Top tips for a WOW speaker introduction

1. The most important thing about a speaker introduction is that it should be more about what the audience will gain from listening to the speaker, than about the speaker themself.

2.?Research the speaker before you meet them. Call them or meet them if possible and have a conversation about what they will be talking about and what they plan to achieve with the audience.

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3. Ensure that the intro you write is punchy, interesting and builds the credibility of the speaker. If you have been given something to read out by the speaker, check that it fulfils the purpose of an intro and ask permission to change it if you think you need to.

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4. Ensure you know how to pronounce the speaker’s name and details.

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5. Learn the intro before the day. Ensure that you are able to deliver most, if not all of the intro to the audience without reading it. Professional speakers don’t read from notes. Professional MCs don’t either.

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6. Consider a music sting where appropriate: 10 secs of music to give the audience the correct vibe and an emotional response to the speaker.

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7. Look up and smile at your audience before you speak.

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8. Think of a catchy icebreaker, fact, statistic or something that you can deliver to kick- off proceedings and make sure you cleverly link that icebreaker to the role you are playing today.

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9. Look at everyone (one at a time) with direct, connected eye contact.

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10. Speak clearly and slowly and breathe deeply between your sentences.

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11. Smile throughout and keep your energy high, enthusiastic, engaging.

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12. Ensure you are true to yourself. Be authentic and natural and be sure to reduce exaggeration in your gestures, voice and content.

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13. Don’t talk about yourself. It's to about you. You should really be invisible!

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14. Don’t make excuses for anything about the event, the room, the speaker, your nerves – you are there to introduce the speaker.

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15. Build your energy to a peak.

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16. Remember to tell your audience to clap their hands for the speaker and ensure you clap your hands too.

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17. Shake the hand of the speaker as they arrive on stage.

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18. Pay good attention while they are speaking. Your job isn’t done until the speaker has finished, you've got to summarise their key points as you thank them and give them a LOUD applause (possibly even encourage the audience to stand for them!)

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19. Introduce the speaker to anyone in the audience who wants to meet them. Audience members can feel shy and might need your help.

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20. Take some great photos of the speaker with delegates that you can use to market your conference the next year.

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Happy presenting!

?2024 MICHELLE BOWDEN is an authority on persuasive presenting in business. She's run her?Persuasive Presentation Skills Masterclass?over 1000 times for more than 13,000 people over the past 25 years and her name is a synonym for 'presentation skills' in Australia.

Michelle Bowden is a multi-million-dollar pitch coach to her client list that reads like a who’s who of international business: banking and finance, IT, pharmaceutical, retail, telecommunications plus many more.

Michelle is the creator of the Persuasion Smart Profile?, a world-first?psychological assessment tool?that reports on your persuasive strengths and weaknesses at work, the best-selling internationally published author of?How to Present: the ultimate guide to presenting live and online?(Wiley)?and her new book is called?How to Persuade: the skills you need to get what you want?(Wiley).?3