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Introduce technical symposium

Introducing speakers at a technical conference

A member of alt.org.toastmasters asked:

"Fred" is in charge of introducing the speakers and reading their bio's at a technical conference of approx. 300 attendees and seeks advice on the proper way to read a long, technical bio? [which] are usually over a page in length and are usually  pretty boring.

[He's] having a tough time with speech speed and tones. When I read off a biography, it just seems to turn into one long, monotone sentence. I'm fairly comfortable leading a discussion but  this is a new experience for me.

Fred 

I empathize with you. 

In Toastmasters we say that the introduction builds a bridge between the speaker and the audience. 

By inference, boring intro - boring speaker. 

To a large extent you may be constrained by the symposium's house policy - are you the only introducer, or are chairing only one of several sessions. 

If you are on your own, you may have more freedom. If you are one of many, you may have to meet a standard, or perhaps you can negotiate a standard with the other introducers and the speakers. 

Options you may like to consider are: 

• Publishing the full bio in the conference proceedings and limiting the oral introduction to one or two highlights - in consultation with the speaker; 
• Asking the speaker to read the bio to you well before you go on stage. When they see how complex and uninteresting it sounds, they may be willing to condense it. 

Not enough people realize that written language and spoken language are very different. This may help them understand If there is no way out, you may try this with the bio as is: 

To avoid the one long sentence: 

Punctuate with one or two word separators. 

Years may work: 

1991 was elected to the academy off ...... 

1993 was awarded the Nobel Prize for .... for 

Alternatively, the punctuator may be a location or company or institution 

University of Colorado: Graduated with honours .... 

IBM: Received employee of the month award for work in ...

John Sleigh has been applying adult learning principles to training design and workplace communication projects since 1988.

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