The most difficult parts of a speech, or paper, for me are the introductions and the conclusions. It takes me forever to start regurgitating my ideas onto paper and then later its another challenge to stop my mental processes and conclude with a complete, organized thought.
The parts that are necessary for an introduction include an attention getter, a purpose and thesis and a preview of the main points. The attention getter is what is used to attract attention, obviously. It mustn't be long and should pertain directly to the topic. There are many types of attention getters such as questions, facts and statistics, a small story, etc. The purpose and thesis are pretty much the key to the introduction and are normally lengthy enough if they are just a few sentences in length. The thesis is what you are trying to prove or state in your entire speech. Everything one says should link back to the thesis and purpose. The preview of the main points are the main points of what is going to be stated in the body of the speech and a presentation of the subpoints.
A conclusion is the review of the main points and a reinforcing of the purpose of the speech. It can also be said that the conclusion should bring closure to the audience (sounds morbid). In the conclusion it is necessary to review the main points (lots of that in speeches) because after all, you do want the audience to remember what you said, especially if it was an important subject. The purpose and thesis should be restated because that was the goal, to prove or inform that one line. Conclusions are the last chance to connect with the audience so it is ideal to finish soundly, make a good impression and bring closure to everything stated. If all this is done correctly, chances are that the speech will be effective and memorable.
I also am one of those people who have a hard time coming up with an introduction and conclusion, it probably would be easier for me to write out the entire essay or speech without intro and conclusion but what would be the point for that. I mean the creative process takes so much time and when you think you have a brilliant idea of how the essay or speech should start, when you read it out loud, it becomes an embarrassment or something totally wrong. This outline that show how to set up intro and conclusion is very helpful because it gives you at least some idea of what in the world you are supposed to be doing.
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