How to Grab the Audience's Attention With a Self-Introduction

The best way to capture someone's interest is to speak to his concerns, even when talking about yourself.

As the saying goes, "you never have a second chance to make a first impression." Introductions are often a person or audience's first impression of a speaker, and so making that impression as favorable as possible is important. Grabbing the audience's attention can be as simple as appealing to what the members are interested in, and why you are someone they'll want to listen to.

Instructions

1. Write down why the audience members should listen to the speaker. Who is the speaker to them, and how can they educate them or solve a problem for them?

2. Explore a catchy way to introduce the speaker to the audience. Audiences often listen closer when asked a question, told a personal story, given a quote from a famous person they know, or are given a fact or statistic that is surprising or frightening to them.

3. Practice an exact script and get comfortable delivering it with confidence. Videotape the speaker and review the video to make sure the body language is confident and engaging.

Tips & Warnings

• Creating a catchy line is often as simple as taking a different perspective on the same information. For example, Apple introduced the iPod to its audience by saying "Up to 5,000 songs in your pocket" instead of merely describing its memory space and technical abilities. Think about what the information means to the audience rather than what it means to the speaker, or what it is technically.

• Avoid delivering the speaker's entire biography in the introduction, which audiences find boring. Instead focus on one area of the speaker's life.

References

• "Start with Why"; Simon Sinek; 2009
• Chat at the Cooler: How to Attract Your Audience's Attention in 30 Seconds or Less
• Speech Topics Help, Advice and Ideas: Self Introduction Speech How To