Killer Introductions

Introduction

As a Toastmaster, you will often be called upon to introduce another speaker. Both the Toastmaster of the Day and the General Evaluator must do so several times throughout a meeting. But more importantly, you may be called upon to introduce a speaker outside your club. What do you do?

Remember to keep the focus on the speaker you are introducing, not on yourself. At one time I wanted to be so clever that when people left the meeting they would talk about what a good job I’d done in introducing the speakers. I had some dynamite "micro-speeches" that I used when introducing the speakers – and I murdered their speeches. Don’t upstage the speaker. The audience’s focus should be sharply drawn upon the speaker, not your introduction.

Keep your introduction down to less than three minutes – two is better. I once spoke in a church where there were several singers preceding my speech. After the singers finished, the minister stood to introduce me. He took about 15 minutes to "Praise God," "Thank the Lord," and otherwise invoke help from On High (I’m still not sure if I should have been offended by that introduction). By the time I was to speak it was time to go home for lunch! My speech was quite short that day. Remember that your audience wants to hear the speaker, not you.

Contact the speaker before the meeting starts and gather information about both the topic and the speaker. When the speaker is one of the seasoned members of your club, it’s tempting to just "wing it" and make up a good introduction "on the spot." Don’t fall into that temptation. Treat every speaker, and every speech, as if you were being paid for it.

If you are introducing several speakers in a row, try to "break" between each speaker so the audience can mentally prepare for the following speaker. For example, if a really funny speech is followed by "How to Fight Cancer," you’ll do the second speaker a real favor if you allow the audience to mentally "break" and prepare for the upcoming speech. The break need not be long or complicated. Thank the previous speaker briefly, then move into the next speech. It is even acceptable to say something like "We’re going to change tracks now as we prepare for our next speech."

If You’re the Speaker

If you’re the speaker, provide an introduction for the Toastmaster to use. If you fail to provide the Toastmaster with a good introduction, then don’t complain about the final product. Your introduction should be written (double-spaced and ready to read) and sent to the introducer several days before your speech. Then, take a copy with you to the auditorium to give to the introducer in case he left his copy home.

If You’re the Introducer

Hopefully, the speaker took the advice I offered in the preceding paragraph and gave you a prepared introduction. Right – and dollar bills grow on oak trees! Next best is for the speaker to provide you with some information about the speech you can use to craft a good introduction. Most of the time, unfortunately, you’ll arrive at the meeting with no information about the speakers or their speeches. The remainder of this essay will help you prepare a good introduction – even if your preparation time is limited.

There are only two steps to preparing a good introduction: Introduce the Topic and Introduce the Speaker.

Introduce the Topic

One of the first things you should do in your introduction is to arouse the audience’s curiosity in the subject. There are several ways to do this, but my two favorites are to use a thought-provoking question or an appropriate quote.

If the topic were something about education, I might ask: "What is the value of your education?" or "What’s the most important thing you’ve done in your life?" Questions such as these will stimulate the audience to think. You should pause briefly and let the question "soak in." You can then pose an answer to your question to build interest in the topic.

The other possibility is to use an appropriate quote. Audiences tend to appreciate, and listen to, a good quote. They generally are receptive to the wisdom of someone else. I carry a half-dozen or so general-interest quotes with me to every Toastmasters meeting (in my notebook) that I can "whip out" and use at the last minute.

Try to avoid using a story or joke. First, if it’s not successful, then you are giving the speaker a bad start. If it is successful, then you certainly run the risk of becoming the most memorable event of the day and will take the focus away from the speaker. Of course, many stories are often longer than one minute, so your story could also cause you to drag your introduction out too long.

Generate Interest

Once the audience is curious about the topic, generate further interest using a very short, thought provoking sentence or two.

If you posed a question in the "Curiosity" section, then answer that question. For example, if a speaker has a speech about Berlin, you could provoke curiosity by asking, "If you could travel to any city on Earth for a vacation, which would you choose?" Then, to generate interest, you could continue, "Our speaker today would choose Berlin. That may seem an odd choice to you, but after you’ve heard this speech you’ll understand why Berlin would make a fascinating vacation." After an introduction that started like this, the audience is sure to want to listen to the speaker.

If you used a quotation to provoke curiosity, then expound for a minute on that quotation. To introduce a speech about goal setting, you could say, "Earl Nightingale once said, ‘People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going.’ We all want to succeed, and today’s speaker will share a formula for success that starts with goal setting. People who learn, and practice, simple goal-setting can succeed."

Introduce the Speaker

You should now answer the question, "Why is this speaker qualified to discuss this particular topic?" Briefly describe the speaker’s qualifications as they relate to the topic at hand.

Remember to keep the introduction germane to the speech. For example, if the speaker has written a book about mathematics and the speech topic is "My Hometown," then don’t mention the book. However, if the book is entitled "My Hometown," then, by all means, make the book part of the introduction.

Also, try to avoid "ear-candy," glowing compliments that say nothing. For example, if a speaker’s topic is "My Favorite Movie," don’t start praising the speaker’s last speech, the length of his Toastmaster’s membership, or her general ability to make friends. Make sure your introduction is specific and targeted toward the speech at hand.

Say the Speaker’s Name

Don’t get fancy or cute. Simply say: "Fellow Toastmasters, Jill Simpson." Many people would say, "Help me welcome Mike Oglesby," but this is inaccurate. The audience is not "helping" you do anything – they are welcoming the person. If you must say something other than the speaker’s name, then it’s better to say, "Fellow Toastmasters, welcome Randy Sullivan."

An Example

If I were introducing Jim Meyers’ speech "My Hobby," I’d say something like this:

"If you didn’t have to work for a living, what would you do? A hobby is an activity you do during your spare time, but would like to do full time – if you could just figure out a way to make it pay the bills! Jim told me he’s been working on his hobby for more than five years - he really enjoys it. After today’s speech, you’ll know why. It’s always refreshing to hear an expert discuss such an unusual hobby. Fellow Toastmasters, Jim Meyers."

Conclusion

If you do your job well as an introducer, your audience will be ready to hear the speaker. You can make the speaker’s job easy or hard – depending on how well you do your job. When people leave the meeting, if any of them say "You’re introductions were great," then you’ve probably over-done it. As odd as this seems for Toastmasters, your goal is to not get noticed while you are doing your job!

Good luck on your introductions.

George R. Self
E-mail me at: grself@c2i2.com

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