How to Introduce a Speaker: A Sample of an Under-Two-Minute Intro that Stirs the Audience by Embodying the Five Attributes Cited in the Previous Post

Reference the previous post listing my five “critical ingredients” of a speaker introduction that is impactful and productive, one that instantly builds anticipation and enthusiasm in the audience. Here is an introduction I drafted two weeks ago for one of my executive coaching clients who was to deliver the keynote to an audience of about a thousand people at a transportation industry conference. Notice that my draft below pretty much embodies the five items listed in the post of last Sunday.

[Note 1: Names, numbers, and other facts cited in the intro have been changed to preserve anonymity.]

[Note 2: Words that should be emphasized--by the use of appropriate nonverbals--are in bold.]

 

“Our speaker today, Jim Smith, is the owner of a freight services firm, The ABC Co., based in Houston. Since acquiring ABC six years ago, he has expanded (or grown) it over 400%, dramatically boosting the sales volume from $10 million in 2006 to over $50 million today. And he has done this despite the Great Recession of the intervening years, and despite the painfully high fuel prices.

Jim has accomplished this extraordinary feat by transforming The ABC Co. -- by instituting an entirely new culture! After settling on "a sharply enhanced customer experience" as his #1 goal, Jim went about assembling an all new regimen at ABC--a regimen that incorporates... (list of five or six business parameters most pertinent to freight services).

Not surprisingly, Jim has won numerous awards in the last couple of years. Among the more notable ones: Texas Business Journal’s “Houston-Galveston's Fastest 100 Growing Companies” for 2011 and 2012; Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2011 finalist; and ....

A bit about Jim's background: he hails from the great state of Minnesota, and began his professional career as an attorney after receiving a BA from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from Columbia. He is married and has two children, both of whom are school teachers. While talking to Jim, I've gathered that he owes a big part of his leadership and management qualities to the skills and perspectives he honed during his top executive positions in corporate America, most recently as the Exec VP for one of the largest supermarket chains in the Southwest.

Well, we all want our respective businesses to flourish, to fly high, to soar, just like Jim’s ABC Co. is, and I am sure you all are as eager as I am to learn the ingredients of his secret sauce. So, please join me in welcoming Jim Smith to the lectern.”

© Copyright 2012  V. J. Singal