At Rave Speakers, we’ve booked thousands of standing ovation speakers and we’ve been onsite to ensure the successful delivery of these great orators. And we’ve witnessed some memorable introductions. One that stands out is an event that Jackson Life Insurance did a few years ago at The Grand Ol Opry in Nashville for their top performing sales people. The introduction wasn’t a pre-produced video nor was it “the Voice of God”–it was Michael Buffer.
When Michael Buffer hit the stage in his famed tuxedo and the microphone came down from the ceiling above the lone spotlight on him, you honestly felt like you were sitting ringside at a Title Boxing Match that Michael is so well known for introducing. And then came these words:
“LET’S GET READY TO RUMMMMMMMMMMMBLE!!!!”
THAT was probably #1 on the All Time best way to properly introduce a speaker.
INTRODUCING YOUR CELEBRITY KEYNOTE SPEAKER
At Rave Speakers, we travel with NBA Legend and hugely popular business motivational speaker Magic Johnson to many of the corporate speaking engagements he does. Since everyone asks for the best introduction of Magic Johnson, he shares in advance of your meeting a 2-minute introduction video that is professionally produced with high-energy music and a voice over track that just gets your entire audience on their feet for Magic to then walk on stage. Most celebrity keynote speakers will have a pre-produced video like this. If not, your production team will no doubt be prepped with adequate video and photos of your keynote speaker to build your own short intro video.
SPEAKERS HAVE PROMO KITS FOR YOUR INTRODUCING USAGE
So the add-on of Michael Buffer isn’t in the budget this time around. That’s okay too! A Business keynote speaker who’s a bestselling author or an authority on a specific subject may not have a 2-minute intro video to play for your audience before they come on stage, but that speaker will have an Introduction that has already been written for you to use. It’s typically your meeting emcee or the executive who’s on stage tasked with the role of introducing that keynote speaker who’s going to read this likely from a teleprompter, but this will be a short and sweet pre-written piece that should check all of the boxes. And if it doesn’t, you can always feel free to ad lib.
A COUPLE OF MONTHS BEFORE YOUR MEETING
Many meeting planning professionals want to not only create excitement about their upcoming keynote speaker, but they need to best promote their keynote speaker to attract more attendees. One way to best accomplish this task is to have your speaker make a 30-second promotional video. “Hi there I’m Wharton Professor and bestselling author Adam Grant and I’ll be your keynote speaker on October 12th in Orlando. I’m sure looking forward to seeing you all at this year’s National Association of Realtors Convention!”
Any keynote speaker will agree to make this promo video, and it certainly can be tailored to your specific needs.
ONCE YOUR KEYNOTE SPEAKER TAKES THE STAGE
Be prepared to prep your keynote speaker in advance of the names of the key executives in the audience and especially the name of that person who just introduced the speaker. Those initial Thank You’s from the speaker once they take the stage carry alot of weight with this organization.
RAVE SPEAKERS WILL ASSIST WITH YOUR KEYNOTE SPEAKER’S INTRODUCTION
Should you have any questions or worries about this part of the meeting process, Rave Speakers’ Logistics team is here to help. Email us anytime at info@ravespeakers.com or text (310) 614-8653. Your meetings success is our only priority.
