Warm up the Audience

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  Think of the first words of your speech as if they are the headline of a news article.New paper headlines image by janaka Dharmasena from Fotolia.com
  
  Lead your audience to pay full attention by beginning your speech introduction with an appropriate analogy, meaningful metaphor, amusing anecdote or surprising statistic. Give them a reason to want to listen to what you have to say. Make your speech's first few words or sentences are as important to your listeners as your thesis is to you.
  
  
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  Just as a sponge absorbs water, you want your listeners to absorb the knowledge you will share with them.sponge blue image by robert mobley from Fotolia.com
  
  Explain the purpose, or thesis, of your speech clearly and concisely. Be sure your audience knows where you are leading them. This explanation tells the audience just what it is you are going to cover and why the facts you are about to convey are important to absorb. It will also raise the audience's comfort level to know, in advance, the basic "gist" of your thesis and speech.
  
  
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  Think of the pool of information you want to communicate, as a pool of water. Inviting vocabulary and tone of voice will help your listeners dive into your speech comfortably.natation image by goleador from Fotolia.com
  
  Adapt your vocabulary and tone of voice to appropriately address your intended audience. You want to speak to your audience members on their level. This is another way to directly connect with your listeners and insure that they will comprehend and immerse themselves in the information that you want to convey.
  
  

Engage the Audience

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  Establish faith and trust between yourself and your audience with your speech introduction to insure that your speech will thrive.Faith, Thrive, Trust, with Flowers image by Towards Ithaca from Fotolia.com
  
  Engage your listeners even more fully, by giving them your credentials. Give them reasons to trust you. Let them know who you are and why you are qualified to enlighten them on your chosen thesis. Establish yourself as an expert in their eyes and allow your words to slip into their ears and register in their hearts and minds.
  
  
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  Previewing the major points of your thesis is a bit like giving a traveling companion a map so that they may follow you more comfortably on a joint journey.Map image by Stephen VanHorn from Fotolia.com
  
  Preview all of the main points of your speech that will support your overall thesis statement, during this part of the introduction. Give the audience a brief synopsis, so that they feel like you are traveling familiar territory together when you enter into the main body of your speech. Remember that repetition aides the memory. If you cover the main ideas of your speech in your introduction, then when you begin to elaborate on these same points in the body of your speech, your audience will have an easier time remembering important facts that you want to impart upon them which will reinforce the validity of your thesis.
  
  
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  Your transition should be a bridge that leads your listeners from the introduction to the body of your speech.foot-bridge image by Andrzej Dziedzic from Fotolia.com
  
  Transition your audience smoothly into the body of the speech. Let them know that the introduction is concluding and get them ready to follow you into the body of your speech. Try to make this a smooth process. Be sure to establish a logical connection between your introduction and the body of your speech.