Regardless of a course's content or an Exhibition's style, the student needs to use an introduction.
This introduction should accomplish the following:
- Capture the audience's attention and interest
- Establish the topic and its context
- Clarify the Exhibition's Essential Question
- Present the central argument or thesis
- Identify the structure or outline of the speech
Of course, not all Exhibitions at The New School rely on the telling of information. Frequently, teachers devise Exhibitions that allow students to demonstrate mastery of the class, its skills and content, by demonstrating that mastery through art, video, drama, or some other creative device. In these styles of Exhibitions, the student does not capture the audience's attention by telling them an interesting anecdote, but by showing them something that engages their imaginations. Nevertheless, the Exhibition still needs an introduction.
Such examples can only be hypothetical, of course, because each Exhibition is ultimately unique to the class and its creator. Depending on a student's creativity and boldness, the look and sequence of an Exhibition are open to debate. Students, however, do not want a confused and disengaged audience. Audiences attending Exhibitions should know what they are seeing or hearing, and where their guide, the presenter, is taking them. Although they may, on occasion, become uncertain about exactly where they are going, that uncertainty should never be the result of vagueness or disorganization on the part of the Exhibition. A good introduction will prevent any such confusion.
