by Mary Byrd

Created on: May 12, 2008

Help! You are asked to introduce the keynote speaker at your writer's conference. What do you do? How can you introduce this unforgettable author and grab the audience's attention without stealing the speaker's thunder?

The purpose of an introductory speech is to wet the audiences appetite to learn more about this remarkable person, or the topic to be presented.

There are several things you can do to capture the audience's attention. One is to tell a cute story about the speaker. The antidote can be related to the topic of the speech or maybe something which touched the speaker in a profound way. You should make sure this story is not one the speaker will be using in his or her speech.

Another way to perk the audient's attention is to open your speech with a question. As an example, "Have you ever wondered why great writers never seem to get writer's block?"

Other ways to open your speech is to use a quotation, maybe something the speaker has said. Another effective opening is to quote statistics. As an example, "Today's keynote speaker has been on the New York Best Selling list for 2 years with her book, "Tell No Lies," and sold over 40 million copies in 24 languages."

Never open your speech with "Our next speaker need's no introduction," or any other clichs. Because if he or she needs no introduction, then why in the heck are you standing in front of 300 people doing so?

To make a great introductory speech, first, you will need to do a little research. Does the speaker have a website? Visit the site and take notes of any awards, and the latest works of the author. Some speakers are modest and don't like to brag about themselves, so do the bragging for them. And praise their work lavishly.

Second, about a week before the speaking engagement, call the speaker and visit with the lecturer. She may have an introduction already written which she can e-mail to you. Find out what topic the speaker plans to talk about. But the real purpose of the phone call is to get to know the speaker as a real person. Most writers love to talk about themselves, and often have some interesting if not humorous antidotes they will share with you.

Now that your "research" is completed, write a rough draft of your introductory speech. Introductory speeches are short, usually about 3-5 minutes long. Your first draft will probably be twice as long as needed. As with any good writing, you must edit and eliminate the unnecessary information.

There is some debate about when to mention the speaker's name. Some like to immediately establish who the speaker will be. Other people prefer to build to a climax then say the speaker's. Both methods can be effective. In most intros I've given, I prefer to build to a climax; after all don't most people have a printed agenda?

Remember keep your speech within the time limit, after all the audience is here to hear the keynote speaker and not you. Smile often, and introduce the speaker with warmth and one last point, be sure you pronounce their name correctly.

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