they can also be given on more mundane occasions, where their purpose is primarily to amuse audience members or arouse them emotionally in some way. Remember, when we use the word “entertain,” we are referring not just to humor but also to drama. The goal of an entertaining speech is to stir an audience’s emotions.

Be Prepared

Be Adaptive to the Occasion

You are the maid of honor giving a toast at the wedding of your younger sister.
You are receiving a Most Valuable Player award in your favorite sport.
You are a sales representative speaking to a group of clients after a mistake has been discovered.
You are a cancer survivor speaking at a high school student assembly.

How might you adapt your message and speaking style to successfully entertain these various audiences?

Be Adaptive to Your Audience

Be Mindful of the Time

Key Takeaways

Entertaining speeches are speeches designed to captivate an audience’s attention and regale or amuse them while delivering a clear message. Speakers engage in entertaining speeches generally at special occasions (e.g., weddings, funerals) or are asked to deliver a keynote address.
Entertaining speeches should include four key considerations: preparation, adaptation to the occasion, adaptation to the audience, and mindfulness of the time. As with all speeches, speakers need to prepare the speech. Second, speakers need to think about the specific occasion. Third, speakers need to adapt their speeches to the specific audience. Lastly, speakers need to think about how long they should speak.
Type in the word “roast” into YouTube and watch a few minutes of a roast. Did the speaker clearly exhibit the four clear ingredients of an entertaining speech?
Watch several toasts and acceptance speeches on YouTube. Can you identify specific ways in which each speaker adapts the speech to the occasion and the audience?

Entertainment Speech Maker

✅ 6 Benefits of the Tool

💬 What Is an Entertainment Speech?

🔢 entertaining speech types, 📍 how to write an entertainment speech, 💡 top 21 entertaining speech topics, 📝 4 world-famous entertainment speech examples, 🔗 references.

Do you have a pending entertainment speech assignment but aren’t sure how to write it well? No need to worry because our instant AI entertainment speech generator can help you with this critical school task.

You can use it to create the most entertaining and persuasive speeches. Try our free online entertainment speech maker today.

✅ 6 Benefits of This Informative Speech Generator

How does this free informative speech generator benefit your efforts?

We will focus on the 6 essential benefits:

Broadly, we can define an entertainment speech as one that seeks to captivate or entertain listeners’ attention while delivering a crucial message.

This speech exploits an audience’s emotions and communicates to it in a manner that melts the ice of formalities.

Speakers often deliver entertainment speeches on special occasions.

These events include:

Award ceremonies
Conferences

That’s why entertaining speeches are also called special-event or occasion speeches. However, speakers give them in more mundane events, intending to amuse listeners. Remember, the main focus here is entertainment, which stirs an audience’s emotions.

Entertainment speeches come in 3 main forms:

Do you want to master how to draft a long or short 3-minute entertainment speech? Here is a detailed explanation to make you a master speech writer.

Below are the steps to prepare an amusing entertainment speech.

Determine your speech’s purpose . Clarify what the aim of your speech is before embarking on its creation. While this speech is amusing, don’t confuse it with a stand-up comedy strip. Therefore, you should understand clearly why your audience has gathered before drafting a speech.
Identify your audience’s laughter points . Research what makes your listeners laugh. This stage requires an in-depth understanding of your audience because what amuses you may not sound funny to your listeners.
Match your topic with your listeners . Do sufficient audience research and match your topic with it. Your title should be as simple as possible. Therefore, just include enough amusement in your speech to make it more palatable and drive your message home.
Avoid insults . Don’t make comments that could insult anyone, even if they sound funny. A safe choice is to make funny comments that make listeners laugh at you instead of saying things that make them feel you are insulting them.
Use plain language . Use plain everyday language everyone understands. Avoid all jargon and the “big word” syndrome.
Be precise . Be precise and keep your presentation short and sweet.
Use your personal experiences . When possible, use the examples related to your life to illustrate your message.
Involve your listeners . Let your audience ask questions, answer questions, and make comments.
Be yourself . Draft your speech to portray the original you and not a clone. Remember, your listeners came to listen to you and want to see the real you.
Finish on a witty note . End your speech on a witty, amusing note.
My best joke.
My first day in marriage.
How I got my nickname.
My first lie.
My worst holiday.
Humour and jokes: what’s so funny?
My first international visit.
The first day I boarded a plane.
Humor as a way to cope with stress .
The first day I swam alone in the ocean.
How to live with teenagers.
Humor in the workplace: does it help?
Maximizing the benefits of teenage period.
Optimizing your singlehood.
Different tastes of humor .
How to be the best employee.
Why truth is better than lies.
Comedy and humor in world literature .
My secret to happiness.
The best alternative to exams.
Sense of humor: how does it help?

Below are descriptions of entertainment speeches focusing on inspiration and acceptance.

Sandra Bullock - 2010 Oscar Acceptance Speech

Sandra Bullock delivered this acceptance speech in 2009 when she won an academy award in the Actress in a Leading Role category. She won it based on the role she played in the film The Blind Side. The emotionally charged speech appreciated all who helped her scoop the award.

Will Smith - The Best Things in Life Are on the Other Side of Fear

Will Smith made this speech while discussing why and how to face one’s fears as the key to getting the best things lying beyond the comfort zone. The speech’s moral is that the best things in life arrive after you stop being afraid and move on.

Frances McDormand - 2018 Oscar Acceptance Speech

This speech focused on Frances’ quest for gender equality in the entertainment industry after accepting the Oscar for Best Actress at tonight’s Academy Awards.

Ray Lewis - The Two Sides of Pain

This speech focuses on Ray’s life story . He used it to share his inspiring childhood, where he learned the two sides of pain. He discussed suffering and examined what pain drives one to do. His moral is that success is the end of pain.

❓ Entertainment Speech Maker FAQ

Updated: Oct 25th, 2023

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This free online entertainment speech maker will quickly generate an exciting speech example for you. Just follow the prompts and add the details so that your result will fully meet your requirements. As a bonus, find here entertaining speech examples and topics.

Introduction Speech

Discover the art of crafting compelling introduction speeches through our comprehensive guide. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned speaker, our step-by-step approach simplifies the process. Explore a rich collection of speech examples , tailored to inspire and improve your public speaking skills. Master the nuances of delivering impactful introductions that captivate your audience, using our expertly curated speech examples as your roadmap to success.

Download Introduction Speech Buncle

A speech can be of any form and used for various functions. It can be a thank-you speech to show one’s gratitude or even an introduction speech to introduce a person (even oneself), product, company, or the like. In these examples, let’s look at different speech examples that seek to introduce.

Introduction Speech Example

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Introduction Speech for Students

Introduction Speech for School

Self-Introduction Sample

Size: 143 KB

Short Introduction Speech

Size: 110 KB

Introduction Speech for Employee

Size: 47 KB

What to Include in an Introduction Speech

An introduction speech may also work as a welcome speech . You introduce yourself to an audience and provide the audience with the gist of a meeting or program. This would include providing recognition to significant individuals or even starting a brief discussion on a topic.

But of course, this would solely depend on what you’re trying to introduce. You can also use various speech templates for you to know what other information may be included in your speech.

How to Write a Introduction Speech?

