Introduction to How to Introduce Yourself

• 00:04 We've all been there, that trade association meeting,
• 00:06 that Chamber of Commerce meeting where the host says okay, before we start,
• 00:10 let's all stand up and just introduce ourselves for 30 seconds.
• 00:13 It seems simple, it seems casual.
• 00:17 No one's asking you to give a big keynote speech and still, our heart is racing.
• 00:23 What do I say? What do I say?
• 00:24 We're not even listening to the other people, we're thinking about what to say.
• 00:29 Now if you've ever experienced that, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
• 00:34 Here is the reality when it comes to simple introduction speeches.
• 00:39 There's three possible outcomes for
• 00:41 every single introduction speech you give to yourself.
• 00:45 Number 1, you make an awful impression.
• 00:48 You're stammering, you're tongue tied, you can't say anything, you're I'm so nervous.
• 00:56 You say something stupid, inarticulate.
• 00:59 That happens every once in a while.
• 01:02 I can think of maybe three times in my life, but that's pretty rare.
• 01:05 Chances are that you're really not going to do that.
• 01:09 The second option is you say something.
• 01:12 It's interesting, it's memorable.
• 01:15 People want to come up to you afterwards, introduce themselves to you,
• 01:20 give you their card.
• 01:21 That's great, that's an ideal scenario.
• 01:25 That also doesn't happen very often, but
• 01:27 that's what you're going to learn how to do after we finish this course.
• 01:32 The third option is you stand up.
• 01:37 Hello, my name is blah blah blah, I am with blah, blah, blah company.
• 01:40 We do blah, blah, blah and blah, and blah.
• 01:44 And then you sit down.
• 01:46 And the result is nobody remembers anything.
• 01:51 They don't remember your name, they don't remember the name of your law firm or
• 01:55 your company or your organization, and they don't remember what you do.
• 01:59 You just sounded like Charlie Brown's teacher, wa wa wa.
• 02:04 It's all generic stuff.
• 02:06 That's the real danger for most of us.
• 02:08 It's lost opportunity.
• 02:09 It's not that we give a bad impression or horrible impression, or
• 02:14 people see our hands shaking.
• 02:16 The real danger is we make no impression at all.
• 02:19 We've taken time away from our family, friends,
• 02:22 other activities, to go across town to some meeting, possibly two,
• 02:28 possibly three hours out of your evening or day or lunchtime.
• 02:32 To meet people, to try to advance our organization,
• 02:37 make new contacts, and we blew it.
• 02:40 That's just not a good idea.
• 02:42 So, I'm going to teach you exactly how to do this, and
• 02:45 this is a brief course, folks.
• 02:46 We only have to prepare a 30-second speech.
• 02:50 But make no mistake about it, this is a speech,
• 02:53 that's why you're nervous about it or uncomfortable with it.
• 02:56 Public speaking is the number one fear people have.
• 02:59 So standing up, even sitting down in a chair in a circle with eight other people,
• 03:05 introducing yourself is a type of public speaking.
• 03:09 That's why people get nervous, that's why we need a plan.
• 03:13 That's why we need to rehearse, and that's what we're going do right now.

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