How to Introduce Yourself Before Giving a Seminar

Stand up straight.

Standing up while you present makes it clear who is giving the seminar. Stand up at the front of the room a few minutes before your presentation starts to assert yourself and project confidence and authority to the audience. Remember, you’re the expert in the room that everyone’s there to listen to! If you sit down while you give a seminar, you risk looking like just another attendee. This can also help if you’re feeling a little nervous before giving your seminar. A powerful stance helps you feel more confident in yourself as well.

Smile at the attendees.

This exhibits enthusiasm and confidence. Look around the room and make eye contact with different audience members, flashing a friendly smile as you do so. Be genuine and natural, as if you’re in a room full of friends or family, and avoid holding your smile for too long. Smiling is another thing that can help you feel confident about your presentation before you get into it. This is because it releases endorphins that can calm down anxious feelings. Your presentation instantly comes from a very strong place when you start with a big smile, lots of energy, and lots of volume.

Chat with people before the seminar starts.

Casually speaking with your audience makes you more likeable. Greet people as they come into the room and take their seats to welcome them and thank them for coming. Ask audience members questions, such as questions to find out what brings them to your seminar. For example, if you’re giving a seminar about psychology at a university and you’re up at the front of the classroom with some audience members who are already seated in the front row, you can say something like: “Hi everyone, thanks for coming. Are you all psychology majors?”

Keep your introduction short.

Audiences have very short attention spans and long intros bore them. Try to limit your personal introduction to about 15-30 seconds. Believe it or not, you can probably fit everything someone is interested in hearing about you into that timeframe. Both you and the audience are probably eager to move quickly into the subject matter of the seminar! This is your chance to get the audience’s attention. If you go on too long about yourself before you even get into the content of your seminar, the people might just tune you out right from the start.

Start with your name.

It goes without saying that your name is an essential part of any intro. Greet the audience, thank them for taking the time to show up, and then tell them loudly and clearly who you are. It’s usually good to say both your first and last names, even if some people in the audience already know who you are. For example, say something like: “Hi everybody, thank you all so much for coming today. My name is Bob Johnson.” If you have any professional titles, such as “Doctor,” include those when you say your name as well.

State your company or profession.

This gives the audience an idea of why you’re there to give the seminar. For example, if you’re giving a professional seminar to people in the marketing industry, say which marketing agency you work for. Or, if you work at a university and you’re giving a research seminar, you can say what department you’re in at the university. For instance, say something like: “I’m with Creative Consulting LLC.” Or, say something like: “I work in the marine biology department.”

Say what your specialty is.

This lets the audience know what value you provide to people. Think of this as a statement about why you are qualified to be giving this seminar. You can either start this statement with “my specialty is…” or “our specialty is…” For example, say something along the lines of: “Our specialty is working with new companies to develop their brand’s identity.” Another idea is something like: “My specialty is studying local marine life along Washington’s coast.”

Give an overview of your background.

This could be your educational, professional, or teaching background. This provides your audience more information about the knowledge and skills you have to share with them. Don’t list your whole resume, but give a brief overview about the most important bits, especially anything you’re really proud of! For example, you can say: “I studied public relations and journalism at Washington State University and I’ve worked in marketing for almost 10 years now.” Or, say: “I’ve taught marine biology 101 and 209 here on campus for the past 8 years, as well as being involved in the research program for the past 5 years.”

Provide more personal info that you feel is important.

This is optional, but can help the audience get to know you a bit more. Think of any other general information or little tidbits about you that you’d like to share. This could be where you’re from or a fun fact about you, for example. It doesn’t have to be something directly related to the seminar topic, so feel free to show a fun or creative side of yourself! For instance, you could say: “I’m originally from Canada, but I’ve lived in Washington for half my life now.” Or, say: “When I’m not helping companies with their marketing strategies, I like to go skydiving.”

Introduce your seminar topic.

Transition into your presentation to keep the audience’s attention. Start by posing the central problem, question, or issue you’re there to address with your seminar. Give a brief outline of the information you’re going to cover with your presentation. This is what the attendees came to hear about, after all! For example, say: “In the past decade, we’ve seen a drastic reduction in the native whale populations along Washington’s coast. Today I’m going to compare the current whale activity with that of the 90s, discuss why the population has declined so much, and propose some ways to help the population bounce back over the coming decade.” It can be good to introduce your seminar topic intro with an attention-grabbing fact. For instance, if your presentation is about homelessness in Seattle, say: “Every night, more than 3,000 people sleep on the streets of Seattle.” It's also helpful to take the audience on a little journey into their won experience. You might start off with a statement like "Think back on your happiest childhood memory..." or "What was the scariest moment of your life?"

Practice your intro ahead of time.

That way, it goes smoothly when you actually give your seminar. Write down or print out your intro if it helps you practice and memorize your intro. Stand up as if you’re really presenting and rehearse your introduction multiple times until you have it down and feel super ready to go! Your whole intro might go a bit like this: “Hi everyone, thanks so much for coming today. My name is Sarah Ramirez and I’m with Red Door Recruiting. My specialty is recruiting for the finance industry. I studied business at USC and I’ve worked in recruitment for 5 years now. Every year, 25,000 students graduate from our state’s universities and start seeking employment. Today, I want to discuss some of the new platforms and technologies we have for finding and connecting with those new professionals.”