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Enhance Your Speech with a Great Introduction

As a speaker, you may get nervous about being at the mercy of your introducer. If the person tries to tell a joke, has trouble reading the introduction, or leaves out key parts which you plan to respond to in your opening, you can have a tough time in the beginning of your speech.

Proper planning of your introduction can eliminate unnecessary anxiety. You can have confidence that you will start your speech with a high level of enthusiasm and anticipation because of the effective job the introducer did.

Write out your introduction and include the punctuation you want. When you want a pause, write [PAUSE]. Double space and type in bold font so that the person will not have trouble reading the script. Send her or him a copy a few days before you are to speak. Meet the introducer before the meeting starts and get acquainted. Say your name distinctly to clarify the correct pronunciation. Ask if he or she received the introduction and if there are any questions. Then say, "I would really like it if you would read it as I have written it because the early part of my speech plays off what you say in the introduction." Of course that is only if there is a specific connection to the introduction.

Keep your introduction short. One to two minutes is the length you want. How well the audience knows you should determine how long the introduction is. The principle I use is only to put in your introduction what will qualify you as an expert in the minds of the audience. An audience does not care where you graduated from high school or where you grew up unless it is integral to your speech.

One last tip is to look pleasant and eager to speak as you are being introduced. Audience members will be looking at you and forming judgments as the introduction is being given. Don’t be writing a last reminder on your notes at this time.

You can never predict what the introducer will say or do, but these suggestions can help ease anxiety by lowering the risk of the unexpected as you go to the lectern to speak.

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Creating Pictures for Audience Impact

An important way to keep the audience listening to you is to help the audience see mental pictures as you speak. We tend to think in pictures. For example, if I say "river," you probably will visualize a specific river familiar to you. So it behooves the speaker to develop material that will paint pictures in the minds of the audience.

An important way of doing this is through the use of stories. When you begin with, "On my way to work a week ago I saw…," you have begun a picture for the audience. As you answer the W questions--Why? What? When? Where?--you give color and richness to the picture in the minds of your listeners.

Visuals help with creating pictures. These can be drawings, photographs, cutaways, and props. Keep a camera with you in the car so you can make a literal picture of a point you might someday make. Then you will better describe the picture you want a future audience to see. When you use Power Point, an occasional relevant photograph on a slide between copy or graphs can help the listener better visualize what you are saying.

Vivid description is an excellent way to see pictures. If you say, "Cedar Creek is a great place to fish," you impart information but probably not a picture that will stick in the minds of the audience. Say instead: "Cedar Creek is a great place to fish because the water ripples across a variety of rock formations. Several mature trees hang over places in the creek, producing shade which invites small mouth and redeye fish to gather." This will put a strong impression in the listener’s mind of what Cedar Creek looks like.

A final way to create pictures is through an animated delivery style. As you relate information to the audience, use gestures that describe and reinforce what you are saying. If your hands are grasping a lectern or folder, the audience may not "see" what you are talking about. However, if you describe with hand movements the size of the fish or how large the deer’s antlers were, the audience is more inclined to hold those images in their minds. When you use words like big, tall, left, right, or huge, accompany these words with appropriate gestures.

A good way to keep from being a dull speaker is to create pictures in the minds of your audience.

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Congratulations!  You have just finished reading Steve Boyd's March 2004 Newsletter!  This month, Steve is giving away a copy of From Dull to Dynamic:  Transforming Your Presentations to each of the first three subscribers who email us at info@sboyd.com with the subject "I read it!"  Each is a $25 value and Steve is glad to reward you for wanting to improve your communication skills!  We will notify you as to whether or not you were in the first three to respond.

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