In writing an introduction speech, it’s wise to familiarize the flow of a program.

Think about what your goal is and how you could attain it. You need to be able to capture the attention and interest of your listeners. If you’re giving a speech to introduce the president of your company, be sure to make it grand. Share significant details that are sure to receive a wow factor from the audience as an introduction speech can also be an informative speech . Keep in mind that it’s always best to start with an outline or draft so it will be easier for you to edit.

Introduction Speech for Chairman

Size: 281 KB

waalc.org.au

Size: 13 KB

Formal Introduction Sample

Size: 223 KB

Tips on Writing an Introduction Speech

1. Keep it short. When you try to self introduction speech to a person you just met, you don’t tell them paragraphs of information that aren’t even relevant. You would want to entice an audience, not bore them out. You don’t need to make it lengthy for it to be good. A few wise words and a touch of class will be enough for your listeners.

2. Make an outline. Introductions are meant to give an audience a quick run through of what they must know. Create a speech outline that will state the purpose of your speech and provide a preview of main ideas that are to be discussed. This is sure to give your audience a reason to listen.

3. Create an icebreaker. Speeches can be quite awkward, especially since they’re usually made formal. Craft a speech that will leave a good impact. Allow others to feel comfortable with the environment they are in and allow them to feel valued. You may also see orientation speech examples & samples

4. Read it out loud. The thing is, some things sound better in our heads than being said aloud. It’s possible that your speech in pdf may contain words that don’t sound good together or that it might give a different interpretation on a matter.

How to Conclude an Introduction Speech

Just as an essay can be conclude speech in different ways, an introduction speech may end in various ways.

You can close it in a challenging, congratulatory, suggestive or even inviting matter. It’s best to keep it as brief as possible to let your listeners know that you’re ending your speech in word . All you need to make sure of is that you don’t abruptly end your speech, leaving your audience hanging.

In the realm of public speaking, the introduction speech serves as a crucial gateway, opening the door to deeper engagement and understanding. Whether it’s for a corporate event, educational purpose, or a personal introduction, the essence of a good introduction speech lies in its ability to connect the speaker with the audience on a meaningful level. To further enhance your skills in crafting and delivering effective introduction speeches, exploring resources from esteemed institutions can be immensely beneficial. Websites like Harvard’s Public Speaking Resources offer a treasure trove of tips, techniques, and examples that can inspire and guide speakers to refine their approach.

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15 Powerful Speech Opening Lines (And How to Create Your Own)

Hrideep barot.

Public Speaking , Speech Writing

Powerful speech opening lines set the tone and mood of your speech. It’s what grips the audience to want to know more about the rest of your talk.

The first few seconds are critical. It’s when you have maximum attention of the audience. And you must capitalize on that!

Instead of starting off with something plain and obvious such as a ‘Thank you’ or ‘Good Morning’, there’s so much more you can do for a powerful speech opening (here’s a great article we wrote a while ago on how you should NOT start your speech ).

To help you with this, I’ve compiled some of my favourite openings from various speakers. These speakers have gone on to deliver TED talks , win international Toastmaster competitions or are just noteworthy people who have mastered the art of communication.

After each speaker’s opening line, I have added how you can include their style of opening into your own speech. Understanding how these great speakers do it will certainly give you an idea to create your own speech opening line which will grip the audience from the outset!

Alright! Let’s dive into the 15 powerful speech openings…

Note: Want to take your communications skills to the next level? Book a complimentary consultation with one of our expert communication coaches. We’ll look under the hood of your hurdles and pick two to three growth opportunities so you can speak with impact!

1. Ric Elias

Opening: “Imagine a big explosion as you climb through 3,000 ft. Imagine a plane full of smoke. Imagine an engine going clack, clack, clack. It sounds scary. Well I had a unique seat that day. I was sitting in 1D.”

How to use the power of imagination to open your speech?

Putting your audience in a state of imagination can work extremely well to captivate them for the remainder of your talk.

It really helps to bring your audience in a certain mood that preps them for what’s about to come next. Speakers have used this with high effectiveness by transporting their audience into an imaginary land to help prove their point.

When Ric Elias opened his speech, the detail he used (3000 ft, sound of the engine going clack-clack-clack) made me feel that I too was in the plane. He was trying to make the audience experience what he was feeling – and, at least in my opinion, he did.

When using the imagination opening for speeches, the key is – detail. While we want the audience to wander into imagination, we want them to wander off to the image that we want to create for them. So, detail out your scenario if you’re going to use this technique.

Make your audience feel like they too are in the same circumstance as you were when you were in that particular situation.

2. Barack Obama

Opening: “You can’t say it, but you know it’s true.”

3. Seth MacFarlane

Opening: “There’s nowhere I would rather be on a day like this than around all this electoral equipment.” (It was raining)

How to use humour to open your speech?

When you use humour in a manner that suits your personality, it can set you up for a great speech. Why? Because getting a laugh in the first 30 seconds or so is a great way to quickly get the audience to like you.

And when they like you, they are much more likely to listen to and believe in your ideas.

Obama effortlessly uses his opening line to entice laughter among the audience. He brilliantly used the setting (the context of Trump becoming President) and said a line that completely matched his style of speaking.

Saying a joke without really saying a joke and getting people to laugh requires you to be completely comfortable in your own skin. And that’s not easy for many people (me being one of them).

If the joke doesn’t land as expected, it could lead to a rocky start.

Keep in mind the following when attempting to deliver a funny introduction:

Know your audience: Make sure your audience gets the context of the joke (if it’s an inside joke among the members you’re speaking to, that’s even better!). You can read this article we wrote where we give you tips on how you can actually get to know your audience better to ensure maximum impact with your speech openings
The joke should suit your natural personality. Don’t make it look forced or it won’t elicit the desired response
Test the opening out on a few people who match your real audience. Analyze their response and tweak the joke accordingly if necessary
Starting your speech with humour means your setting the tone of your speech. It would make sense to have a few more jokes sprinkled around the rest of the speech as well as the audience might be expecting the same from you

4. Mohammed Qahtani

Opening: Puts a cigarette on his lips, lights a lighter, stops just before lighting the cigarette. Looks at audience, “What?”

5. Darren Tay

Opening: Puts a white pair of briefs over his pants.

How to use props to begin your speech?

The reason props work so well in a talk is because in most cases the audience is not expecting anything more than just talking. So when a speaker pulls out an object that is unusual, everyone’s attention goes right to it.

It makes you wonder why that prop is being used in this particular speech.

The key word here is unusual . To grip the audience’s attention at the beginning of the speech, the prop being used should be something that the audience would never expect. Otherwise, it just becomes something that is common. And common = boring!

What Mohammed Qahtani and Darren Tay did superbly well in their talks was that they used props that nobody expected them to.

By pulling out a cigarette and lighter or a white pair of underwear, the audience can’t help but be gripped by what the speaker is about to do next. And that makes for a powerful speech opening.

6. Simon Sinek

Opening: “How do you explain when things don’t go as we assume? Or better, how do you explain when others are able to achieve things that seem to defy all of the assumptions?”

