Conclusion to How to Introduce Yourself

• 00:04 So what did your friends say?
• 00:06 Did they like your introduction?
• 00:09 Were they able to tell you exactly what you were hoping they would?
• 00:12 Did they ask you for that free item, that special report,
• 00:15 that white paper, whatever it was that you're giving away?
• 00:18 Did they ask you for that?
• 00:20 Now, you may decide not to do a giveaway.
• 00:24 My main goal for you is that you give people a reason to come up and
• 00:28 talk to you, that you make them remember something interesting about you.
• 00:33 So if they see you later at the cocktail hour, or over at the snack bar,
• 00:38 they can reference something you said in the introduction, and
• 00:42 this can start a conversation.
• 00:44 Let's not forget, nobody's going to make a million dollar deal, or
• 00:49 get a $10 million contract by a 10-second introduction, or
• 00:53 a 30-second introduction, that's not what it's about.
• 00:57 What it is about is helping you make the most of every opportunity
• 01:02 you have to meet people, to bring more people into your life.
• 01:07 Whether you're after more clients, more prospects, more colleagues,
• 01:12 more industry associates, more people to raise money from,
• 01:16 more people to give back to, you want to connect with people.
• 01:21 It could be completely for social reasons too.
• 01:24 So I'm not passing judgment on any of the reasons why you want to meet people.
• 01:28 I'm simply trying to make it more effective,
• 01:31 more efficient your use of time.
• 01:34 Let's face it, myself included, we've all been to networking events before,
• 01:39 and maybe left with a stack of cards like people are walking around,
• 01:44 here's my card, here's my card, complete waste of time.
• 01:47 And what do you do to someone like that?
• 01:49 You typically throw away their card.
• 01:53 But we've also been to events, and you talk to a few people, but
• 01:57 it's just sort of ho-hum what do you do?
• 02:00 And you can leave the event sort of scratching your head,
• 02:03 why did I even bother doing that?
• 02:06 How many of these people business cards,
• 02:07 am I even going to remember anything about them?
• 02:10 Why would I even follow up with them?
• 02:12 Why not just throw it away in the trash can on the way out of the event?
• 02:15 We've all been there, ladies and gentlemen.
• 02:18 What I'm trying to do is to equip you, so
• 02:21 that you can get a lot more out of every single time you go to an event.
• 02:27 Every single time you introduce yourself, as I said at the very beginning, it's
• 02:32 an opportunity to make a bad impression, which you no longer are going to do.
• 02:36 It's a chance to make no impression,
• 02:39 which in my opinion is what happens to 99% of the world.
• 02:43 Or it's a chance to make a great impression, and to attract people to you,
• 02:49 and that's what you want every single time you speak.
• 02:54 Yeah, obviously, if you're going to an entrepreneurial event, and
• 02:58 there's entrepreneurs pitching for money, and you introduce yourself as a venture
• 03:03 capitalist looking to invest, well, you can be the worst introducer in the world.
• 03:07 And you're going to be surrounded, you're going to be mobbed by
• 03:11 all the young investors, and investors of every age coming to you.
• 03:16 But most of the time, for most people it's not going to be that easy of just dangling
• 03:22 raw meat in front of a wild animal the way venture capitalists would be to investors.
• 03:28 So that's why it's important to really think about this,
• 03:33 not memorize, but to think about it.
• 03:36 Let me end with a note on memorization.
• 03:40 Memorization is, number one, hard to do.
• 03:43 Number two, it's even harder to do when you're feeling stress.
• 03:47 So standing up in front of 12 people introducing yourself might
• 03:51 not seem as scary as standing in front of 12,000 people, but
• 03:55 it still takes most people out of their comfort zone.
• 03:59 And when you're feeling nervous, that's why your palms are sweaty, your feet
• 04:03 are sweaty, your body's telling you run, get out of here, adrenaline is flowing.
• 04:08 When that happens, your mental faculties shut down,
• 04:12 because your body's saying run, don't think.
• 04:15 That's one reason why I really recommend not memorizing your self-introduction.
• 04:24 The other problem with memorizing something is you're now like an actor
• 04:28 on Broadway memorizing and delivering a script.
• 04:32 Well, here's the thing about acting.
• 04:33 It's really hard.
• 04:35 We can make fun of dumb actors all we want, it's a really hard skill.
• 04:38 I can't do it.
• 04:39 Someone gives me a script to memorize, I'm awful at that,
• 04:43 because it's hard to remember.
• 04:45 If you do remember it word for word,
• 04:48 it's hard to deliver it without sounding like you are reading a canned speech,
• 04:54 or you have memorized something, so don't do it.
• 04:58 Focus on the idea you want to communicate, and
• 05:01 just talk it through in a conversational way.
• 05:04 Don't memorize, that's extra work, that's extra stress.
• 05:07 What I'm trying to do is relieve stress for you on every aspect of this.
• 05:12 And you know what?
• 05:14 When you're in these meetings now, instead of worrying and
• 05:17 thinking there's three people away from me.
• 05:19 It's going to be my turn.
• 05:21 What am I going to say?
• 05:22 You can actually listen to this person over here about what they do, what they
• 05:27 have to offer, and why you may want to go up, and talk to that person afterwards.
• 05:32 That's the other beauty of this, is if you plan, and you have a process, and
• 05:37 you're all set, you're not going to be sweating it waiting for
• 05:41 your turn to introduce yourself.
• 05:44 You could actually be present.
• 05:45 I hate to sound all new agey, but you can be in the moment actually listening
• 05:51 to other people, instead of thinking in yourself, no, it's going to be my turn.
• 05:57 What am I going to say?
• 05:58 I hate this, I hate to introduce.
• 05:59 You don't hate introducing yourself anymore, because you're now good at it.
• 06:05 A number one way to get over hating anything, or
• 06:08 feeling nervous about it is to actually get good at it.
• 06:11 And now, since you've followed the lessons in this course,
• 06:14 you're good at introducing yourself.
• 06:17 So I wish you luck in all your future introductions.
• 06:19 I'm also asking you, begging you in the discussion forum right here in this class,
• 06:26 please record a video of yourself introducing yourself.
• 06:31 I would love to know who you are, and
• 06:34 I would love to hear how you're introducing yourself.
• 06:37 I'm TJ Walker.
• 06:39 Thanks for spending this time with me, and I look forward to meeting you.

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