Colloquium Speaker Introductions
Overview
Convention dictates that speakers are introduced by a
member of the audience. In our colloquium series,
students give brief introductions of our colloquium
speakers. The purpose of this is to provide some
background information about the speaker and to formally
welcome the speaker. Remember, you are an ambassador of
Albion College, so you want to make the speaker feel
welcome and help the audience better appreciate the
talk. The best introduction helps make a connection
among the speaker, the subject, and the audience. A good
introduction also focuses the attention of the audience
and encourages the audience to listen to the speaker.
I will ask for volunteers to introduce speakers.
Here are some tips that will help you prepare for a
good introduction:
- Know the speaker's name and how to pronounce it.
- Contact the speaker prior to the talk about your
introduction for appropriate background information
(current job title, educational background, research
interests, honors, awards, etc). Almost everyone will
have a resume or CV (an academic resume), and some
speakers may have a prepared autobiography.
- Prepare a written introduction. Send it to the
speaker to allow them time to review it.
- Learn about the subject by reading over the
abstract, background material from the speaker, and
other information as appropriate. Your goal is to help
make a connection between the material and the
audience. Why do you care about the topic? Why should
we care about the topic?
- Briefly meet with the speaker immediately prior to
the talk to verify you have everything correct. The
speaker wants you to do a good job!
Here are some things to do when making the
introduction:
- Be enthusiastic when making your introduction!
- Talk to the audience rather than reading your
prepared introduction.
- Generally avoid jokes, cliches (speaker needs no
introduction).
- Don't overdo the introduction or upstage the
speaker.
- Be brief (100-300 words) 1-3 minutes.
- Start with "Today our speaker is ..."
- Give the title of the talk at some point during the
introduction.
- Provide a short statement on why the talk will be
interesting to help engage the audience.
- End with "Please help me welcome Dr./Mr./Ms. ... to
Albion College." [applause follows].
For credit, you must submit a written introduction of
the speaker.
References
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