How to start a speech | Simon Lancaster | TEDxUniversityofHertfordshire

Every day, millions of boring speeches are given around the world. Most go wrong in the first few seconds. In this amusing and often anarchic speech, top speechwriter Simon Lancaster sets out three ways that you can start your speech so it wins your audience over from the get-go. It’s jam-packed with useful jokes, stories and questions that you can adapt and use in your own talks to become instantly more engaging, inspiring and entertaining. Simon Lancaster is one of the world’s top speechwriters. He started working as a speechwriter in the late 1990s to members of Tony Blair’s Cabinet and now writes speeches for the CEOs of some of the biggest companies in the world including Unilever, Intercontinental Hotels and HSBC. He is an Executive Fellow of Henley Business School and lectures at Cambridge University. He has written two best-selling books on communication: Speechwriting: The Expert Guide and Winning Minds: Secrets from the Language of Leadership. His third book, You Are Not Human: How Words Kill is coming out in September 2018. He runs his award winning workshops on the Language of Leadership around the world - for further information, see www.bespokeleadershipdevelopment.com. Simon Lancaster is a leading speechwriter, having written hundreds of speeches for many of Britain's top politicians and business leaders. Now running Bespoke, Britain's leading specialist speechwriting agency, and acting as a guest lecturer on Lancaster University's MA in Rhetoric, Simon comes to TEDx University of Hertfordshire to summarise his current work in his talk - ‘How to start a speech’. Condensing the fundamentals of starting a speech, Simon will introduce the key checkpoints required to prepare and commence a speech. From perceiving the audience and researching the receiver to delivering the appropriate opening, Simon’s Talk will be relevant for anyone from a humanities background or who has wanted to write a speech as a professional would. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx