How to Introduce Yourself The Right Way

• 00:04 So I've showed you the wrong way of introducing yourself.
• 00:07 Let me demonstrate, not the perfect way, there's a lot of different ways you
• 00:11 could do it, but let me introduce to you how I introduced myself.
• 00:15 So the person next to me has just sat down, it's now my turn.
• 00:19 Here's how I would do it. Imagine the New York Times calls you today,
• 00:24 wants to interview you about your business, and they talk to you for
• 00:28 20 minutes, are you absolutely confident that the one or two quotes
• 00:32 you're going to get tomorrow are going to make you look good, and are what you want?
• 00:38 Hi, I'm TJ Walker and
• 00:39 I teach people how to speak to the media to get the results that they want.
• 00:44 If you give me a business card at the end of the meeting,
• 00:47 I will give you a free copy of my book, Media Training A-Z.
• 00:53 That's it, that is how I introduce myself if I'm at a typical business meeting,
• 00:58 speakers' conference, trade association, or Chamber of Commerce and
• 01:03 everyone is asked to go around and 20 or 30 seconds introduce themselves.
• 01:09 Now is that spellbinding oratory and everyone's going to go, wow,
• 01:13 he's the best speaker ever?
• 01:14 No, but there are a number of things about that introduction that work,
• 01:20 that worked for me and can work for you.
• 01:24 For starters, I didn't start with my name, me, me, me, me.
• 01:29 By the way, that whole introduction was less than 30 seconds.
• 01:33 You can go back and time it right now.
• 01:36 It wasn't long.
• 01:38 But I didn't start with the obvious by saying my name because everybody
• 01:43 starts with their name, instead, I focused on the audience, said,
• 01:48 imagine you are called by the New York Times today, people can visualize that
• 01:53 you're talking about your business, I'm talking about the audience, not me.
• 01:59 Basic tip of public speaking,
• 02:00 anytime you talk about your audience rather than yourself, you're winning.
• 02:04 People care about themselves more than they care about you, the speaker.
• 02:10 So that's the first principle, I talked about the audience.
• 02:15 I introduced a problem that actually created a little emotion.
• 02:18 It's nerve wracking to think wow, The New York Times is calling me, they're talking
• 02:23 to me, what are those quotes going to be, my gosh, I don't want to look like a fool.
• 02:28 Anyone who's ever been interviewed has had that experience where you
• 02:32 don't really know what quotes are going to go in the story.
• 02:36 So I introduced a problem.
• 02:39 A problem that people could relate to and
• 02:41 likely had some emotion surrounding because, whether it's happened to them,
• 02:46 it's happened to a close friend, family member, a colleague at work
• 02:50 where there was an interview, they weren't quite sure how it would turn out.
• 02:55 So, I talk about them, I introduce a problem that has a particular
• 03:00 setting situation, conflict involved, that they have feeling about.
• 03:06 But then I introduce the solution, I teach people how to solve
• 03:12 that problem, how to get the quotes they want in the story.
• 03:17 And then I have a very specific solution,
• 03:20 I will give you my book Media Training A-Z at no charge.
• 03:26 So I've introduced the problem, I've introduced the solution, and
• 03:30 I've introduced a solution that costs nothing.
• 03:35 I'm not asking them to whip out a checkbook or a credit card.
• 03:39 So I don't seem self serving.
• 03:43 And now I've given people an excuse to come up to me, hi, TJ,
• 03:47 nice to meet you, here's my card, love to take a look at that book.
• 03:52 So now we have a conversation.
• 03:53 They remember what I do.
• 03:55 Again, If you remember from our first lecture,
• 03:57 I said the biggest challenge when you're introducing yourself is getting people to
• 04:02 remember anything about what it is you do.
• 04:06 Now this works for me, I'm not saying you have to say it exactly like I do,
• 04:11 but the basic formula of focus on a need people have and
• 04:15 how you solve it, rather, in a specific format,
• 04:19 rather than saying something, I'm a communications consultant and
• 04:24 I help people with all aspects of communication training.
• 04:28 And so I could have said it, abstract, boring, but by giving a particular
• 04:34 example of, imagine you are called today by the New York Times,
• 04:38 they're interviewing you about your business, that's not abstract.
• 04:44 People can visualize it, they can taste it, they can touch it.
• 04:48 So if you're an employment lawyer to just stand up and say,
• 04:52 I'm with the firm of blank, blank and blank, and we help people of all
• 04:57 aspects of employment law, blah, blah, blah, boring and abstract.
• 05:03 Instead, stand up and say, what if you walked in tomorrow and
• 05:08 your most troublesome employee was gone, but
• 05:13 there was a note saying, I'll see you in court, how would you feel?
• 05:19 Well, that gets people's attention, then mention your name and
• 05:23 how you help people solve those employment issues.
• 05:26 That would get a lot more attention.
• 05:27 Now, I don't want to sound like it always has to be dramatic or cheesy or anything
• 05:32 artificial, but the basic focus is, how do you help people in a specific manner?
• 05:37 That's the first part, that's the hook.
• 05:41 The second part is giving people something of value,
• 05:45 though I realize not everyone is a writer.
• 05:49 But I do think if you tried hard,
• 05:51 you should be able to come up with something that's useful.
• 05:54 It could be top ten tips for reducing your taxes if
• 05:58 you're a small business owner working from home.
• 06:02 If you're at a local Chamber of Commerce event specifically for small businesses,
• 06:09 you can put together a one pager with quick tips if you are a CPA.
• 06:14 And that might be something that people would then come up to you and say, yeah,
• 06:18 I would like that, can you send it to me?
• 06:21 It starts a conversation, it starts connecting you with substance
• 06:26 with this other person, rather than, here's just another generic face,
• 06:32 getting over the cheese plate and the bar, what does this person do again?
• 06:38 So, that's my recommendation, to figure out how you can talk about
• 06:44 what you do through the eyes of someone in the audience, the hook.
• 06:50 The second part, what is an easy way,
• 06:54 a nonthreatening way for people to come up to you?
• 06:59 If it's just, if you have any questions about how you can keep from being sued for
• 07:04 sexual harassment because you're,
• 07:06 that might be too intimidating to people to come up and ask you for questions.
• 07:13 The beauty of having some product or video, and by the way, all these products
• 07:17 are virtual, I'm not lugging around a big stack of books with me.
• 07:22 I'm emailing people a PDF, a digital version of the book,
• 07:27 so there's no extra cost for me.
• 07:30 So that's what I recommend you do, come up with something.
• 07:33 A video, an online course like this one could be a perfect giveaway, but
• 07:39 it could be as simple as a top ten list to put on your refrigerator
• 07:45 of how to reduce your recycling waste if you want to.
• 07:49 Something simple and focused, that is perceived to have some value,
• 07:54 where people don't have to talk to you for a long time, just, hey,
• 07:58 that thing you mentioned about giving away, I'm interested, send it to me.
• 08:03 Now you've got their card.
• 08:04 I'm not suggesting you spam them forever, and be sending them emails all the time,
• 08:08 but it helps with the connection.
• 08:10 You can now ask more about what they do.
• 08:13 You can see if this is a good possible business connection, cultural connection,
• 08:17 personal connection.
• 08:19 So that's my challenge for you now.
• 08:23 I want you to come up with an introduction for
• 08:26 yourself where you're talking about the audience,
• 08:31 asking them to imagine something in their life, and how you solve it.
• 08:37 And then I want you to think about something you can give them.
• 08:41 So think about that right now.

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