Those Introductory Remarks - Hold the Facts, Create the Spell

Introductory remarks are tough to compose.  In fact, more and more folks contact me to write them for them - and I always struggle.  That genre of public speaking is a totally compressed medium, much like copywriting in advertising.  The outcome is supposed to be a spell cast on the audience.  Tall order.  But here are ways to eliminate some of the agita and increase the odds of creating that voodoo through your words.

The best start is to get out of yourself and to focus entirely on the audience.  This is about them, not you.  It's also about the people you may be introducing, such as the guest speaker or the panelists.  One way to transcend self is to ditch the concept "I."  Instead talk in "we" terms.   

Next, forget all those resumes the speakers or panelists  gave you.  It will not help create the mood if you deliver a laundry list of facts about their careers or good works.  Rather reach into your heart to assess what few things you could say about them which will communicate their essence.  Sure, a few concrete facts ground that feeling.  But those facts should be embedded in "sticky" content that captures what they bring to the audience.  Thanks to them, what kind of special experience will the audience have that day? 

Humor, wit, and irony work to undercut any excesses of adulation or flattery.  That's why we use it.  It makes our remarks more credible.  That comic relief is best if it isn't about the "I."  The speakers and panelists, along with the audience, are the stars.

The acid test for our remarks is to run them by anyone under-21.  Watch their facial expressions and body language.