Another place we tend to get passive as speakers is in the bio/introduction—what is going to be said and by whom. And, once more, the organizers will only be grateful when we are proactive. The best thing about tackling the introduction in advance is that we can off-load the bragging we often feel obliged to do in order to gain credibility. For our Charlottesville TEDx, we promised our speakers a thoughtful, rich, thorough, personal, generous, and loving introduction. This meant that our speakers could jump right into their talk rather than reassuring the audience they were worth listening to. Our phenomenal Emcees (pictured here are Kellie Sauls and Richard Averitt) spent lots of time researching the introductions and ran everything by the speaker and their coach to ensure that the intro elevated the speaker without giving away the content of the talk. It is not only hard to talk about our own credentials, it can sound desperate, narcissistic, or sales-y, and runs the risk of putting the audience off. It also takes away from the purpose of the talk—not to talk about ourselves, but to talk about our work in the world. Here’s what I recommend…Read on.