Anatomy of a Speaker's Introduction Part III: Toastmaster Tips

In Part I of this series I covered 6 Key Components for you to use in your Introduction, and in Part II, I discussed What Could Go Wrong with your intro, and how to mitigate the damages.

For Toastmasters - all those tips and suggestions apply, but we also face our own unique challenges - so this post is specifically for you!

In my fifteen years with the organization, I have witnessed a severe deficit in our education program when it comes to introductions. In fact, googling 'Toastmaster & Introductions' brought only one article from the TI site itself, and it focuses on the Toastmaster of the meeting being in control of the intro more than you, the speaker.

In general, I rarely see speakers in TM clubs actually write their own introduction, and at best, it typically includes their manual/project number, their name, and the title of their speech. Occasionally it's brought in a typed format, but it's most often scribbled at the last minute, often handed to the TM right before the speaker is to present, setting the TM, and the speaker, up for a completely mishandled beginning to their speech.

Most of the time, however, there is NO introduction, and the Toastmaster for the day has to make something up on the spot, or simply intro the speaker and their title.

We spend so much time (hopefully) preparing for our speech - why do we do so little, or even nothing at all, with our introduction? If we're really preparing ourselves for the 'real world', we should add this particular skill to our repertoire, and put ourselves, and our introducers, in a strong position to succeed.

Of course, our organization, at the club level, has different aspects to what we may want to do in our intros, though, in general, the tips in Part I & II are still good for this purpose, and certainly any presentations we give at District, Toastmasters Leadership Institutes, or other special events.

3 Club Introduction Considerations.

1. Speech Requirements - every time we give a manual speech, we have requirements that need to be met. Some clubs have the evaluator mention the manual, speech number, and requirements before the introduction of the speaker. Some clubs have the TM mention them. Some intros mention them. And sometimes, no mention is made at all.

No matter how your club handles it (and if you have a different variation, let me know), I suggest you keep it these 'details' separate from your actual introduction, unless they are vital to the content of your speech. If someone else is not handling the introduction of this information, and you feel you must include them in your written intro, use it as a preface to the actual intro:

'Rich is giving speech 7, Research your Topic, out of the Competent Communicator Manual. Requirements include collecting information about his topic from numerous sources and carefully supporting his points and opinions with specific facts, examples, and illustrations gathered through research. His time is 5-7 minutes. (PAUSE)'

Then go into your actual introduction.

2. Audience Set-Up - In TM we often give speeches that are meant for other audiences. Your introduction can be a good place to let your audience know they need to be children in the second grade, conspiracy theorists, or rocket scientists. This way, they know how to receive the speech, and your feedback will be more directed and pertinent to your goals.

3. Credibility - This is a tricky one, as it can feel tiresome to continually put '2x World Championship of Public Speaking Finalist, a DTM, and father of six' in your introductions. Keep in mind, however, that that bit of credibility may not matter when you're giving a presentation about kids, or fictional characters, or really anything not speaking/Toastmasters related.

You have to decide which part of you lends credibility to your subject matter. Since we're constantly writing new speeches, we need new introductions, and different bits of credibility to match.

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Writing an introduction takes extra time, yes. You'll want to email it to your Toastmaster, as well as print in and bring it to your meeting. It will put your TM at ease when they see they don't have to make anything up. Remember to ask them to read it out loud before the meeting so you can make sure they know all the words, and have practiced it at least that once before introducing you.

It will also put your audience in the right state of mind to listen, and set you up to come on stage with power, and launch right in to your presentation.

If you make writing introductions important in your club, you'll be amazed how much more smoothly the speaking portion of the meeting will go. If you make writing introductions important to YOU, you'll be amazed how quickly you're able to create them. When you go out in the 'real world', you'll be happy you took the extra time to be prepared, and to prepare your introducer, before you go out to Speak....and Deliver.