7. Julian Treasure

Opening: “The human voice. It’s the instrument we all play. It’s the most powerful sound in the world. Probably the only one that can start a war or say “I love you.” And yet many people have the experience that when they speak people don’t listen to them. Why is that? How can we speak powerfully to make change in the world?”

How to use questions to open a speech?

I use this method often. Starting off with a question is the simplest way to start your speech in a manner that immediately engages the audience.

But we should keep our questions compelling as opposed to something that is fairly obvious.

I’ve heard many speakers start their speeches with questions like “How many of us want to be successful?”

No one is going to say ‘no’ to that and frankly, I just feel silly raising my hand at such questions.

Simon Sinek and Jullian Treasure used questions in a manner that really made the audience think and make them curious to find out what the answer to that question is.

What Jullian Treasure did even better was the use of a few statements which built up to his question. This made the question even more compelling and set the theme for what the rest of his talk would be about.

So think of what question you can ask in your speech that will:

Set the theme for the remainder of your speech
Not be something that is fairly obvious
Be compelling enough so that the audience will actually want to know what the answer to that question will be

8. Aaron Beverley

Opening: Long pause (after an absurdly long introduction of a 57-word speech title). “Be honest. You enjoyed that, didn’t you?”

How to use silence for speech openings?

The reason this speech opening stands out is because of the fact that the title itself is 57 words long. The audience was already hilariously intrigued by what was going to come next.

But what’s so gripping here is the way Aaron holds the crowd’s suspense by…doing nothing. For about 10 to 12 seconds he did nothing but stand and look at the audience. Everyone quietened down. He then broke this silence by a humorous remark that brought the audience laughing down again.

When going on to open your speech, besides focusing on building a killer opening sentence, how about just being silent?

It’s important to keep in mind that the point of having a strong opening is so that the audience’s attention is all on you and are intrigued enough to want to listen to the rest of your speech.

Silence is a great way to do that. When you get on the stage, just pause for a few seconds (about 3 to 5 seconds) and just look at the crowd. Let the audience and yourself settle in to the fact that the spotlight is now on you.

I can’t put my finger on it, but there is something about starting the speech off with a pure pause that just makes the beginning so much more powerful. It adds credibility to you as a speaker as well, making you look more comfortable and confident on stage.

If you want to know more about the power of pausing in public speaking , check out this post we wrote. It will give you a deeper insight into the importance of pausing and how you can harness it for your own speeches. You can also check out this video to know more about Pausing for Public Speaking:

9. Dan Pink

Opening: “I need to make a confession at the outset here. Little over 20 years ago, I did something that I regret. Something that I’m not particularly proud of. Something that in many ways I wish no one would ever know but that here I feel kind of obliged to reveal.”

10. Kelly McGonigal

Opening: “I have a confession to make. But first I want you to make a little confession to me.”

How to use a build-up to open your speech?

When there are so many amazing ways to start a speech and grip an audience from the outset, why would you ever choose to begin your speech with a ‘Good morning?’.

That’s what I love about build-ups. They set the mood for something awesome that’s about to come in that the audience will feel like they just have to know about.

Instead of starting a speech as it is, see if you can add some build-up to your beginning itself. For instance, in Kelly McGonigal’s speech, she could have started off with the question of stress itself (which she eventually moves on to in her speech). It’s not a bad way to start the speech.

But by adding the statement of “I have a confession to make” and then not revealing the confession for a little bit, the audience is gripped to know what she’s about to do next and find out what indeed is her confession.

11. Tim Urban

Opening: “So in college, I was a government major. Which means that I had to write a lot of papers. Now when a normal student writes a paper, they might spread the work out a little like this.”

12. Scott Dinsmore

Opening: “8 years ago, I got the worst career advice of my life.”

How to use storytelling as a speech opening?

“The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller.” Steve Jobs

Storytelling is the foundation of good speeches. Starting your speech with a story is a great way to grip the audience’s attention. It makes them yearn to want to know how the rest of the story is going to pan out.

Tim Urban starts off his speech with a story dating back to his college days. His use of slides is masterful and something we all can learn from. But while his story sounds simple, it does the job of intriguing the audience to want to know more.

As soon as I heard the opening lines, I thought to myself “If normal students write their paper in a certain manner, how does Tim write his papers?”

Combine such a simple yet intriguing opening with comedic slides, and you’ve got yourself a pretty gripping speech.

Scott Dismore’s statement has a similar impact. However, just a side note, Scott Dismore actually started his speech with “Wow, what an honour.”

I would advise to not start your talk with something such as that. It’s way too common and does not do the job an opening must, which is to grip your audience and set the tone for what’s coming.

13. Larry Smith

Opening: “I want to discuss with you this afternoon why you’re going to fail to have a great career.”

14. Jane McGonigal

Opening: “You will live 7.5 minutes longer than you would have otherwise, just because you watched this talk.”

How to use provocative statements to start your speech?

Making a provocative statement creates a keen desire among the audience to want to know more about what you have to say. It immediately brings everyone into attention.

Larry Smith did just that by making his opening statement surprising, lightly humorous, and above all – fearful. These elements lead to an opening statement which creates so much curiosity among the audience that they need to know how your speech pans out.

This one time, I remember seeing a speaker start a speech with, “Last week, my best friend committed suicide.” The entire crowd was gripped. Everyone could feel the tension in the room.

They were just waiting for the speaker to continue to know where this speech will go.

That’s what a hard-hitting statement does, it intrigues your audience so much that they can’t wait to hear more! Just a tip, if you do start off with a provocative, hard-hitting statement, make sure you pause for a moment after saying it.

Silence after an impactful statement will allow your message to really sink in with the audience.

Related article: 5 Ways to Grab Your Audience’s Attention When You’re Losing it!

15. Ramona J Smith

Opening: In a boxing stance, “Life would sometimes feel like a fight. The punches, jabs and hooks will come in the form of challenges, obstacles and failures. Yet if you stay in the ring and learn from those past fights, at the end of each round, you’ll be still standing.”

How to use your full body to grip the audience at the beginning of your speech?

In a talk, the audience is expecting you to do just that – talk. But when you enter the stage and start putting your full body into use in a way that the audience does not expect, it grabs their attention.

Body language is critical when it comes to public speaking. Hand gestures, stage movement, facial expressions are all things that need to be paid attention to while you’re speaking on stage. But that’s not I’m talking about here.

Here, I’m referring to a unique use of the body that grips the audience, like how Ramona did. By using her body to get into a boxing stance, imitating punches, jabs and hooks with her arms while talking – that’s what got the audience’s attention.

The reason I say this is so powerful is because if you take Ramona’s speech and remove the body usage from her opening, the entire magic of the opening falls flat.

While the content is definitely strong, without those movements, she would not have captured the audience’s attention as beautifully as she did with the use of her body.

So if you have a speech opening that seems slightly dull, see if you can add some body movement to it.

If your speech starts with a story of someone running, actually act out the running. If your speech starts with a story of someone reading, actually act out the reading.

It will make your speech opening that much more impactful.

Related article: 5 Body Language Tips to Command the Stage

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Final Words

So there it is! 15 speech openings from some of my favourite speeches. Hopefully, these will act as a guide for you to create your own opening which is super impactful and sets you off on the path to becoming a powerful public speaker!

But remember, while a speech opening is super important, it’s just part of an overall structure.

