Public Speaking - Response to Introduction

The first important part of an opening is your response to your introduction.
From here on, what you say is very important because it characterizes you to the
audience. If you typically introduce yourself, you can skip this part for now and
review it when you do a presentation where you are introduced. A response to
an introduction is what you say to or about your introducer or what you say
about what your introducer said. Can I make that less clear for you?

For instance, if your introduction was too flattering and syrupy you could
say:

* After that, I can't wait to hear what I have to say.
* Now I know what it feels like to be a pancake with too much syrup on it.
* My mother would have been proud because you read that just like she
wrote it.

If your introduction was too long you could say:

* This is not the second coming.
* I have been feeling a little sick lately. I thought I had the flu, but I guess it
must be my eminence.
* If you had gone on about me much longer, I might have started to believe
some of it.

For an introduction that is too short you could say:

* That was the shortest introduction I have ever had. My life just passed
before my eyes and I haven't even been up here long enough to die.
* Hey! What happened to all that good stuff I paid you to say?
* I know I don't deserve all the nice things that WEREN'T said about me in
that introduction.

If you're doing a funny talk and the introducer is a GOOD friend you
could say:

* I normally don't allow a long introduction and in the short amount of time
* I gave you Joe, you were starting to screw that up.

If you're on a program with several big-name speakers you could say:

* Most of the speakers you've heard here today are like a Who's Who of
speaking. I'm more like a Who's He/She?

Sometimes you will get an introduction that is just bad. Say:

* Thank you very much for that INTERESTING introduction.
* If I'm going to bomb, I want to do it myself. I don't need your help. (Be
careful when, how, and to whom you say this one. You don't want to take the
audience out of in fun.)

A safe approach when you get a bad introduction is to just skip the response
and make general comments to the audience. You don't want to embarrass the
introducer.

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