Learn Public Speaking: What Hook is and What are Its Common Types (Part 1)

Hello everyone. I'm, like, really nervous, so please listen to me. OK, um, I spent a long time preparing for this topic and I hope I remember everything but, like, please excuse me if I forget or something, OK?

Do you like fishing? Who has ever gone fishing? I have. Today my speech is about fishing. Greetings! Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is this. You need to get the attention of this audience and make them listen to your speech. They're restless and don't have a long attention span. They've heard too many bad speeches already. 20 seconds is all you have. Your weapons are your mind and your voice. We're counting on you, Agent LL.

As you might have guessed, this article will focus on hooks – what they are, why they are important, and what different types of hooks you can use to introduce the topic of your speech in an engaging and entertaining way.

So then, what is a hook? Are we going fishing? Not exactly. But when you're giving a speech, you do have to “fish” for the attention of your audience. You have to hook them! You have to engage your audience. That means you must give the audience some reason to want to listen to what you're about to say. This might be difficult. Your audience might be tired and restless, or distracted by other thoughts, like, "Hmm, when will we get a break?" or, "What time is lunch?" Just think about how you felt last time you were an audience member, when someone stood up to speak, and within the first few sentences you've already become bored and couldn’t wait until their speech was over. However, really great speakers are able to capture their audience's attention within just a few sentences and keep them engaged for the entire speech. They give a fun, interesting, or shocking hint to the audience about what is to come and make the audience look forward to the rest of their speech. This is the hook.

Then, what makes a good hook? The most important thing for a hook is to surprise the audience or make them curious. It doesn't matter how you do that, but if you can surprise them or make them curious with a story, statement, question, statistic, sound, or dance, then you’ll win their attention – at least for a short while.

Your hook should relate to your topic. For example, it wouldn't be useful to start with some shocking statistics about air quality when your main topic is about Harry Potter. Yes, it might get their attention, but unless the hook clearly relates to the topic, it would only confuse the audience. For a short speech, your hook should only be two to three sentences long. This is why creating a good hook can be challenging – you have to captivate your audience in a way that relates to your topic, in a short amount of time.

Let's take a look at some of the different types of hooks you can use. There are many different possibilities for hooks, so feel free to get creative and wacky! For now, we'll just look at some of the more common types.

First, is the personal anecdote. This is a short story about something that you, or someone you know, has experienced. By making it personal, it allows the audience to feel a little bit closer to you as the speaker because you're sharing something about yourself. For example, if you were to give a speech on the topic of video game addiction, you might start off with a hook like this: "The blue flickers lit up the stacks of ramen cups and Coke cans all around me as I stared lifelessly into the rectangular void. My headphones drowned out the calls of my family. I really didn't realize how bad it had become until the nineteenth hour." Short, descriptive, and surprising!

The second is the shocking statement. The idea here is to shock or provoke your audience. You never want to offend them or be inappropriate, but if you’re able to challenge their views, then this can be a powerful way of gaining their attention. For example, "I have been going to school for 6 years, and I have yet to learn one thing I consider valuable!" In an audience of fellow students, parents, and teachers, this would certainly grab their attention! While many people would initially disagree, you could then go on to explain your main topic like "Why children need a say in the curriculum," or "A child's perspective on how to improve learning."

After learning about the personal anecdote and the shocking statement, you might have already found your favorite hook. Since most speakers usually have one or two “go-to” hooks, in part two of this article, you’ll be introduced to two more cool hooks, so you have more options to choose from. Let’s go!

Learn more about the LL Method to Public Speaking & Debate.