Speaker Introduction Formula Works

Many years ago I got one of Louis Nizer's books on speaking in public. Nizer was a major New York City lawyer who was at homeon the lectern and in the courtroom. One of his books was on techniques of cross examination and it was really interesting from a variety of perspectives. He had another book about introducing speakers. He was Emcee at many events and had opportunities to introduce the most powerful people in the city and the nation.

In the same time period I was active in TOASTMASTERS and working hard to improve my own public speaking skills. I would pay a great deal of attention to the TOASTMASTER MAGAZINE and lots of other books and articles on public speaking.

One of those articles had to do with Speaker Introductions. I extracted from that article and today I teach a formula for effective speaker introductions that I call T-I-S-E. We pronounce that Tease, which is what a magazine cover does, a promo for a television program, trailers for movies, do to grab attention. I think a good introduction teases the audience and builds audience expectations for the speaker.

The T-I-S-E formula can mix some of the elements to continue building interest but none of the elements should be forgotten.

Topic = T. An introducer needs to give the audience a good idea of what the speaker is going to be discussing in the presentation. How does the introducer find out what the speaker is going to be discussing? The easy answer is ASK.

Interest = I
This is the tricky element for many people. The idea of interest is sometimes difficult to understand. The introducer has to know the audience so he can tell them why they are going to find the topic of interest. The introducer has to focused on telling the audience what will be in it for them to pay attention to the talk. When we discuss interest we are talking about why the audience should be interested.

Speaker = S
One of the major mistakes made by introducers is that instead of creating an introduction they read the bio sent by the speaker or the speaker's office. The introducer should understand the key things the speaker is doing that make the speaker the person who should be talking about this subject. Most of the time, only a very small part of the speaker's bio relates to the subject at hand. For instance, I one time taught elementary school but if I am talking to an audience about public speaking that is probably not all that relevant.

Enthusiasm = E
The major job of an introducer is to build a bridge between the audience and the speaker and the speaker and the audience. The major building block for this bridge is enthusiasm and the introducer can set that tone. That means doing a great job of instilling an enthusiasm in the audience for the speaker and an enthusiasm in the speaker for the audience.

Most of the time I teach that introductions should be short -- 30 to 45 seconds. The book Louis Nizer wrote was about a different time; a time when introduers could take up to three minutes to set the stage for a speaker. In today's impatient society I think the introducer should leave the speaker as many minutes as possble.