How do I introduce the Keynote Speaker to help the audience have the right mindset?

Setting the expectations of the audience helps greatly in the ultimate success of your event, and so too with the success of a Keynote Speech. Here are a number of things you can do to help the audience have the right mindset before and during your event.

The goal of this article is to give you some practical things you can do to introduce the Keynote Speaker so you can help the audience make the most of the event with the right mindset.

Introduction to the Introduction

Before the event, ask the Speaker how they want to be introduced. This will give you a starting point and some ideas on what works best in the Speakers experience.

The ask the Speaker for some inspirational content that can be shared with the audience before the event to help the audience get into the right mindset. This can be in the form as quotes, articles, videos, or Social Media posts.

Start announcing the Speaker as soon as you start announcing the event and use the Speaker as a way of emphasising your key messages by presenting them as an external authority on the subject.

The Introduction

An introduction is a short, sharp, shock. This means that great introductions have three qualities; 1) they are short, so they only talk about the essentials, 2) they are sharp, so they are to the point and are direct, 3) they shock, so they provocative and challenge the assumptions of the audience.

Start with a short introduction on the topic or message the Speaker is going to talk about. Only then say something, very short, about who the Speaker is, where they are from, etc, because who the Speaker is less important than what they are going to talk about. The goal of this is to create clarity in the mind of the audience.

Next keep the introduction sharp by emphasising the key message, challenge, or topic the Speaker is going to discuss. And remind the audience of the relevance of this because of the current context of your organisation. The goal here is to create a sense of urgency in the mind of the audience.

What you are about to hear is going to be clear, relevant, and thought-provoking.

Finally, stimulate the audience with a shock in the form of a provocative statement, challenge, or quote from the Speaker. The purpose here is to keep the audience on their toes and create the scene for an open-minded conversation.

This type of introduction says to the audience: ‘what you are about to hear is going to be clear, relevant, and thought-provoking.’

Reintroducing

The key to having a lasting impact from a Speech and Event is repetition. Indeed, the best way to learn anything is by first having an 'immersive experience’ as a deep-dive into material for a day or more. And then to be reminded, repeatedly in ‘spaced repetition’ about this material for 30 to 90 days to transform this material into daily habits. For more insights, check out our article: Four Questions to Ask a Keynote Speaker.

Following this line of thing is the opportunity to remind people repeatedly after the event about the key messages from the Keynote Speech. Every opportunity there is to talk about the Speaker after the event link a concept, or key message, to their name. For example, ‘Paul Hughes who reminded us that Innovation is not a role but a mentally’, or ‘Paul Hughes who showed us that we already who what we need to do’, or ‘Paul Hughes who told us the story of ‘sugar’, etc. The goal here is to use the Speaker as a way of emphasising your key messages by presenting them as an external authority on the subject.

To learn more about how Paul Hughes’ Keynote Speeches can help your organisation grow Request a Quote.