Several studies have shown that you only have 7 seconds to make an everlasting impression on your audience in a presentation. It means these few seconds are critical as your audience makes a subconscious decision of whether what you speak is worth listening to or not.
Presenters generally begin a presentation with their self-introduction, and those 7 seconds cover-up in explaining about them. So, it’s important to make this part of your talk more powerful and captivating.
Self-introduction is not as easy as it seems to be. You would want to highlight your achievements, but at the same time, you won’t want to blow your trumpet. You would not want to share every minute detail about your life, but you won’t want to miss out on telling any important thing about yourself to the audience either. In a nutshell, when you have to introduce yourself, you are in a dilemma – what to say and what not to say.
In this article, we have provided you with some tips and ways to overcome this dilemma and make your self-introduction memorable. Let’s start!
Why is Self-Introduction Important?
A self-introduction is an easy way to start a conversation. You get the opportunity to highlight your skills, educational background, interests, and experience. In short, it gives a brief idea about your personality. Also, this part sets the tone for your entire presentation. Hence it should be compelling enough to woo your listeners.
Creative Ways to Introduce Yourself to the Audience
1. Start with Your Name and Background Information
Though this is an age-old way of self-introduction, it’s always in trend and most preferred by global presenters.
State your name, the organization you are representing, the position you hold, and some facts that give a concise idea about your personality.
For example, you can start in this manner-
“Greetings, I am Stella Harris working for XYZ Company for the past 6 years.”
2. Tell Your Personal Tagline
A tagline is a catchphrase that tells the audience about the value/service you create for the customers.
Just like big brands create a tagline to increase their product awareness, you can use this idea to highlight your strength and passion in a single statement. Craft a personal tagline that is catchy, precise, memorable, and customer-oriented.
Here are some tips on how to create a personal tagline for yourself.
- Do a self-assessment and identify your strengths and achievements.
- Assess your skills, values, and passion.
Now brainstorm the above points and jot down the words that best describe you. Choose the main keyword and phrase a catchy one-liner around that keyword. Don’t forget to keep it short.
3. A Punchy Elevator Pitch
Sharing your unique strengths, key skills, and abilities all in one go is quite a challenge. An elevator pitch is one of the best ways to connect with a new audience and communicate the value you can create for them. An elevator pitch is a short description of who you are and what you do within a time span of 30 seconds or less.
While writing an elevator pitch, be sure to keep it goal-oriented and add a hook to reel the audience’s attention in a jiffy.
4. Share a Less-Known Fact About Yourself
Find out what makes you stand out from the crowd. Highlight your unique work experience.
For example, you can share with the audience that “In my job, I have had the opportunity to work with several kinds of people. This allowed me to understand different work styles. And, with time, I have gained amazing leadership and team-building skills. In the past 2 years, I have successfully completed XYZ number of projects.”
5. Tell a Quote that Best Describes You
Quotes are a powerful way of expressing your strongest persona. Using them in your self-introduction can help you connect quickly with a larger audience.
For example, you can begin with any of these quotes and then explain how this quote best reflects your personality.
“You are what you think.”
OR
“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” – John C. Maxwell, American author
6. Highlight Your Expertise that is Applicable to the Audience
The skills that you share should be audience-focused. Hence, you need to be very clear about what your audience wants from your presentation beforehand. Share your key credentials that can build a good rapport with your listeners.
7. Share Similarities
Shared interests contribute to the formation of new networks. When you share your interests and similarities with other people in a presentation, it engages the audience till the last minute. Also, it encourages more participation and conversation, which results in the ultimate success of the presentation.
8. Tell a Story
Starting off a presentation with a short personal story takes your audience on a journey that you have traveled. It reveals the passion for your work, the struggles you faced, and how you dealt with the challenges. But before you jumpstart on storytelling, you must know the audience’s pain points. It will evoke empathy and build trust because they will be able to easily relate to your story.
Some Quick Tips
- Don’t brag while talking about yourself.
- Thoughtfully organize and rehearse your self-introduction.
- Know your audience, their pain points, and interests. Create your self-introduction based on that information.
- Be authentic while sharing any facts about yourself.
- Use a conversational tone while speaking to establish a quick connection with your audience.
To Conclude
Introducing yourself is itself a nerve-wracking task. And, if you have to give a speech in front of an unfamiliar group, it may break you out in a cold sweat. The whole point of self-introduction is to make your audience familiar with you and make them understand why it is worth it for them to stay and listen. Starting your presentation with a well-prepared, engaging, and powerful self-introduction can help you build a relationship of trust with your listeners from the very first moment.
For a more impactful self-introduction, you can use pre-designed PowerPoint templates and let your personality shine through creative slides.
Follow the above-mentioned ways outlined in this blog and make a mark while introducing yourself in the next presentation.
