Communication Assessment & Learning Lab
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Creating a Captivating Introduction  

1. Capture the audience’s attention
2. Be creative
3. Incorporate a story that relates to the topic (see the following links):
   1. The Encyclopedia Mythica: http://www.pantheon.org/mythica/
   2. The Mudcat Café Digital Tradition Folk Song Database: http://www.mudcat.org
   3. Story Search: http://www.bnl.com/shorts.html  
4. Use a quote (see the following links):
   1. The Quotations Home Page: http://www.quoteland.com/index.html
   2. Online Dictionary of Quotations: http://www.quotationreference.com 
5. Ask the audience a question (e.g., Know a question that the audience will answer yes to and raise your hand to show the audience how they should respond.)
6. Use humor (see the following links):
   1. AHA! Jokes: http://www.ahajokes.com
   2. The Jokes Home Site:  http://www.the-jokes.com
   3. The Daily Muse:  http://www.cais.net/aschnedr/musel.htm 
7. Give your audience statistics related to your topic (see the following links):
   1. FEDSTATS: http://www.fedstats.gov
   2. White House Federal Statistics Briefing Room: http://www.whitehouse.gov/fsbr/ssbr.html
8. Use emotion in your speech; use tactics to which the audience can relate
9.  Startle the audience by shouting, clapping your hands or creating interest in an unusual manner
10.  Show a picture or poster, play music or a run a part of a video as an attention-getting device