Graduation time is upon us! This year, more than 20,000 commencement speeches will be delivered to high school and college graduates. While many focus on the actual speeches, here at 2Connect we also focus on something else – the introductions. Most of us will not speak at a graduation, but many of us will introduce speakers.
Whether you’re introducing a speaker at national conference or at your next meeting, a well-structured introduction piques the audience’s interest and builds the speaker’s credibility – all within 60-90 seconds. We recommend using the following Three P’s format:
- Purpose: What is the purpose of this talk and why is it important to the audience? (A compelling purpose intrigues the audience to pay attention and want to learn more)
- Professional: Why is this speaker so qualified to address this topic? (This builds their credibility so that the audience is receptive to hearing their message)
- Personal: What is something personal about this person that the audience might find interesting to know? (This offers the audience a chance to relate to the speaker at a more personal level)
With this structure in hand, you will quickly set your speaker up as a credible, helpful, and approachable resource. Here’s to good commencement speeches…and introductions.