If you’re serious about not just creating a great speech opening but to improve your public speaking at an overall level, I would highly recommend you to check out this course: Acumen Presents: Chris Anderson on Public Speaking on Udemy. Not only does it have specific lectures on starting and ending a speech, but it also offers an in-depth guide into all the nuances of public speaking.

Being the founder of TED Talks, Chris Anderson provides numerous examples of the best TED speakers to give us a very practical way of overcoming stage fear and delivering a speech that people will remember. His course has helped me personally and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to learn public speaking.

No one is ever “done” learning public speaking. It’s a continuous process and you can always get better. Keep learning, keep conquering and keep being awesome!

Lastly, if you want to know how you should NOT open your speech, we’ve got a video for you:

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Public Speaking Tips & Speech Topics

Entertaining Speech Topics [195 Ideas To Keep Audience Engaged]

Amanda Green was born in a small town in the west of Scotland, where everyone knows everyone. I joined the Toastmasters 15 years ago, and I served in nearly every office in the club since then. I love helping others gain confidence and skills they can apply in every day life.

You need to offer persuasive speech that is informative with a specific purpose that will bring the event to life. Above all, to be an entertaining speaker, you need an interesting and unique speech topic or even impromptu speech (though that is difficult to achieve) that will last more than a few minutes and engage the audience with an interesting story/stories. There are a lot of topics you can cover that will be entertaining, such as funny speech topics , informative speech topics , or even demonstrative speeches , but make sure you consider your audience before you choose one.

In this article:

How To Develop An Entertaining Speech Topic

How to deliver an entertaining speech, entertaining speech ideas.

There are many ways to write and develop a topic for a speech to entertain. And there are lots of fails to report.

My main objective is to make you aware if the fact that you do not pretend to by the nice and humorous girl or guy . Nope, better is to set up a flat face and deliver the lines dry with an English stiff upperlip – that is why I used the word pokerfaced … A trick I have learned from my masters …

Use this speechwriting checklist for every issue of your choice.

Can We Write Your Speech?

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It is possible to bring a serious message with funny proven techniques listed below. Like these examples of serious/funny entertaining speech topic chapter. And stay to that theme. My main advice is: just talk on a specific theme.

Consider your entertainment topic from different points of view.
Choose for an unusual or strange angle of approach.
Wonder what the reason is for some habits or daily grind.
Give a normal issue, subject or topic a personal, dramatic twist.
List xx ways to …
Perform dialogues and metaphores.
Tell a story about a personal experience, interrelate the humorous anecdote in the main theme.
Give mocking comments on perfectly ordinary things, persons, places, values or thoughts.
Ridiculize large organizations or institutions. But do not offend.
Laugh at and ridiculize professional jargon or dialogues.
Find similarities between opposing subjects. That can be a very humorous and entertaining for your audience.
Ask: What If and press the possibilities till it becomes ridiculous, funny and amusing.

My five additional rousing tips for further development are:

Organize and structure your diverting text in a way your presentation will flow just right; try to work to some sort of a climax.
Establish your speechwriting goal or purpose. That’s no problem if you talk about one theme.
If you tell funny or humorous things about some individuals in your public: don’t insult and be sensitive.
Try to deliver your public speaking speech topics extemporaneously as much as you can. So practice a lot. Ask a friend if it is witty enough.
And practice on the timing the smooth flow of your entertaining speech topic:
The Worst Joke I Ever Heard
The First Time I Got Caught
Why Did the Chicken Actually Cross the Road
How I Got My Nickname
How to Get a Toddler to Go the Sleep in 383 Easy Steps
The Funniest Thing My Kid Ever Said
Deep Fried Oreos and Dieting
My Worst Date
That Time I Shot Milk Out of My Nose
My Favorite Misheard Song Lyric
How to Embarrass Your Teenager
A Middle Aged Mom Figures Out Snapchat
Pick Up Lines that Will Never Work
The Key To Being Successful at Watching Television
How to Live in Your Mom’s Basement
My Biggest Pet Peeve
Things a T-Rex Can’t Do with Its Little Arms
How to Ruin a Date
How to Stay a Bachelor
What Not to Do On a Blind Date
Why Pineapple Is Not a Pizza Topping
How to Fail a Driver’s Test
Ways to Take the Worst Passport Picture Possible
The Worst Ideas for Halloween Costumes
My Biggest Auto Correct Fail
How to Trick Your Dog into Going to the Vet
The Time I Laughed at a Completely Inappropriate Time
Something That Made Me Laugh So Hard, I Cried
Lost in Translation
My Dinner with My Favorite Video Game Character
That Thing I Shared on Facebook that Maybe I Shouldn’t Have
The Right Way to Lie
My Most Embarrassing Childhood Memory
The Worst Haircut I Ever Had
My Life Motto
How My Cat Will Take Over the World
How to Be the Center of Attention
How to Freak out Your Roommate
Passive Aggressive Ways to Get Your Spouse to Do the Dishes
Alternatives to Cleaning
The Best Dad Jokes of All Time
Skinny Jeans or Where Have All the Men Gone?
Why does Halloween Have to Be the Only Holiday We Wear Costumes For?
Horrible How To Instructions
Going Out Versus Going to Sleep at 9 pm on a Saturday
My Worst Traffic Violation
That Time I Sent the Email to the Wrong Person
How To End a Bad Date
Why I Make the Best Pancakes
Nutella: Why I Just Can’t
How To Survive Your Brother’s Wedding
Why I’m Still Single
How to Fall In Love in 308 Easy Steps
An Argument for Leaving Your Christmas Tree Up All Year
Horrible Valentine’s Day Cards
I Love to Say I Told You So
My Biggest Fashion Mistakes
How To Act Like a Dude
Worst Twitter Mistakes
How to Lose Your Mind in 10 Days
Ten Dumb Things I’ve Done So You Don’t Have To
Things I’ve Only Told My Therapist
How I Knew I Didn’t Get the Job
Getting To Know the Little Voice in the Back of My Head
When To Give Up
How To Pretend to Have It All
Don’t Touch the Thermostat: My Rules for Surviving Winter
Sleeping with the Fan On Just for the Noise
How to Make the Worst of a Best Situation
Lies I Told Myself
Why I Sleep with Five Pillows
Hogging Your Side of the Bed: My Strategy to Sleep Alone
Why My Dog is My Best Friend
Why Nothing Rhymes with Orange
The Worst Color in the World
How to Ruin a Marriage: My Trip to Ikea
Why Hipsters Are the Worst
There Is No Such Thing as Too Much Caffeine
My Worst Hair Dye Experience
The Ugliest Facial Hair I’ve Ever Seen
The Case for Bubble Baths
The Worst Life Hack I’ve Ever Tried
That Time I Got Arrested
My Funniest Online Dating Story
How I Lost My Pants
The Worst Habit I Know I Have
The Worst Thing I Ever Smelled
That Time I Was a Hypochondriac
My Worst Experience with Rain
How to Make Sure He Doesn’t Call
How to Be Patient When You Just Can’t
Shoe Size: Does It Matter?
Why I Love You Anyway
The Worst Sound in the World
The Best Thing about Being Me
The Worst Song Lyric I Ever Heard
How to Be Lame
Times When Ice Cream is Appropriate
How Not to Decorate a Cake
Where Do All the Missing Socks Go?
Ten Things That Are Better Than Doing the Dishes
The Worst Chore I’ve Ever Had to Do
The Worst Punishment I Ever Had as a Kid
How I Knew I Was Done Having Children
Why I Don’t Bother Keeping Up with the Joneses
How to Pretend to Be Interested
How Not to Be Subtle
Why Are Horses the Only Animal We Ride?
What Your Dog Really Thinks about You
Best Reasons to Quit Your Job
The Best Thing I Ever Ate
The Coolest Thing I’ve Ever Seen
Why I Can’t Even
My Real Life Superpower
How to Win at Life
How to Cheat at Cards
How Not to Make Friends
Popcorn Is Underrated
Making the Least of Your Time
If I Were Invisible
Why I Still Use a Nightlight
Leaping Before You Look
What I Learned from High School
How to Be Awesome
Socks and Sandals Are Okay
If I Had A Million Dollars
How to Get Fired
When to Do the Grand Gesture
How to Panic
Relaxation Techniques that Haven’t Worked For Me
Reasons to Be Scared of the Dark
Why I Make My Bed Every Morning
The Perks of Being the Life of the Party
Changing My Mind, Again
My Guilty Pleasure
Best Places to Nap
Something I Thought I Knew
My Biggest Regret
The Invention of Lying
When I Knew I Wasn’t a Kid Anymore
The Kid’s Toy I Still Love to Play with
My Childhood Imaginary Friend
Hobbling Across the Finish Line
Finger Painting: Not Just for Kids Anymore
Why we don’t win the lottery.
Excuses for every occasion.
How to buy condoms discreetly.
Most stupid labels.
I am new in this place, entertain me!
IQ tests revealed.
How to impress a woman.
Crime does pay.
Breaking up isn’t hard.
Comparisons that won’t hold.
Grandchildren’s phrases.
Stereotypes of college students can generate lots of speech topics.
How to slowly drive your girlfriend crazy.
The male guide to selecting an outfit for a high school prom.
Crazy things to do in a final that doesn’t matter.
Chinese proverbs explained.
What to do when you are bored on a lazy Sunday.
Don’t say this to a police officer.
Things men would never say.
Extreme golf courses in the world.
Freudian slips of the tongue.
Test your popularity.
Marriage advice and strange counseling assistance.
Why Santa Claus is a woman.
About the French.
Things I learned from sports.
Things you wouldn’t know without watching films.
How to sing the blues from the heart.
Rare pronounciations of ordinary words and phrases.
The art of kissing.
Bad hair day solutions.
Shopping guide for a man.
Problem solving in an entertaining way.
Funny facts of life are popular topics for an entertainment speech.
Golfing at night or in the snow.
Lawyers and the truth.
Creative marriage proposals.
How to play the singing saw.
Gift wrapping tips for men.
How to photograph a puppy.
Are you ready for children?
Strange dress codes.
A man’s dilemma: beer or women?
Clean your house in 30 minutes.
Stages of a hard working employee.
Office work rules up side down.
Insults from famous people.
Basic rules for driving in – fill in a big city.
Things your mom would never say.
Explain baseball or football to a foreigner.
Applicant speaks in job letters is a great material-oil well too.

