As I was being introduced by the President of the group, I knew I was in trouble.
She had apparently not taken the time to review what she was about to read, had no idea what it said, and was definitely in the Robin reading group in school. She was brave and red breasted – but no star of the kingdom.
After stumbling over much of my introduction, she turned to me, in front of her 150 team members and said, “Well, you wrote this.”
But this definitely wasn’t the worst intro I’ve received.
The worst involved degrees I never earned from schools I never attended to accolades I never received. The CEO thought he knew me well enough to “wing it” and was proud of the fact that he was.
We did know each other but not our history! We knew today, and maybe yesterday, but not 5, 10 or more years ago.
When I’m asked to teach Presentation Skills, I always cover how to make another person look good.
(Take the time to make them shine.
Stand behind the lectern.
Create excitement for what the group can learn rather than explaining that the speaker was selected because she walks on water. Really. No one can live up to that.)
But everything you need to know is here in Adam Grant”s blog comments. Read them please so that you – and your speaker – can shine.
