Posted by Sundi Hayes in Who doesn’t want to deliver a talk to an audience hanging on their every word?
Chances are good the group has seen your bio.
Chances are good you created that bio because whoever is promoting you requested it.
Just as important, there is a lot to be said for a great introduction, right? This doesn’t have to be left to the luck of the draw! It is a strong possibility you are a coach too so use your skills to get exactly what you want – listeners on the edge of their seats!
Do your best to have a conversation with the person who is responsible for introducing you. If you can’t accomplish this because your schedules don’t mesh then have your assistant do it for you and get feedback on how the call went. Here are the topics someone from your organization should cover peronally with your introducer…
The basics. How to correctly pronounce your name is good information…unless your name is something like Joe Brown this could be critical! Get the introducer to pronounce it back to you and then spell it for them. If you are going to incorporate a title now would be the time to cover this too.
Avoid cliches. The only event where “we are gathered here today/tonight” should be said is at a wedding. Seriously. And if someone needs no introduction then why is someone telling me this?
Be concise. When simply stated your introduction needs to only contain why you are uniquely qualified to address the topics you’ll be covering!
Avoid lists. If your introducer goes into a list of accomplishments the intro is too long – you’ve already started to loose some of your listeners! Besides, most of this will be found in your bio previously supplied to them!
Don’t be embarassed. The only thing worse than an intro that isn’t good is an intro that over-builds you.
Save the name. Of course it only makes sense for this to be the last, most important information shared…wait for it…even more…Insert Your Name Here! (And the crowd goes wild!)
If you need inspiration then check out YouTube for some great introductions!
Nibbling away -
Sundi
[...] the mic? How do you get on stage? The two people who can make or break your performance are the person doing your intro and the AV person. Make sure you know them both on a first name [...]