Stop Introducing Yourself (Nobody Cares Yet)

We have all been there. The lights dim, the first slide appears, and the presenter spends the first ten minutes reciting a verbal resume. We learn about the founding date of the company, the geographic spread of their offices, and a slide full of logos that looks like the back of a concert t-shirt.

It is professional. It is polite. And it is a total waste of the most valuable three minutes of your presentation.

The hard truth of business storytelling is that your audience does not care about you yet. They care about their own problems. When you lead with your credentials, you are asking the audience to do work they aren’t ready for: you are asking them to care about the "Who" before they understand the "Why."

The "Hero of the Story" Problem

In most business decks, the company positions itself as the hero. We are the innovators. We are the award winners. We are the ones with the global reach.

But in a successful presentation, your company is not the hero. The client is the hero. Your company is the mentor—the character who shows up with a map and a tool to help the hero get where they need to go.

If Luke Skywalker is the audience, you are Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan didn’t start their first meeting by showing Luke a PowerPoint of his Jedi Academy certifications; he started by talking about the Force and the problem at hand.

Try a "Hook" Instead

If you want to maximize audience connection, you have to prove you understand their world before you ask them to enter yours. Move your bio to the end and try opening with one of these three strategies instead:

• The "Current State" Reflection: Describe a scene they recognize. "Right now, there is a team in your office spending six hours a week on a report that exactly nobody reads. Today, I want to talk about how we stop that cycle." This identifies a shared enemy (wasted time) immediately.

• The Counter-Intuitive Start: Challenge a common belief to create curiosity. "Most people think more data leads to better decisions. If that were true, nobody would ever make a bad hire again. The problem isn’t a lack of info; it’s a lack of a story to explain it."

• The "Day in the Life" Micro-Story: Put a human face on the data. "Last week, I spoke with a manager named Sarah. She spends 40% of her day just translating technical updates for her bosses. She’s an engineer, not a translator. Here is how we give her that time back."

Earn the Bio

Credentials matter, of course. Nobody wants to buy a bridge from someone who has never built one. But credentials should be the "proof" that follows the "promise."

Once you have identified the problem and teased the solution using a hook, then you can mention why you are qualified to deliver it. At that point, the audience is actually listening.

They are looking for a reason to trust the person who just described their life so accurately.

The Wry Reality

Your professional bio is undoubtedly impressive. Your mother is likely very proud of your 2014 "Innovator of the Year" award. But your audience is currently wondering if they have enough time to check their email or order a salad before you get to the actual point of the meeting.

Don’t give them the chance to drift. Kill the "About Us" slide at the front of the deck. Move it to the middle, or better yet, move it to the very end.

The Closer

Presentation structure is about momentum. Starting with a biography is like trying to start a car in fourth gear; it’s heavy, it’s slow, and you’ll probably stall.

Start with the insight. Start with the story. Start with the "Why." Once they are nodding along with your understanding of their problem, they will be more than happy to ask who you are.

-BZ