You have practiced your delivery. You have spent hours on your slide deck. You have done your homework on your content and you know what your audience wants/needs to hear. All good. All critical for your success on the platform.

BUT – What haven’t you done? What often goes missing?

Your introduction.

What the meeting organizer says about YOU just before you jump on stage.

Recently I visited the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santé Fe, NM. One entire wall exhibited picture frames that she liked to use for her art. This wall, in a small museum, was devoted to frames? Not her art?

Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Sante Fe, NM

Of course. O’Keeffe understood that the picture frame mattered. It could enhance or detract from the art itself.

The same principle applies to your presentations. The way you get introduced frames the way you are perceived. Why leave this to chance?

Your homework: Write your own introduction and email it to the meeting planner. Bring an extra copy on bonded paper as well, in case the emcee loses it (happens a lot).

Your payoff: More predictability, more energy, and less nervousness. One client who speaks across the country told me, “Karen, having a great introduction sets the stage in such a better way for me. It calms my nerves, and I start off with more power. It’s one of the best takeaways from working with you.”

Stay tuned for tips on how to write clever and fun introductions.

© Karen Cortell Reisman, M.S., author of 3 books and President of Speak For Yourself®, works with decision makers on how to speak with gravitas. It’s all in how you speak for yourself. Karen also speaks about her cousin, Albert Einstein, in a message about hope, resilience and brassieres.

Read more at www.SpeakForYourself.com/blog.