Introducing a Guest Speaker:How Easy Or How Difficult ?

In the beginning of my journey as L&D professional some 20 years back, I found introducing a Guest faculty quite an awkward experience, till I got the real secret to strike the balance. If you are one of them who also  find it an exhausting exercise, then you are not alone.  75 %  of the L&D professionals, who need to do it often, find it cumbersome  to introduce a new speaker to the audience.  Why ? Well, because it is a fine art of an introducer, how s/he sets the tone of the MUSIC, before the real SONG begins.  

The first thing that captures our attention isn’t the speaker or the material. It’s the person who introduces the speaker.  Some introductions energize the speaker and seem to leave the audience excited to hear from the speaker. 

Best introductions avoid these mistakes :

1. Don’t read the speaker’s biography

Sometimes, introducers walk up to the stage with a written biography, and proceed to read it verbatim. This amounts to regurgitation (of information) , and is a mistake for several reasons.

1.    First, it’s boring.   Bios are usually written to inform, not to fascinate.

2.    Second, a typical bio doesn’t  hold the audience’s attention. The goal is to raise the audience’s curiosity, not cover the speaker’s entire life history.

3.    Third, and most importantly,  that even if introducers are armed with a short, punchy bio, they usually trip up when trying to read the words. We can  give a 45-minute speech from memory without missing a beat, but stumble through reading a few words that are right in front of me? We are used to reading silently, not out loud in front of large groups, and the stress of the introducer becomes very clear.

 Here is a sample introduction of a speaker (say Dr. Subramanian Swamy)

Sample introduction: Dr Subramanian Swamy

While introducing persons like Shri Subramanian Swamy , we wonder which identity of his  do we focus more ? His enormous contributions in the field of Economics, Statistics or then in Politics and an assertive reformist makes us think which element of his identity is dominant in Mr.  Subramanian Swamy .

Now nominated Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha, 6^th time MP and a former Cabinet Minister. He started his innings in  politics after his stint as a Professor of Mathematical Economics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Before that he did his PhD in Harvard and taught  there.

He is known for his Hindu Nationalist views and many of you must be aware as to how he saved the Ram Sethu after winning a legal battle. He is known for his role of a whistleblower from time to time for different reasons. His oratory skills are reputed to be powered by his conviction. We are privileged to have him here.

 It is recommended , if one has few minutes time , to quickly draw a Mindmap (a wondertoolof Tony Buzan) in a piece of paper or making it on a suitable Mobile app. This saves an introducer from awkward practice of reading out an introductory speech.  Visual memory of the brain hardly betrays at stress moments, but a sequential recollection can. 

 Fig:  A Mindmap of a sample Profile 

2. Don’t give away the speaker’s content 

q  Introducers should avoid the content altogether. It’s fine to explain the relevance of the talk to the audience,without divulging the message or the conclusion. You can also create a curiosity gap.

q Pose a question that the speaker might answer, and the audience will be intrigued to find out more.

q For instance,  it works well when introducers simply say, “Today’s speaker will take our assumptions to a  new  horizon about what drives success .” 

The Power of Visualization

This is a true story relating to  the power of Visalization. It is about Natan Sharansky, an Israeli Minister, a human rights activist and author who, in the Soviet Union during the 1970s and 1980s, once spent nine long years in different Soviet prisons, on charges of espionage.

  Out of this period, he spent around 400 days in solitary confinement in a small prison cell with very inadequate food and clothes. 

 A chess prodigy and, aged 14, Natan  was a champion of Donetsk, his native Ukrainian town.  He could play more than one game simultaneously in his head visualizing them (without using  a chessboard) . "But in prison it became clear why I needed this," he recalls. In his  empty, freezing prison cell, with none to converse, he played games in his mind, having to move for both sides, white and black.  "Thousands of games - I won them all."   He did this to maintain mental sanity, he added. His imaginary opponent in all these games was the formidable chess champion Gary Kasparov of Soviet Union.

Many years later, strangely,  he had the opportunity to actually play with Kasparov, when the Chess Champion had visited a gathering of Chess players.  Natan was one of the players seated with 25 players and Kasparov was playing with all of them simultaneously. Ultimately , whereas all others were lost and out within no time against Gary Kasparov, Gary and Natan carried on for a long time had to eventually stop in a stalemate condition . 

All those visualized games with Kasparov has gone deep into his subconscious mind so deep that he had been very confident not to lose, preempting evey move from his opponent, he said once.

The above story shows how visualization does wonders .Call it the Law of attraction or the Secret or Flow, I leave it to the readers to guess.  But yes, the phenomenon seems to work for me. whether it is public speaking, or a game, or an interview, it makes the mind ready by enabling the subconscious mind.  Like muscle memory, this kind of simulation is enabling brain muscles to do wonders.

Prayer and Action

I am starting with an interesting story. There was a Cruise ship which was about to sail with hundreds of passengers. The weather was calm and sunny. The passenger were eager and excited and wanted to know why the ship is not moving yet. They soon learnt that the Captain of the ship is on a praying session with his staff. The captain always did that for many years. Some passengers were getting impatient and started criticizing this gesture of the Captain, as to why in such a lovely weather we should not make the most . 

Soon, the ship started and it was so much of fun all the day through. In the late evening, however, the weather got suddenly inclement followed by a turbulent storm in the mid sea. The ship started tilting in dangerous ways. Passengers got really frightened and some of them started praying and soon others suggested that why not approach the captain of the ship so that he could join in the mass prayer and guide all on how to pray to avoid such crisis.

They went to the captain and conveyed their feeling. The captain with his gentle smile said that he had already done his part . He started to sail after the prayer. Now it is the time of action for him and his team. All others can do the prayer if they so wish. How beautifully the captain conveyed that prayer and action have their distinct role in our lives. Prayer is also  not the  best  when it is   loaded with motive and  done as a last resort. What is more, prayer and action work wonderfully if the occassions  for both of them are honoured. Taking  the same analogy to Stephen Covey's First things first principle, it can be said that Q2 (non urgent and important things)  are done by a  wise person as a matter of habit, much before the arrival of a  a crisis. Ironically for some people, Q2 does not deserve any attention till it shakes them well . However,  due to reasons inknown, if  Q1 ( Urgent and Inmportant situation) suddenly announces its arrival it is the time to handle Q1 only with all the focus and energy. When it is fire , it is more important to put off the fire, than to dig a well for getting water. Both Q2 and prayer deserve a special attention during peace time for a steady and blissful sail.