Types of Public Speaking

136 Speech Topics About Animals [Persuasive, Informative]

5 thoughts on “Entertaining Speech Topics [195 Ideas To Keep Audience Engaged]”

How useful your school stationeries can be for survival!! (e.g. permanent marker can be used as lightening)

Noice topics!

Things you don’t say to your husband!

Hi, I’m Lila. I have to write a speech and I am completely stuck! I would like a entertaining speech, but still informative. I am so stuck on the topic I should do! Do you have any ideas what to do?

How to play apex legends

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Entertaining Speech Topics

Entertaining Speech Topics for Your Next Debate

10 min read

What is an Entertaining Speech?

Speech writing is an extremely boring task, but it becomes interesting when humor is added.

An entertaining speech is designed to amuse the audience while delivering the message. These speeches are written to entertain the audience and make them laugh.

Like other types of speeches , entertainment speeches should communicate a clear message. However, the manner of speaking is not the formal way and is slightly different from traditional styles.

Although entertainment and funny speeches follow the same speech format as other types of speeches, they can be really fun to write.

Tips for Choosing an Entertaining Speech Topic

When we say the word “entertainment,” we don’t refer to the ‘humor’ only but also the ‘drama’. Therefore, you need to choose a topic for an entertaining speech that brings joy to the audience and intrigues their emotions.

Here are some basic tips from experts to choose the best topic for a funny and entertaining informative speech:

Think of your interests and your inspiration so that you don’t get bored while delivering the speech. If that happens, your audience will lose interest immediately.
Think of your audience and things that interest them. Choose a topic that is interesting for both of you, i.e., you and your audience.
Conduct research and collect some humorous ideas that are unusual and unique
Pick up a normal issue or subject and give it a dramatic twist.
Tell a funny story about some personal experience.
Laugh at, and ridicule institutions and organizations but do not offend.
Ask what if? And show the possibilities until it becomes amusing.
Decide what message you want to communicate with your speech.

If you use this checklist to choose a topic for an entertaining speech, you can easily deliver a serious message while making the audience laugh.

Amazing Entertaining Speech Topics for Students

Now that you know what aspects you need to consider while selecting an entertaining speech topic, let’s choose a topic for your speech.

Entertaining Speech Topics for Middle School

The funniest thing I did to my father
How to eat deep-fried Oreos in 259 easy steps
Once I shot milk out of my nose.
When I don’t want to go to school, I tell my mom that my stomach is hurting.
I popped in my pants on my first day at school.
I want to marry Cameron Diaz.
Don’t eat vegetables; they have feelings too.
Kids should have an hour’s break to watch cartoons in school.
I lied to my teacher about my granny’s death.
Can I have jalapeno on my dark chocolate fudge cake?

Entertaining Speech Topics for Grade 5

The Adventures of My Pet
Why I Love Playing Video Games
The Funniest Jokes I Know
The Magic of My Favorite Fairy Tale
A Day in the Life of a Superhero
The Coolest Science Experiments You Can Do at Home
The Wackiest Inventions in History
How to Train Your Dragon (or Pet)
The Mystery of Ancient Pyramids
My Dream Treehouse: A World of Imagination

Entertaining Speech Topics for Grade 6

The Art of Telling Ghost Stories
My Favorite Mythical Creatures
The Funniest Pranks I've Pulled on My Friends
The Secret Language of Emoji
How to Become a Master Chef in Your Kitchen
The World of Unicorns and Rainbows
The Quirkiest Sports You've Never Heard Of
The History of Superheroes: From Comics to Blockbusters
Exploring Haunted Places: Fact or Fiction?
The Magic of Harry Potter: A World of Wizards and Spells

Entertaining Speech Topics for Grade 7

The Art of Memes: A Humorous Look at Internet Culture
Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse: A How-To Guide
The Science of Laughter: What Makes Us Giggle
The History of Board Games: From Ancient Egypt to Modern Classics
The Strange Habits of Your Favorite Celebrities
Time Travel: Where Would You Go and Why?
The Power of Dreams: Unlocking Your Imagination
Movie Magic: Behind the Scenes of Hollywood Blockbusters
The World's Weirdest and Tastiest Ice Cream Flavors
The Mythical Creatures of Native American Folklore

Entertaining Speech Topics for Grade 8

Worst Twitter mistakes.
My most embarrassing childhood memory.
What are the major features of the city of the future?
The funniest thing I’ve ever heard.
The most memorable childhood moment.
What is your favorite song?
Worst messages on a birthday card?
Funny informative speech topics.
What your favorite weather says about you.
Tallest basketball player of all time.

