“How to Introduce Yourself” – HigherEdJobs

Introducing yourself can be challenging, whether you are addressing a class for the first time, it’s your turn to speak at a meeting, or you’re prompted by a job interviewer to “Tell me about yourself.” There are many ways to explain who you are, such as your chronological biography or your character traits, and your approach must depend on the setting and your audience’s expectations.

Here are a few things to consider before you deliver your introduction:

It’s Not All About You

This might seem counterintuitive, but introducing yourself should be about what’s in it for the audience. Otherwise, you’re talking to yourself. Sure, people might genuinely care about you, but they want to learn something about you and how knowing you will benefit themselves or others. Can they relate to you? Do you have anything in common that they can use later to connect with you? Will you be a resource for them in their studies or work? Remember these questions before you start telling your life story. This doesn’t mean you should avoid sharing details about your career or where you attended college, but think of offering something that a listener can easily remember and associate with you.

Be Unique and Authentic

If you dread taking up the spotlight, you might deflect the attention to your students or colleagues. But that’s not the objective of an introduction. Saying things like “I’m all about student success” and highlighting your “servant leadership” or other self-effacing platitudes will not make you memorable or useful to the audience. Give them an anecdote or story that excites you so they can follow your lead and understand the value you bring. Explaining why you are different from other candidates or people within your profession doesn’t have to be a self-promotion sales pitch, nor should it expose you as an imposter. Instead, reveal your humility to your audience, which leads to the next point.

Disarm Your Expertise

If you work in higher education, especially if you’re a professor, you likely have credentials or titles that raise the expectation that you are an expert. This can be intimidating, both for you to live up to your expert status and for audiences that presume themselves inferior. A good way to break this tension is to start your introduction by sharing your vulnerabilities. Brené Brown nails this, fittingly, by introducing herself for her TEDTalk about vulnerability by explaining how she reluctantly arrived at calling herself a researcher/storyteller.

Keep It Short

No one likes a speaker who yammers on and on and about themselves, but that doesn’t mean the listener is just waiting for their opportunity to speak. Research shows that you can be more likable for talking despite what self-help experts like Dale Carnegie or Stephen Covey would say about self-interest or empathic listening. This is because listening is an opportunity to discover common ground. Just keep in mind to value your listeners’ time more than your own. Keep your introduction or responses short and proportional to the time allotted for the presentation or interview. Most often, an introduction should be about 45 seconds, but it should be shorter if it’s your turn in a going-around-the-room situation in a meeting and longer if you’re delivering a conference presentation or, like Brown, a TEDTalk.

Have a Smooth On-Ramp

Typically, when you’re introducing yourself, you are cued by someone else and you must complete the introduction. This can feel awkward and clunky. Avoid using lazy introductory phrases like, “For those who don’t know me,” or repeating whoever spoke before you by saying “Like he said, my name is (…) and I’m here to (…).” Have a quip or segue to your introduction ready that’s relevant to your topic or occasion for meeting. Even in situations when people are prompting you, like in a job interview, briefly connect to the audience with something you’re about to talk about, such as observing how the campus is similar to a previous place where you worked.

Assume People Like You

In most situations when introductions are necessary, the audience cares about what you have to say. A job interview is one. But for conferences or campus events, people wouldn’t be there if they weren’t open to meeting someone new. Many people feel reluctant to talk about themselves because they think the other person doesn’t care. When you encounter someone new and you treat them as if they are a friend, the other person will most often reciprocate, mirror your energy, and find you likable. This doesn’t mean becoming a phony; it’s having an agreeable default setting for social interaction. Don’t assume all listeners are cynical and want to reject you. You don’t need to prove yourself worthy of attention in an introduction. If you start by thinking that you are wasting their time, you probably will.

Taking the above advice, try using these three techniques for an effective introduction:

#1 Past-Present-Future

Formulate your introduction by walking your audience through these three chronological steps: 1.) The past, telling the audience where you’ve been and what you’ve accomplished; 2.) the present, who you are now and what you’re doing; and 3.) the future, what you’d like to do next. This approach, suggested by Andrea Wojnicki in her Harvard Business Review article, is great for job interviews when candidates need to deliver a succinct response with clear transitions between past, present, and future, which lends itself to the story arc (exposition, rising action/climax, resolution).

#2 “I” and “You”

There are two characters in your story that matter: you and the listener. Make it obvious by repeating “I” and “you.” Doing this helps create a sense of intimacy or exclusivity. Academics tend to avoid using “I,” especially in their writing, because they want to credit a source or other expert. “I” is authoritative — “I did this” or “I am able to do that” — instead of describing yourself passively as a product of your environment. Remember, the audience wants to identify with a person, not an abstract idea or organization. But to avoid coming across as completely egocentric, you must create balance and reciprocal connection by including “you” in your introduction to make others feel included. Say something like, “I am the type of person who can help you do X,” or “You can rely on me to manage that project because of my experience doing X, Y, and Z.” Using “I” and “you” in your introduction is a subconscious way to appeal to the listener’s selfish biases while also injecting your story into their frame of mind.

#3 Flagging

If you ever find yourself rambling through an introduction, stop by proclaiming what you want the listener to know. Make it obvious. Collect your thoughts and say something like, “This is me in a nutshell: I am …,” “If you remember one thing about me, it’s this …,” or “A consistent theme throughout my career is …” This technique is called flagging, and it’s used for spokesperson and executive media training to get the talking points across to a reporter by summarizing the message.

I will conclude this article by planting a flag for you: the three takeaways for effectively introducing yourself are to be considerate enough to be succinct and relatable, brave enough to be vulnerable, and original enough to be yourself.