Should I tell my audience how happy I am to be speaking here in front of them today?The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience” Your Speechwriter: “This is a classy way to begin a speech. It shows a proper level of respect for your audience.”Your Director of Business Development: “You must tell your audience how happy you are to be there. We don’t want to offend anyone.”You: “I would feel rude if I didn’t tell everyone how happy I am to be there today. Plus, this will give me time to calm down and figure out what I want to say before I really get going into the speech.”Your Audience: “We don’t give a d*%n if you are happy to be here at this stage of the relationship (we just met you a few seconds ago). Why don’t you forget talking about yourself for a few minutes and tell us something that is interesting to us. And if you do talk about yourself, make sure it is actually interesting and is not a boring, mundane, trite cliché like “I’m happy to be here this morning.’”

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”

How should I ask to be introduced to my audience?

What the experts say:

Your in-house communications expert: “Just print your standard 2-page bio and let your introducer read it.”

Your PR Representative: “Be sure to remind people of every media appearance you have made in the last 5 years.”

You: “I’m feeling a little insecure, so I better convince them of my credibility with credentials. Of course they will want to know that I made the honor society all four years in high school and they need to know about every single career accomplishment. Otherwise they won’t listen to me.”

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Your Audience: “For crying out loud, don’t let your introduction go longer than 30-45 seconds. Tell us the one or two things that make you an expert on the subject you are about to address. Tell us what you have donet that directly has an impact on what we do. We really don’t care about where you went to school, your children, your dog or where you like to vacation. Please be selective in what you have your introducer tell us about you. We know you wrote your own intro, so don’t make the it longer than your speech.”