An introduction, even a short one, makes audiences more willing to listen to a speech, think more highly of the speaker, and understand a speech better than when no introduction is given. Two experiments at Delft University of Technology support this conclusion. Subjects viewed videotapes of professional presentations on the topic of Sick Building Syndrome. In one experiment, subjects rated the effectiveness of three introductory or “exordial”; techniques in gaining audience attention: an anecdote, an ethical appeal, and a “your problem”; approach. Results indicate that audiences do respond to exordial techniques, and in a predictable manner. In the second experiment, two speeches with anecdotal openers were tested against one without any introduction. The anecdotes led to significantly higher ratings of the presentation's comprehensibility and interest, as well as the speaker's credibility. The presence of an anecdote also resulted in higher retention scores. Oddly enough, the relevance of the anecdote did not seem to make a difference in the ratings.

Using new media in supporting students learning to write is a challenge for technical writing teachers. In this article we describe our effort to convert the paper course material to an on-line advisory system, called Ganesh Helper. Through the logging of students' actions and observations it was possible to assess some aspects of the use of Ganesh Helper (searching, browsing, and switching between writing and reading) while the students were writing part of a report. A questionnaire taught us that a majority of the students found the helpviewer easy to use and useful. But in the case of Ganesh Helper most of the students still preferred the textbook to the helpviewer.