Whenever you stand up to present, you have something to prove. Granted, it can be daunting or uncomfortable to establish credibility. But if you’ve put in the preparation ahead of time to gain responsible knowledge and experience, all that’s left to do is to convince the audience.
We are currently in a 5-part blog series exploring the 5 goals speech experts say you should aim to accomplish in your introduction: get the audience’s attention, show the value and relevance of your ideas, establish your credibility, state your main idea, and provide a verbal map of the presentation.
Today, we are covering the third goal: establish your credibility as a speaker. For some presenters, this is the toughest goal. Why? Because it can feel unnatural or boastful to talk about yourself. But these three tips can help.
Use Another Method
If you can use another method to communicate your credibility, do so. That leaves you more time in the introduction to accomplish your other 4 goals. It also helps you avoid the awkwardness of “selling yourself” to the audience. If there is a conference or presentation program, ask to include your credibility information in that. In the publication, include your name, title, company, and any relevant publications, education, or experience. But focus on communicating the grand theme of your work, passion, and ideas rather than on compiling a list of specifics.
Instead of telling audience members how they can “contact me,” I like to tell them how they can “connect with me.” This allows me not just to share a phone number or email address, but it broadens the category of “contact” and allows me to share my social media sites, as well. Also consider etablishing a professional webpage which includes most of this information because it’s best to send them to one professional site. If you don’t have a professional page, try Wix, WordPress, or Adobe Behance to get started.
If printing your credibility information isn’t an option, many speakers are introduced by someone else. When you have someone else to introduce you, it takes the burden off of you to prove yourself to the audience. Just make sure to provide the introducing speaker with the information you want to be covered, and double check what is going to be said about you ahead of time.
Keep it Brief
Everyone has that friend who likes to go on and on about himself. Think about the feelings you have when that person continues to self-promote at length. Those are the same feelings many of your audience members will have if you draw out your credibility statement. Not good.
So keep it short and simple. Give them only the information that is relevant to this speaking occasion or this speaking topic. As you prepare to sell yourself, go back to goal #2: show relevance and value. Ask yourself how the information you are presenting about your credibility will serve the audience. If it doesn’t, edit it out.
In his article, “The Art of Shameless Self-Promotion,” Nathan Hangen gives a great tip: self-promote, but don’t self-adulate. He goes on to say, “The reason that self-promotion works and self-adulation doesn’t is because self-promotion is the art of spreading ideas, concepts, and a greater vision. Self-adulation is just the promotion of accomplishments, deeds that have already been done.” So focus on where your ideas are leading, not on that list of publications and degrees in the past.
Broaden Your Definition of Credibility
It’s important to remember that your credibility is not just what is on your resume or your CV. You can have the most impressive list of publications in the world, but if you stand up to present without charisma or authenticity, it won’t matter what your resume says.
Proving your credibility comes down everything that you do and say. Your goal is to convince the audience that you can be trusted and that you genuinely desire to connect with them and help them. (And this shouldn’t just be an on-stage display; it should come from a genuine desire).
In his 2018 article, “The Influence of Demographic Factors on What People Want from Their Leaders,” Barry Z. Posner found only marginal changes in how demographics like gender, age, ethnicity, and education affect our views of leaders. But his research noted 4 “fairly universal” leadership characteristics: honesty, competence, the ability to inspire, and a forward-looking mindset. So when you get up to speak, keep in mind what the audience really wants to see from you. Concentrate on demonstrating these 4 traits more than listing all of your accomplishments.
It can seem strange to self-promote, but it’s one of the major ways that our ideas gain momentum. After all, the audience won’t follow someone they don’t believe in or trust.
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