First impressions are very important. Whether it is at school, work, or organization, your introduction is an audience’s first real chance to know you. It will have a huge impact on how they perceive you.
But the good news is: You get to control that narrative.
The key to a good self-introduction speech is balance. You want to present your accomplishments but without coming off as bragging. Typically, this type of speech is known as an “icebreaker” as it aims to break the ice and let others know you. This is your chance to establish good credibility.
Fear not! We will help you craft the best introduction speech with our outline, tips, as well as self-introduction speech samples.
Let’s get started!
Table of Contents
Self-introduction Speech Outline
What exactly do you need to cover in your introduction speech? You might choose to include a wide variety of information but there are some things you should not miss. Some of them are as follows:
- What is your name?
- Where are you from?
- What are some of your main interests and hobbies?
- What has been your passion in life?
- Who has been your role model?
- Any fun facts that make you stand out.
- Your credibility or job title.
Tip: If possible you should definitely include a visual aid in the form of pictures to compliment your speech. Pictures of you, your travels, family, or pets are always endearing!
Sample Introduction Speech Topics
Writing a self-introduction speech always seems easy at first. Besides, you definitely know yourself the best. However, once you begin writing you can find yourself getting lost. What do you want to include in this speech? So, grab a pen and scan through the topics in the list below. Circle any of the ones that speak to you so that you have a better grasp of what direction you’d like to take with your speech.
- What event has played an important part in shaping your life? Tell the story and the lesson you’ve learned.
- What is your goal in life?
- Where are you from? Is there anything about your culture or traditions that you’d like to share?
- How do you like to spend your time?
- What are some of your pet peeves?
- Do you have any special skills that you’re proud of?
- What does a day in your shoes feel like?
- What have been some of the most important milestones in your life?
- Have there been any difficult times that guided your life?
- What is a topic you could talk about for hours?
- What is an object that is dearest to you?
- What quirks make you the individual you are?
Sample Self Introduction Speech Objectives
Now that you have an idea on how to draft your outline, here are some objectives for you to tick off.
- First off, grab their attention. Just because it is your introduction does not mean that your opening has to be plain. Find something catchy and concise.
- Start with some background. Set up the stage and introduce who you are. Try to present it in chronological order.
- Build a story. The speech is about you but make sure you build a relatable story to keep the audience’s attention.
- Show, don’t tell. Instead of saying how reliable you are, tell a story that shows it.
- For conclusion, try to leave your audience with a takeaway. Whether from your experiences or from a relatable standpoint. Either that or you can build the story leading up to who you are right now and leave the stage on an inspirational note.
How to write a self-introduction speech?
Are you ready to write your self-introduction speech? We’ve got just the steps for you:
Write the outline
The outline of your speech is simply a skeletal draft of your speech. It can initially simply take the form of bullet points. What matters is you figure out what elements are going into the speech. Similarly, figure out what order you will be presenting these elements. Typically icebreakers follow a chronological order so that you can build up to the current you.
It is common to start with your roots. Pick out some childhood traits that are relatable or that make you stand out. You can build on this with stories, talk about your education, and go on to talk about how you got to where you are currently.
If you are introducing yourself in a work setting, make sure you link your interest to your ambition. It will project you in a good light to your superiors and will also make your hobbies a lot more relevant. This is also a great idea to keep your speech concise and to the point. From a professional standpoint, you should follow your hobbies with the steps you are taking to reach the goal. For example, “I’ve always been into sketching, but now I’m taking illustrator courses to put my designing skills to use.”
Including hobbies and interests
Your hobbies are a great insight into who you are in your free time. If you’re into a particular niche hobby like bird-watching or pottery, you might even end up finding others in the crowd with similar interests. Similarly, it is a great way to gain credibility on a certain subject.
When people talk about their passion, there is a certain twinkle in their eyes. This is such an endearing quality that is sure to get your audience to respond. Try to give a short insight into you pursuing the hobby or how you came about to discover it in the first place. It is much more effective than simply listing out your interests. Talk about what aspects of the hobby draw you to it. It can help the audience get the bigger picture in getting to know you.
If the icebreaker is being delivered in a much more formal setting, you might want to focus more on your personal skills than your hobbies. The audience there might be more interested in your soft skills than your love of photography.
It might help to list out all your hobbies, interests, and skills along with why you are drawn to those interests. It can help you draw a parallel between them and deliver a much more well-rounded speech.
Relevancy
Knowing a person is an endless process. We’re sure you must have gone through your own journey with highs, lows, milestones and learnings that could be their own feature movies. It can be difficult to decide what exactly gets to make it to the speech when all of it made you who you are. But the longer you pad your introduction, the less are the chances of people actually listening to it.
This is why your self-introduction speech needs to spend a good amount of time on the cutting floor as well. Assess your audience and try to think of it from their perspective. What is relevant? Also, think of the location and if your stories are appropriate for the setting. Make sure you respect the time by picking only the most relevant information and keeping it short.
Even if your usual style is something like self-deprecating humor, for this occasion try to present yourself in a much more positive light. You want to project confidence. This is the impression that most of these people are likely to remember, so make it a good one. Pick your traits and stories well.
Sell yourself
A self-introduction speech is almost always a great floor to pitch yourself. When else will you get this open invitation to present yourself to potential clients? Remember, the aim is to boost yourself and not boast about yourself. If you talk too much about what you can do and have done, it is easy to sound pompous and turn people off.
Try to stick to the truth. Instead of listing accomplishments by the dozens, talk about a passion you had and how you turned it into an accomplishment. Stay humble when speaking of future aspirations. And most of all, be grateful. Show appreciation to the people who have helped you so far.
How you sell yourself is not just dependent on the words you speak but also on your delivery. All the words in the world won’t be able to make up for a meek delivery. So make sure you write from your heart as that will be the easiest to deliver. Work on your build-up so that the ending is satisfying. Don’t just give an account for accomplishments by the year. For example: talk about how curious you were about animals from early on, how you got into photography because it lets you keep a moment with you forever, and eventually you got into animal photography. This way, it feels like a complete story.
In a more professional setting, you’d say, “As a freelance photographer, I used my marketing background to promote myself and stayed active in networking. I learned that creativity is wonderful but paired with due diligence, it can get you to much greater heights.” It showcases your skills, your traits, as well as shows you as an individual that is constantly reflecting, learning, and growing. This is the sweet spot you are aiming for.
Stand out
While we’ve stressed the importance of relatability and humility, it is also important to create your own place on stage. You cannot be yet another person with only music and travel as their interests. Think of things that make you unique.
Put your humble hat aside for a bit. If you’ve assisted in making a big project happen, mention it. Talk about how you’ve led a team through a crisis. Discuss your learning experiences. Present a before and after of a milestone to show how much a role has impacted who you are today. Even if the project wasn’t successful, you can talk about how you’d approach it differently in the present day.
Even for relatively common interests like travel, you can pick unique memories and what aspects of travel have changed you for the better. Take every opportunity to spin a story to showcase a trait or talent. Think of the unique things that make you, you.
Use short, simple sentences.
It can be easy to get lost in your stories. Try not to ramble too much and stick to the point. When writing your script, use varied sentence structures to keep things interesting. It will help if you read it out loud or record yourself so you can track how you’re doing. Try not to use too much jargon. Keep it simple and clear.
