What’s The Best Way To Start A School Assembly?

What’s the best way to start a school assembly?

It’s best to start well, obviously…but here are some tips for making sure your assembly gets off to a great start.

Schedule Your School Assembly In The Right Room

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One of the first things you should do to ensure your school assembly starts right is to book the right room. You should pick a location that is appropriate for the number of students that you’ll be speaking to.

Only addressing a couple of classes of first graders? Just a single one? You probably don’t need a 400-seat auditorium if you’re only going to be speaking to 30 or so students. If you’re addressing the entire freshman class at a high school with a student body over 1,000, then you NEED that big auditorium.

If people feel like there’s a lot of space in the room, they likely aren’t going to be able to really connect with your message.

Think of it this way: have you ever seen a movie in a theater that’s completely or almost totally empty? It’s a much different experience than seeing it in a packed house. The jokes seem funnier, the action seems more extreme and so on when you don’t feel like there’s too much space around you.

Pick the right room for a start, as that will help a lot in making sure your assembly program comes across well.

It’s Okay To Start Your Assembly Off With Promo Music…And It’s Okay To Be A Little Loud

Another good tactic is to have some promo music playing or at least some sort of music going right before your assembly starts. It’s also okay for it to be a little loud. Not too loud; you aren’t putting on a Mötorhead concert.

Just loud enough for it to be pretty noticeable.

Why is this? The music they like (such as school songs or Top 40 hits) won’t be objected to, so they’re already at least neutral. Loud noise instantly grabs the attention.

Too loud and they’re unsettled. Too quiet and they don’t notice. A little loud, and you’re setting the stage to grab their attention.

Try Starting A School Assembly With Participation

Some school assembly programs require heavy audience participation. If this is the case for your school assembly, then start with some sort of game that involves the crowd.

Try something that divides them into groups, like into a Group A and Group B, and start a competition! Nothing warms people up like a little competing.

A little participation gets them into a bit of a groove, which means you can work with them more than trying to get them to respond when they’re cold. You need a little warm up, after all, and this tactic can help immensely.

A Good School Assembly Speech Starts With Passion

Some types of school assembly take more the form of a speech or a lecture from a guest speaker who is (hopefully) an expert in the field or at least very well informed. If that’s more of your type of programming, the first thing you need to do is be passionate about your topic.

A lot of speakers start with “I’m sorry you have to be here” or  “Hi kids! Thanks for being here!” or something like that. You don’t want to do that. It’s like a standup comic that starts their routine with “I know what you’re thinking.” It’s cliche, it’s boring, and that’s not how you want to get out of the gate.

You need a hook.

Try a bucket brigade statement, something that keeps them hanging so you can segue into the body of your speech. Something like:

“The year was…” or “I’ve never forgotten the first time I” or, “My mom says what always makes her crazy is” or something to that effect. You need to break the ice AND cultivate their interest. Cliche lines they’ve heard a few times already this year…just aren’t going to do it.

Contact us and we’ll make sure you’ll get a good start to your school assembly, the rest of it should flow smoothly.