Your One Minute Intro and The Search for Perfection!

Having changed the nature of my business at the beginning of the year* I have spent a lot of time thinking about the "one minute intro" - my own in particular!

Indeed it has been quite a challenge, having spent nineteen years polishing my introduction for my magazine business, having to go back to square one to create the "perfect" introduction. Spoiler alert here... I can tell you the "perfect" one minute introduction is a very rare beast - requiring that optimal combination of speaker, audience and timing.

So, what have I learnt over the past six months:

Firstly, that I still love the introduction rounds at any networking event. From a practical perspective it remains the most effective way to find out who everyone is, what they do and get a small insight into their personality.

Secondly, preparation is key and timing is everything, so I have spent a lot of time rehearsing and timing myself and one thing I can tell you is that it is way better to take up less time than try and cram too much in.

Thirdly, it is important to open and close strong - if it all goes awry in the middle no one is going to remember!

Fourthly, less is definitely more - one clear message for the main section of your intro is fine.

Finally, sometime you think you have the "perfect" one minute, indeed I thought I had one cracked a couple of months ago. Word perfect, on time and the first time I delivered it my "slightly amusing comment" - I hesitate to use the word "joke" - got lots of laughter. I delivered the same one minute in exactly the same way to a different group the next week - total silence - not even a smile!

So, sometimes, for whatever reason your one minute just doesn't connect and that's fine because the one minute intro is just that, an introduction.

The most important part is what comes next - talking to people afterwards, meeting up for 1 to 1s, connecting on LinkedIn, seeing them again next time and developing long term business relationships...

... until you reach the point where you can laugh together about that meeting where no one laughed at your "joke" and you wanted the floor to swallow you up!

Mel

P.S. If you are interested in what I do now post-magazines, I help businesses demonstrate their knowledge, expertise and personality through my copywriting and copy editing skills.