Icebreakers for Speechcrafters

The Icebreaker is your first speech. It is usually given in the second Speechcraft session.

Here are some suggestions to help you prepare and deliver it.

Practise your basic speaking skills

Use a good stance – be balanced and relaxed with your arms and hands by your sides.

Make direct eye contact with the audience

Pause before you start and after you finish. Silence is powerful

Tell a story.

Base your speech on some incident from your life which reveals an important truth about you.

Use the standard 3 part structure

Start with a brief statement which summarises the main point you are going to make. Make it a strong, clear statment. For example “If there is one thing I love, it’s parties…”

Tell the story

End by restating the main point you made at the beginning. For example, “So you can see, parties are the greatest thing for me.”

Things to avoid

Don’t waste time explaining that this is your Icebreaker, why you decided to talk about this topic etc. Just start!

Don’t start with an apology – “I’m not very good at this”, “I haven’t had time to prepare this.”

How to end

When you have made that final statement

Pause
Look around at the audience and wait for the applause.
Nod, to acknowledge it (DO NOT say Thank you – they are thanking you)
Turn to the Toastmaster and shake hands
Go back to your seat.