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Is there a magic formula for preparing a self-introduction for your presentations? If you’re like a lot of the people who come to our site, you probably wish there was because so many of you want to know how to introduce yourselves. Or perhaps you wish you could make yourself disappear so you don’t have to give the presentation at all! 🙂

Presentation Magician

But what if you could learn how to introduce yourself from a presentation magician? I can hear you asking yourself, Did he just say a presentation magician?? Yes, that’s exactly what I said, a presentation magician! Let me explain…

You see, I recently met, I think, the world’s only presentation magician. And if there are others, then he’s got to be the best.

To be perfectly honest, I had no idea what a presentation magician was, but now that I do, I want to introduce him to you because he has a great example of how to introduce yourself.

“Please welcome to the stage…”

Okay, enough suspense… I’m very happy to introduce to you, Charles Greene III from Washington, DC. For those of you that are confused by the “III” at the end of Charles’ name, it stands for “the third.” This means that he is the third person in his family to have the name Charles. So here’s some background on Charles from his website Charles Greene.

“Charles Greene III is a true Presentation Magician. Working with Fortune 500 companies, he’s a magical spokesperson who delivers product and marketing messages at conferences around the globe.

Through his company Corporate Shuffle, Charles has presented at meetings in Bermuda, China, Egypt, France, Mexico, Monaco, Sweden, and, of course, the United States. His clients span a variety of industries and include 3M, Alcon, Coca-Cola, Clorox, Frito-Lay, Johnson & Johnson, Panasonic, and Wells Fargo. His unique presentations have been featured in numerous publications including Robb Report, Successful Meetings and The Wall Street Journal. He’s even been quoted in Reader’s Digest.

Charles Greene is very well known inside the world of magic. Charles has been awarded top honors by The International Brotherhood of Magicians and Siegfried and Roy for his performing skills. He’s appeared on the cover of the largest international publications in the magical arts, Genii, Magic, and The Linking Ring. Charles is a frequent contributor to magic journals, usually writing articles on the business side of maintaining a magical career. He is a member of Hollywood’s Magic Castle, and of London’s Magic Circle.”

How I know Charles

Pretty impressive credentials, huh? I’ve been fortunate to have gotten to know Charles over the last several weeks because we both have an interest in making videos with our iPhones. Charles saw my review of an iPhone mic and got in touch with me. We’ve been getting to know each other through email ever since.

Charles’ Introduction Video

Charles told me he was working on a video for his website and was very excited about finally doing it. I told him that I would be happy to share it with you. So last week, Charles made a fantastic video to introduce himself and it blew my socks off! I thought you would really benefit from seeing a great self-introduction sample and now I can show you one from a true pro.

Go ahead and click the image below to watch the video and then read about why Charles’ introduction is so good.

If YouTube is unavailable in your area, click the following link to download the video or watch in your browser: Charles Greene III Self Introduction (Length 1:29)

What Charles Does

There are four things Charles does that you should keep in mind when introducing yourself.

1. Background and Experience

Right after Charles says his name, he tells us about his work and how he has been doing it around the globe. The explanation is short, to the point, and is impressive because he gets our attention. He gets our attention by telling us he has global experience with large companies.

If you’re not as experienced as Charles, you could talk about a major accomplishment that quickly highlights your expertise. Maybe you have published many research papers, or you’ve been the number one performer at your job or in school. Those are things you could say at the beginning like Charles does.

2. Services Provided

After his experience, Charles explains that he leads presentation workshops. What he does well here is to tell us his expertise in a very specific way. He also describes a major benefit…that his training can help businesses right away.

In your case, you could talk about what you do better than others and how it can be a benefit for your audience.

3. Call to Action

Once Charles has finished talking about his background, experience, and services, he tells us where we can learn more. In this case, he tells us to connect with him because he provides weekly presentation tips on LinkedIn. The call to action is very important because you must tell them what to do if they want to get more information or if they want to implement your ideas.

For example, if you told your audience a solution to a problem, you could tell them the first step they have to take to implement your solution.

4. Preparation and Practice

Charles has over 20 years of experience, so he has practiced many times to become so smooth in his delivery; however, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t need to prepare and practice. Every good presenter knows that preparation is critical to presentation success. Therefore, take extra time to prepare and practice if you want to appear confident and give a good impression.

One more thing…

Notice how Charles didn’t speak fast?? His timing and rhythm are very good and it’s very easy to understand him. So if you’re not a native English speaker, don’t worry about speaking fast… just worry about your timing and rhythm and practicing a lot.

There you go, I hope you learned a lot from Charles and apply what you learned about introducing yourself in your next presentation.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks.

Carl