How to give a good self-introduction speech

5 ways to prepare a short effective letting-them-get-to-know-you speech

What do you say when asked to talk about yourself to a group of people who don’t know you?

Perhaps they’re new business colleagues. Maybe they’re the people you’re going to work closely with over the next few months on a new project. Or new classmates and everyone has to give a small speech about themselves.

Or maybe you’ve joined Toastmasters International because you’ve decided you want to learn how to present well and now you have an icebreaker speech to prepare.

About 16 years ago that was me, a brand-new member of Toastmasters with a large dose of the jitters because I didn’t know where to begin.

The possible territory was vast and the terrain hugely variable. It lurched between the glorious, yet fleeting, sunlit highlights of professional and personal success and the boggy swamp of dithering indecision and ‘could do better’.

What happened was an impassioned spiel. I waved my arms around energetically. I emoted and I shared, and shared, and shared some more. About language, and how I loved it. About theatre, about literature, about teaching, about being an introvert…

When I finally stopped, I was over the set time limit. Not by a little but a lot. Fortunately, the members of my club were kind and patient. I was, after all, a newbie with much to learn.

Memories of standing in the clubrooms clutching a sheaf of papers, the print-out of my first speech for Toastmasters (TM), have rushed back over the last few days, as I’ve prepared: Help to master your icebreaker step by step (with examples) from topic choice, to preparation, to delivery.

Call it an icebreaker for TM that you’ve got to give or a self-introduction speech for new business colleagues or classmates, the step-by-step guidelines with examples will help you pull together a short, effective speech relatively painlessly and quickly.

Have a look and see. Or have a look and a listen. I recorded my example speech, and this time around it’s just the right length.

As per usual, I hope the article is useful for you, and that your week is going well.
Until next time,
Kind regards,
Susan

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