Chapter I Beginning the Speech Text

I. Opening Remarks开场：

Sample Opening Remarks

1) Thank you very much, Prof. Fawcett, for your very kind introduction. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and gentleman, Good morning! I consider it a great honor to be asked to speak about …on this session of our symposium.

2) Ladies and gentleman. It’s an honor to have the opportunity to address such a distinguished audience.

3) Good morning. Let me start by saying just a few words about my own background.

4) Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for your kind introduction. President, Distinguished colleagues, Ladies and gentleman, Good morning! Is my voice loud enough?

5) Good morning, everyone. I appreciate the opportunity to be with you today. I am here to talk to you about…

6) Good morning, everyone. I am very happy to have this chance to give my presentation. Before I start my speech, let me ask you a question. By a show of hands, how many of you own a car?

Expressing thanks to the Chairperson 向主持人致谢

Mr. Chairman, thank you for your introduction.

First, I would like to thank Mr. Chairman for his gracious introduction.

Thank you very much, Prof. Fawcett, for your very kind introduction.

I would like to thank Dr. Huang （主持人或推荐你来发言的上司）for permitting me the privilege to speak to this audience.

Forms of Address and Greetings对听众的称呼

Distinguished colleagues, Ladies and gentleman, Good morning!

Members of the conference!

Expressing Pleasure and Honor 向听众致意

I am very happy/glad/pleased to be here in Hong Kong.

I am honored/privileged to be here (with you this afternoon).

I am proud to be here on this special occasion.

It’s a very great pleasure for me to be able to attend this conference.

I consider it a great honor to be asked to speak about …on this session of our symposium/ at this conference..

It is a great pleasure to be given the honor of first speaker on this important topic.

Others 细节，如确认话筒音量

Can you hear me all right?

Is my voice too loud?

Reference to the Audience 与听众呼应

I can see many of you are from …department.

I know many of you are familiar with this topic.

You all look as though you’ve heard this before.

I understand that you’ve all traveled a long way./ After hours of conference, you must feel a little tired. Now I’d like you to see an interesting topic…

II. Introducing the Subject and the outline of the Presentation引入话题

Background Information

 I would like to start by briefly reviewing the history of open heart surgery.

 Let us start with the theoretical basis of this new technique.

 To begin with, we have to consider the principle.

 I think it would be best to start out by looking at a few slides.

 I should like to preface my remarks with a description of the basic idea.

 May I begin with a general outline of this project?

 The first thing I would like to talk about is the definition of the terms I shall use in my lecture.

 The first point I'd like to make is the historical background of the invention.

 First, I shall explain to you why this new program is correct and feasible.

Topic

 I would like to concentrate on theproblem Of antibiotic abuse in hospitals.

I shall devote my talk to the surgical treatment of coronary disease.

I want to confine my talk to the latest developments in civil engineering.

Today, I am going to give a talk on the application of computers in medicine.

My topic today will deal with the observation of supernova.

In today's talk, I' 11 restrict myself to the etiology of 15-epa~i;s.

In my presentation this morning, I' 11 limit myself to three major points only.

I take the liberty of restricting my discussion mainly to highway bridge construction.

Now, I would like to address myself to the most important aspect of this problem.

Among the many languages, I shall mention only BASIC.

What I am going to present today is the methodology and the data analysis.

I'm not going to say much about that except to discuss the literature on that topic.

Outlining

My talk today consists of two parts. One is... and the other is...

I've divided my presentation into four parts.

I shall first talk about ... and then touch on... and finally discuss ...

The subject can be looked at under the following headings: ... (Pointing to the PowerPoint display)

I would like to divide my talk into two parts. The first part deals with…, the second part concerns ...

My presentation will be given in four parts. The first part deals with ... The second part relates to... The third part concerns ... And the last part discusses…

Purpose/Objective

The purpose of this presentation is to...

This talk is designed to…

Comprehensive Samples

Sample 1

Thank you, Mr. Chairperson, Mr. Director-General, distinguished members of the ILO's Governing Body and friends. I welcome this opportunity to be here today, with an Organization which in many ways belongs to all of us workers. I can think of, in fact, no other international body that one can claim as one's own so unambiguously.

I have also had a longstanding formal association with the ILO. Many of my early pieces on women and technological change and on land rights were published by the ILO, as well as was the work of many other scholars. It is therefore a pleasure for me to be here on this important Symposium.

The canvas of the Symposium is very large. I will focus on two aspects of gender  inequality that centrally effect millions of women as workers but perhaps have failed to receive the attention they deserve. First, the gender gap in command over property and Productive assets and, second, gender biased social perceptions and social norms.

Sample 2

I learned last May that you have to be careful in speaking to a group of professional communicators. After I conducted a writer' s workshop at the Toronto Conference of the International Association of Business Communicators, Janine Lichaczwrote asked me to speak here tonight and used the communication techniques I had recommended. She even included a footnote citing my lecture. I am susceptible to good communication and to flattery so I am pleased to be with you to discuss your topic for the evening, the use of language in the art of speech writing.

I suppose we must begin by shaking our heads, woefully, over the sad state of language today, whether in formal speeches, casual conversation, or in writing. Most of us in this room no doubt agree with the generally negative tone of Time Magazine's year-end assessment which claims “our language has been besieged by vulgarities”. But to preserve our sanity as professionals in communication of us would probably join Time in optimistically expecting English somehow to   survive and even to prosper.

Expressions on Other Occasions

Correcting the Title of the Presentation

First of all, I would like to mention that the title of my presentation should be ...

Please allow me to correct a mistake in the title of my speech which appeared in the program. Instead of... it should read...

Reading. Another Person's Paper

Sometimes you are selected to read another person's paper, as he or she is absent.

I shall read a paper by Dr. Li from Guangzhou, china, who regrets that he could not be here. The title of his paper is...

I'm going to read the paper by Dr. Wang. It's a great pity that, because of a health problem, he could not be here.

I was asked by the author to read his paper. He apologizes for not being able to come here.

The next speaker, Prof. Zhang, regrets that she could not be here and has submitted her paper to me. I am not sure if I can present it as well as she expected.

I am not sure whether I' 11 be able to be very confident in answering specific questions. However, I am somewhat familiar with his work, so I' 11 try my best.

Checking the Microphone

First I want to check if all of you can hear me clearly.

Am I speaking clearly and loudly enough for those in the rear of the room?

I wonder if those in the rear of the room can hear me.

If those in the rear of the room can hear me, would someone please raise his hand?

Can you hear me clearly?

Can you hear me if I am away from the microphone?

Is the microphone working?

* Summary-How to Prepare a Good Introduction

Realize file great importance of the introduction of file presentation mad then do your best in delivering it.

Don' t make file introduction either too wordy, or too brief. Usually, it covers 10 to 15 percent of your entire speech.

Select tile ways to capture the audience attention.

Indicate tile topic.

Outline your Speech.

Announce your purpose.

Prepare several versions of tile introduction, compare them, and then select the best version. Finally, learn it by heart so as to be able to deliver it easily mid fluently.

Don't start your speech with apologies.

Pay attention to your body language.