90 How to Sell Yourself
Speaking situations encountered
throughout your career
Introducing a speaker
Most executives will eventually have to introduce a speaker.
Although not the most difficult of speaking tasks, it still requires
a certain amount of skill.
Most people make the classic mistake of reading the speaker’s
biography verbatim, just the way they received it in the mail. You
already know that you shouldn’t read anything. Now I’m here to
tell you that in this situation, you shouldn’t recite statistics—edu-
cational, professional, or personal—from a resumé.
It’s boring and ineffective.
The savvy person will request a biography well in advance.
He’ll then do one of two things. If the speaker is well known, he’ll
go to the nearest library and do a little research. He’ll look for
interesting tidbits the audience would like to know about the
speaker.
If the speaker is not well known, he’ll call or write him and
conduct an informal interview to gather the same information. A
person who introduces a speaker with bits of information relevant
to the topic of the speech will start the session off on the right
foot.
As for the resumé itself, select the highlights of the speaker’s
career, particularly those highlights that relate specifically to the
interests of the audience.
- Be selective. The audience doesn’t need to know every
detail of the speaker’s educational and professional
background. - Be brief.
- Give highlights.
- Make the audience want to hear the speaker you’re
introducing.
Keep in mind that personalized stories make the best introduc-
tion—especially personalized stories that relate in some way to the
talk the audience is waiting to hear. They’ll mean a lot more than a
list of degrees, professional credits, and other accomplishments.
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