Entertaining Speech Topics for High School

My favorite misheard song lyrics.
How did I tell my best friend that I love her?
I have a personal experience of watching a ghost dancing on the terrace.
Higher education is a guarantee to be a successful person.
How to get a toddler to go to sleep in 595 easy steps?
My worst encounter with my ex?
Have you ever mixed a Pina Colada with coffee?
When nothing goes right, go left.
The worst date I ever had.
The day my mom figured out Snapchat.

Funny Entertaining Speech Topics for College Students

When I got caught cheating on my girlfriend?
Boys do more gossip than girls.
Everything that goes wrong with me is because of my horoscope.
When I took an ice bucket challenge for the first time?
A breakup insurance policy needs to be invented.
Explain baseball or football to a foreigner in an exciting way.
Who came first: The egg or the chicken?
How did I meet your mother?
A monkey snatched my bag.
Boys should not wear skinny jeans.

Easy Entertaining Speech Topics

The worst pickup lines.
17 easy steps to take a nap after 16 hours of sleep.
How to lie efficiently?
Adults are a weird species.
How to tell someone to get lost without saying the word ‘get lost’?
You need to be young and stupid to get old and wise.
How to control your facial expressions?
Life should come with background music and pleasant air.
I don’t need to make notes; I’ll remember everything.
Whenever I need expert advice, I talk to myself.

Good Entertaining Speech Topics

How to become friends with a 3-year-old baby?
A silent woman is more dangerous than an angry tiger.
How to win an argument when you know that you are wrong?
It’s funny how 8 glasses of water a day seems impossible, but 8 glasses of wine can be done in one meal.
I regret all those naps that I didn’t take as a child.
A man’s “I’ll be there in 5 minutes” is the same as a woman’s “I’ll be ready in 5 minutes”.
How to control your laugh at a serious moment?
I will start studying tomorrow.
If you don’t like me, raise your standards.
How to keep your parent off of Facebook?

Motivational and Interesting Entertaining Speech Topics

I’m not weird; I’m just the limited edition.
My life seems to me like a test I didn’t study for.
People make mistakes, just to be sure.
Always keep smiling; it drives people crazy.
We should have a day every week in which we can be as useless as a “P” in psychology.
If you don’t like me, no problem, everyone doesn’t have good taste.
Before you decide to marry someone, you should see how they react to traffic congestion.
Cinderella is proof that a pair of shoes can change your life.
A woman is rolling her eyes behind every successful man.
How to love Mondays?

Informative Entertaining Speech Topics

The best things in life are not free.
We cannot live without the English language.
The new American dream is to balance work and social life.
Girls are beautiful, even without makeup.
Why we should not completely rely on autocorrect?
How to be the center of attention?
The correct way to lie?
The right way to make your spouse do the dishes?
How to make the best pancakes?
How to fall out of love in 508 steps?

Impromptu Entertaining Speech Topics

Why I’m still single?
My weekend plans mean that I want to stay at home, watch Netflix, and chill.
How to make a horrible Valentine's Day card?
Why do women treat their faces like a coloring book?
The biggest fashion fail of the year.
How to behave like a princess?
How to win an argument?
How to play with someone’s feelings?
I can’t believe I got the job.
When to give up?

Entertaining Persuasive Speech Topics

Most people are all bark, but no bite.
Autocorrect can ruin your life.
Money does not talk, but it loves to say bye-bye all the time.
The good news is nothing lasts forever; the bad news is nothing lasts forever.
Worst Instagram mistakes that everyone should avoid?
How to pretend that you have understood everything?
How to pretend to be interested?
How to be patient when you just can’t?
The world has real superheroes.
Most of the famous people out there are crazy.

Demonstrative Entertaining Speech Topics

How to deliver a speech most funnily?
How to tell a lie and not get caught by your mother?
How to steal your professor’s glasses?
How to embarrass your childhood friend in 36 ways?
How to make fun of your brother’s snickers?
How to get dumped by your girlfriend?
How to ruin your first date?
How to find the love of your life on a blind date?
How to blame your dog for ruining your prom night?
How to eat nachos with vanilla ice cream?

Unique Entertaining Speech Topics

The Art of Stand-Up Comedy: Making People Laugh Through Laughter Therapy.
The Unbelievable History of Magic and Illusion: Secrets Revealed.
From Myth to Reality: The Science Behind Superheroes.
The World of Competitive Eating: Chomping Records and Chasing Glory.
The Language of Memes: A New Form of Global Communication.
Inside the World of Extreme Sports: Thrills, Risks, and Triumphs.
The Mystery of Unsolved Mysteries: The Art of Investigation.
The Evolution of Video Games: From Pong to Virtual Reality.
The Power of Laughter: How Comedy Can Heal and Bring People Together.
The Peculiar Habits of Famous Inventors: Where Genius Meets Eccentricity.

Tips for Writing a Hilarious Entertaining Speech

Hopefully, you will have chosen the topic for your speech by now. Let’s compose an entertaining speech structure. The following tips will help you organize and write your speech easily.

Start the speech by introducing yourself.
Conduct research and collect some fun facts and details about the topic.
Craft an outline to organize your content logically.
Hit the audience with a humorous and attention-grabbing statement.
Give some reasons for the audience to listen to or agree with what is being said.
Include some funny and humorous things to make your speech interesting and entertaining.
You can use funny quotes and dialogue to make your speech effective.
Once you are done with the writing process, practice delivering it.
Practice as much as you can, and try to include some funny gestures.

Entertaining speeches are really fun to deliver, but the speech writing process might stress you out.

You can effortlessly relieve the stress by seeking professional assistance for the speech writing process.

Our speech writing service specializes in delivering top quality speeches. Our expert writers are ready to furnish you with exceptional speeches at highly competitive rates.

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Dr. Barbara is a highly experienced writer and author who holds a Ph.D. degree in public health from an Ivy League school. She has worked in the medical field for many years, conducting extensive research on various health topics. Her writing has been featured in several top-tier publications.

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18.1: Understanding Entertaining Speeches

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Learning Objectives

Understand the purpose of entertaining speeches.
Explain the four ingredients of a good entertaining speech.

Chris Hill – Chris Hoy – Acceptance Speech – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Be Prepared

Be Adaptive to the Occasion

You are the maid of honor giving a toast at the wedding of your younger sister.
You are receiving a Most Valuable Player award in your favorite sport.
You are a sales representative speaking to a group of clients after a mistake has been discovered.
You are a cancer survivor speaking at a high school student assembly.

How might you adapt your message and speaking style to successfully entertain these various audiences?

