5 Steps of an Onstage Introduction
Whether you are a public speaker or music artist, you will find it necessary to be able to introduce yourself at live in-person and online events. Your introduction needs to be crafted in a way that tells the audience important information about you, holds their attention, and is succinct and straightforward.
In you onstage career, you will receive three types of introductions:
Perfect introductions where the host presents your name and all relevant information about you correctly.
Botched introductions where the host says your name incorrectly and/or makes mistakes regarding your background information.
No introduction at all.
The following five steps will help you navigate your introduction to your audience regardless of having a host introduce you or not. Keep in mind that every audience is different and will require some level of customization for your introduction.
Start with your name. Always start with your name, especially if you are not the headlining name. It can be something as simple as, “Good evening ladies and gentlemen, my name is _____, and I’d like to thank you for joining me this evening.” Starting with your name reinforces a good introduction, gently corrects bad introductions without making the host look bad, and serves to present yourself to the audience if there is no host introduction.
Butter up the audience. Greet your audience graciously like you’ve invited friends into your home. Examples of this can be, “You’re an amazing crowd so give yourselves a big round of applause!”, or “You could have chosen to be anywhere this evening, but you chose to spend your time here with me, and that means the world to me!” Make sure that everything you say to your audience is paired with an action, and avoid open-ended questions. For example, instead of asking, “How’s everyone feeling tonight?”, tell the audience, “Make some noise if you’re feeling good tonight!”, or, “Give yourselves a big round of applause for being such a great audience!”
Thank the organizer(s). If applicable, make sure to acknowledge and thank the organizers of the event or concert. Organizers can include the venue, promoter, host, sponsors, and headliner. Expressing appreciation for their efforts and hard work can go a long way for your future booking prospects.
Drop your socials. It’s advantageous to tell your audience your social media handle during your introduction. If they like what they see and hear during your performance or presentation, there will be audience members who take pictures and videos with their phones and they can tag you when they upload those content pieces. Make sure that your social media handle is the same across all the platforms that you use so that you don’t have to list each platform one-by-one because you have different handles.
Introduce your song, idea, or product. You have several options for this portion of your introduction. If it’s a song, you can introduce the song by telling the audience what it means to you or what it’s about. If you choose this option, please make the explanation short and sweet. There are few things more annoying to an audience than a five-minute explanation about a two-minute song. Another option is to ask the audience about a specific emotion or need by a show of hands. For example, “Put your hands up if you’ve ever had love and lost it,” or, “By show of hands, who here has ever struggled with fundraising strategies?” Again, pair every question or statement with an action item. Do not leave open-ended questions hanging in the air because you will receive minimal audience interaction that way. The last option is to go directly into the song or into presenting the product or idea without consulting the audience until later in the event.
In the end, it’s not about staying on a script but instead about knowing your talking points well enough to be able to adapt them in real-time depending on the type of event and audience in attendance. These five steps should be used as time-proven guidelines but not as unchangeable rules. Let them guide you and you’ll do well introducing yourself!