CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – SEPTEMBER 4, 2021
How to Introduce Yourself — A Step-by-Step Guide.
Start with your name and company (or organization).
This one is easy. Just tell your audience your name and the organization that you are representing. If your organization is not a well-known brand name, you might add a short clarifying description. For instance, most people outside of the training industry have never heard of Champion Strategies.
Hi, I’m Brandon Hardison with Champion Strategies, an international leadership development company…
Still short and sweet, but a little clearer to someone who has never heard of my company.
Tell your audience what problem that you can solve for them.
This is where all of the pre-work comes into play. In this step, you will use the answers to one of those questions that you answered earlier.
For instance, if my topic is how to deliver presentations, I have to determine why the audience would care. What problem will they have that I can help them with? For my audiences, the problem that I most often help people with is how to eliminate public speaking fear. Once I have the problem, I add that to my introduction by using the words, “I help people…”
Hi, I’m Brandon Hardison with Champion Strategies, an international leadership development company, and I help people eliminate public speaking fear.
However, if my topic is How to Close a Higher Percentage of Sales Presentations, I’d likely want to alter my introduction a little. I might say something like…
Hi, I’m Brandon Hardison with Champion Strategies, an international leadership development company, and I help people design more persuasive sales presentations.
I have expertise in both areas. However, I focus my introduction on just the expertise that is applicable to this audience. If I gave the first introduction to the second audience, they will likely respond by thinking, well, I don’t really get nervous speaking, so I guess I can tune out of this speech.
So, create a problem statement starting with, “I help people…” Make the statement apply to what your audience really wants.
Share some type of proof (social proof works best) that you can solve this problem.
Without adding some type of proof that you can solve this problem, you are just giving your opinion that you are an expert. However, if you can prove it, you are also proving that you are an expert.
This is the tricky part. For some reason, most people who get to this part feel like they haven’t accomplished great things, so they diminish the great accomplishments that they do have.