Be Adaptive to Your Audience

Be Mindful of the Time

Key Takeaways

Entertaining speeches are speeches designed to captivate an audience’s attention and regale or amuse them while delivering a clear message. Speakers engage in entertaining speeches generally at special occasions (e.g., weddings, funerals) or are asked to deliver a keynote address.
Entertaining speeches should include four key considerations: preparation, adaptation to the occasion, adaptation to the audience, and mindfulness of the time. As with all speeches, speakers need to prepare the speech. Second, speakers need to think about the specific occasion. Third, speakers need to adapt their speeches to the specific audience. Lastly, speakers need to think about how long they should speak.
Type in the word “roast” into YouTube and watch a few minutes of a roast. Did the speaker clearly exhibit the four clear ingredients of an entertaining speech?
Watch several toasts and acceptance speeches on YouTube. Can you identify specific ways in which each speaker adapts the speech to the occasion and the audience?

Entertaining Speech Topics-With Sample Speech

Introduction.

In the world of public speaking, many speech topics can be selected. You may have to address an audience for one reason or another and need to come up with a topic. There is no substitute for preparation in this area so, take time before you speak at your next function and make sure you know what you want to talk about.

A topic is chosen from the many available, and this article will go over some of them. However, should you choose to skip this guide due to reasons such as a busy schedule or otherwise, our premium writers are ready to step in and ensure that your speech assignment is written to the highest standards. All you need to do is place an order with us!

What Makes A Speech Fun?

Entertaining speeches usually have three things in common: they’re short, concise, and funny. The shorter the presentation time allotted, the more straightforward it has to be. A five-minute speech is not likely to have any filler content and will focus on a single topic or idea.

Finding funny topics for speeches can also take some time, but there are many resources available nowadays that make this task easier than before.

There’s no actual formula for what makes a speech fun to listen to, but there are some guidelines that can help.

-Stay on topic: The more specific and focused your message is, the better. If you’re showing pictures of children in Africa or talking about how hard it is living with a disability, then be sure not to stray from these topics.

-Stay simple: Sometimes, things are better left unsaid. Get to the point and say what you need to say succinctly without any filler content (see above).

-Be brief: If your speech is more than about five minutes, then it has too much filler content. Keep it short, concise, and funny!

50+ Entertaining Speech Topics and Ideas

Below is a list of great speech topics and ideas for those looking to give an entertaining speech.

Entertaining Speech topics for middle school students

Are you smarter than a fifth-grader?
What’s your favorite thing about school?
Do you have a good memory?
What’s your favorite subject in school?
Can anyone be a scientist?
What’s your favorite song?
Would you rather be a superhero or a rockstar?
Do you believe in ghosts?
How much sleep do you need to function properly?
What’s your favorite TV show?
Do you have a pet?
Do you believe in the tooth fairy or Santa Clause?

Entertaining Speech Topics for High School Students

Take a look at some of these entertaining speech topics for high school students. (In case it is not really a speech but a debate topic you’re looking for, these topics will help!)

These speeches are short and easy to prepare, making them perfect last-minute additions to your speech repertoire.

What is your worst fear?
What would you do if the world came to an end tomorrow?
What is your favorite animal?
Describe a perfect day of your life
How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?
Who would you like to meet in Heaven, living or dead – and why?
Fill in this blank: “I will never _____.”
What is your favorite food?
Who would you want to be a meal for, living or dead – and why?
Describe the most embarrassing moment of your life.
How many times does it take to get gum out of hair?
Would you rather live in the world’s worst haunted house or the world’s best museum?
What is your favorite song from the 80s?
Describe what you want to be when you grow up.
Name three things that have been on your mind recently.
Who would win in a fight, Batman or Superman?

Since you’re in high school, you may be interested in controversial topics to spice up your speech!

Entertaining Speech Topics for college students

Pizza, Frozen Food, or Healthy Eating?
Cats vs. Dogs
Emojis and What They Mean (for a writing class)
Famous People’s Social Media Accounts That You Should Follow
How to Get Your Point Across Without Saying “Um” Every Other Word in a Speech
What it feels like when you lose your phone and your contacts are gone
The history of the world
If you could be any animal in the world, what would it be?
How I got my pet’s name- Bobo
Escape room ideas for college students What’s your plan B?
A creative way to ask someone out on a date.

In college, you may also be interested in easy research topics

Persuasive, entertaining speech topic ideas

The dangers of texting and driving
How to say “no” without saying “no.”
Are you afraid of the dark?
Do you sleep with a teddy bear or action figure under your bed?
What’s the worst thing that could happen tonight?
Must-have gadgets for every college student
Why you should stop texting and start talking
Should technology be allowed in school?
Is it okay for kids to play with toys made 30 years ago?
If you could make one rule for a school, what would it be?

We also have a list of funny debate topics , if that would help!

General entertaining speech topics

What’s in your backpack?
Locker room etiquette.
Do you believe that “not all heroes wear capes”? (Suitable for superheroes)
Would You Rather Be a Clown or an Animal Trainer?
Do we really need sleep? And if so, how much is enough?
How do we know there was no life before this one?
How do we know what normal or abnormal behavior is in a child?
The power of silence.
What’s the meaning behind your name, and why was it given to you?
Why should I care about my health?! (Excellent for groups who are not interested in their wellness).
Who’s your favorite superhero?
What is the one thing that makes you really happy in life?
What’s your guilty pleasure song or artist?
How would you like to be remembered after death (this could be a funny speech)? The only time I feel alive is when I’m on stage singing. What about you?!
What are your expectations for yourself right now at this moment in your life?
Is old age a curse or blessing?
What are your “pet peeves”?
How has the weather been in your area lately?
Favorite emoji: What does it represent to you, and why did you choose it?
Do we need more or less government intervention concerning social media and other tech companies? (Suitable for discussion groups).
If I could say anything to the world, what would it be?
What are your thoughts concerning ‘going green’?
Does happiness come from within or without? (Suitable for larger groups).
How do I get my life back on track after a setback?
What are the top three things you can’t live without?
How has environmentalism affected your life and/or recent decisions you’ve made (excellent for groups interested in their wellness)?
What’s one thing that would make today better than yesterday? How about next week, month or year?
Do we need to replace our entire workforce with robots and machines?
What are your thoughts about “self-care” or taking care of oneself?
Is there anything you always wanted to say to someone but never did? (Good for larger groups).
Do we need any more rules in society? What’s the one thing that would make it better for everyone?
What are the best things in life?
How do you think your children will remember you after death?
Is there anything from childhood that still makes you smile today?
Do we need to make more or less food for our world’s population? What would be an ideal number of people on earth, and how can we achieve this goal?
What are your thoughts on the meaning of life?
Do we need more or less reality TV shows and magazines in society?
If I could have dinner with one person from history, who would it be? Do you think they’d even show up if invited to a modern-day meal? (Good for discussion groups).
How do you feel about the word “goodbye”?
Do we need to stop using plastic?
What are your thoughts on world hunger?
Is it possible to have a good day every day, and why or why not? What do you think is essential for having a good, happy life? (Excellent speech).
How does social media affect how you feel?
What are your “life regrets”?
Who’s the most famous person in history, and how did they make their mark on society (good for larger groups).
Do we need to stop taking everything so seriously? What makes it all worth living?
First snowflake of winter: what does this mean? Is it a good omen for the rest of winter?
What are your thoughts on “happiness”?
Do you think we should be taking more time to enjoy life or work more, and why do you feel this way?
Do you think people are happier today than they were fifty years ago? Why or why not?
What is the most embarrassing childhood memory you will never forget?
The one wrong person you have ever crossed.
The funniest online dating story you have ever read.
Three best creative marriage proposals
Funny facts about cats
Amusing reactions to crazy things.
Worst life hacks ever watched on YouTube.
Extreme golf courses you’ve ever heard of.
All the missing socks in our house that we can’t find anywhere.
What is the worst song lyric in history?
Top three worst dating sites.
The worst part of being a middle-aged mom figure
Bad hair day solutions (Suitable for groups).
Favorite memes: what do they represent to you, and why did you choose them? What is your favorite emoji? Do we need more or fewer internet memes?
What are your thoughts on “solving the world’s problems”? What about anyone particular problem that you think would make a huge difference if it were solved?

You may also check our list of speech topics for special occasions as well!

12 Tips on how to choose the best entertainment speech topics:

Choosing a speech topic is never easy. Some issues are so hot. Others have already been spoken for; others can be selected, but the speaker may have a tough time with it. But you won’t regret taking on any topic that genuinely interests you when all is said and done!

The following tips will help you choose the best entertaining speech topics.

Tip One: You’re not going to please everyone with your topic choice, so you need to know who will be in attendance and what they want out of a speaker at this event or meeting. What is their goal? Is it just about entertainment for them? Do they also want information on how to solve the world’s problems?
Tip Two: What are you passionate about? You should know what your strengths and interests are. This does not mean that if you’re interested in something, you have an excellent topic for the event, but at least this way, when deciding on a topic, you will be more confident knowing that this may be your strongest point in the speech.
Tip Three: Make sure you are well-informed about this topic. Do plenty of research and make sure it’s not a subject that has recently been done to death.
Tip Four: If possible, speak from personal experience as much as you can about this issue. If there isn’t enough personal experience, then make sure you weave in as much detail of the topic from the first-person point of view.
Tip Five: Stay away from divisive subjects or take too long to get into. Such issues lose audience concentration and become boring very quickly.
Tip Six: Choose topics with a sense of humor, when possible, as this will keep the audience engaged.
Tip Seven: Avoid sensitive topics if you don’t have enough information to talk about them. This may seem obvious, but some people are so passionate they want to speak on any subject that comes their way!
Tip Eight: Consider doing a quick search for humorous or lighthearted videos online to get some more ideas on what you can talk about.
Tip Nine: Don’t be afraid of topics that might not have a lighthearted tone; there is always humor in life, and it’s important to share these moments with your audience.
Tip Ten: Choose something different than the speaker who spoke before you! You don’t want to have the same topic twice in a row.
Tip Eleven: If you’re struggling with coming up with ideas, try doing some brainstorming sessions with friends or family; they might be able to give you great suggestions, and you never know where your next idea will come from.
Tip Twelve: If all else fails, go back to the old standbys: what’s your favorite movie, superhero, or other pop culture icon?

How to choose an entertaining speech topic Cont…

Sometimes, everyone needs a break from the same old topics. If you’re looking for new material to talk about during your next speech or presentation, there are plenty of sources out there for inspiration.

Here are some ideas on how to write an entertaining speech topic in such a way that will leave people wanting more.

You have seen it before – that speaker who seems to drone on and on about how they have the answer to world peace. The problem with these speeches is not the content but in execution; if you’re giving a speech, make sure it’s entertaining!

How do I write an entertaining speech?

The following guide will help you write a captivating speech:

First, you need to choose a topic that applies to the audience. You don’t want to select an address about how you lost your pet hamster if this person has just accepted their award for raising awareness on global warming!

Research your topic – make sure you are well-informed about this issue and that it has not been done to death.

Draft the outline of your speech. What are you going to do? Capture your important points in bullet points. Craft your introduction, add humor where applicable , and make sure you have a solid conclusion .

It is now time to flesh out your speech. Write the speech as you would to your audience and add in all the details. Add lighthearted moments where appropriate, make sure there is humor throughout the speech – but don’t be afraid of topics with a more serious tone.

Edit and proofread -Now that you have written your speech, read through it aloud for flow and content. Make any necessary changes. Check for grammars errors, spelling mistakes, and typos.

Sample Speech

Title-my favorite superhero.

I want to talk about my favorite superhero. Who is your favorite hero? Mine would have to be Spider-Man! He’s just so cool in his red and blue outfit with the tight webbing that he shoots out of his wrists, which I think are called “web slingers”? All those villains can’t catch him!

I’m just a kid, and I can’t really think of anything that he’s not good at. He has the perfect mix of powers to help out in any situation, whether as a superhero or even when fighting local crime using web slingers, such as when he ties up bad guys or swing down from buildings. Who doesn’t want those super cool web slingers?

Spider-Man is also really lovely and doesn’t seem to have a mean bone in his body. He has all of these villains, but he always finds time for important people like Mary Jane. I don’t know how he does it because I’m just trying so hard not to be like my teacher’s pet.

I love that Spider-Man is always looking out for the little people. He doesn’t care about how powerful that villain is. He just wants to make sure they don’t hurt anyone else-which I think makes him an even more fantastic superhero than Superman or Captain America.

Lastly, in case you prefer that our writers handle your speech, click the green button below and leave it to our top writers.

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example of introduction in entertainment speech

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How to dazzle any audience with an entertaining introduction

At some point in our career, most of us will be asked to introduce a speaker, often at a major event where our clients, customers, prospects and other influential people will be.

9.3 Putting It Together: Steps to Complete Your Introduction

Link to Topic

Reasons to Listen

Appearing Credible

Thesis Statement

Basic Functions of a Thesis Statement

Express Your Specific Purpose

Provide a Way to Organize Your Main Points

Make Your Research More Effective

Enhance Your Delivery

How to Write a Thesis Statement

Choose Your Topic

Narrow Your Topic

Put Your Topic into a Sentence

Add Your Argument, Viewpoint, or Opinion

Use the Thesis Checklist

Preview of Speech

Key Takeaways

Share This Book

PRDV008: Preparing and Delivering Presentations

Why We Entertain

Common Forms of Entertainment Topics

Sample: Adam Fink's Entertainment Speech

Introduction Speech Examples That Increase Speaker Credibility

What Is A Speech Of Introduction?

How Do I Start A Speech To Introduce Someone?

What Is A Welcome Speech, And Can It Be Used to Introduce Someone?

How Do You Introduce Yourself In Speech Examples?

What Are Introduction Speech Examples For?

A public speaker or a guest

An employee

A product or a concept

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Semi-formal

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43 18.1 Understanding Entertaining Speeches

Be Prepared

Be Adaptive to the Occasion

Be Adaptive to Your Audience

Be Mindful of the Time

Key Takeaways

Share This Book

18.1 Understanding Entertaining Speeches

Be Prepared

Be Adaptive to the Occasion

Be Adaptive to Your Audience

Be Mindful of the Time

Key Takeaways

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