How to Introduce People

Will practice with a pleasure! Love

Will practice with a pleasure!
Love it!!!

No doubt, video could be helpful.

Greetings from Poland,

Paul

Yet ANOTHER “small” thing I

Yet ANOTHER “small” thing I didn’t know I could do better! Thanks. And a great piece of timing: I listened to it on the way in this morning, and found the opportunity to try it out at a breakfast reception. I found it easy to easy and natural to use.

One of my findings – and I’m not sure if you guys will agree – there’s a natural tendency to face the person as you say his name. So – you’re facing AWAY FROM the person for who’s benefit you’re saying the name! Let me see if I can describe this: I say to the first person “John, I’d like to introduce you to Charlie McFarlane” and as I said Charlie’s name, I found myself naturally turning to Charlie. And in a noisy reception room, that made it a little harder for John to hear the name of the person I was introducing him to!

I hope this observation makes sense – it’s a bit subtle. But try to say the person’s name loud enough and directly enough to the person you’re introducing him to so he hears it. Don’t turn away as you’re saying the most important piece of information – the name!

Best wishes,
-Hugh

Hugh- Thanks for the comments. I

Hugh-

Thanks for the comments. I realize now we didn't make that as clear as we could have - you're right!

Mark

I love premium content. It's great to

I love premium content. It's great to see that Mike's actually scripted to say "Lookit."

Seriously though, having a transcript of the shows allows google search to find content in individual casts. Great innovation!

Excellent cast. Very clear description

Excellent cast. Very clear description even without video.

Question: While I haven't used this exact process, I find that many of those I'm introducing will interrupt my introduction and introduce themselves before I get to the second part of the introduction. It's like they can't wait until I finish because they're staring at each other and it's comfortable.

Any feedback?

Jim

Jim- Let them. The purpose of an

Jim-

Let them. The purpose of an introduction is to help two people meet each other. While their interruption might technically be considered a faux pas, the only thing worse would be to attempt to thwart the faux pas while hindering the whole reason for the interaction in the first place.

This reminds me of the carrying to extremes of grammar brilliantly expressed by Churchill ( I am aware of the arguments against this provenance, but find them overly precise), expounding on prepositions: "This is the sort of English up with which I will not put."

Mark

Hi, For the last one week I am not

Hi,
For the last one week I am not able to open the podcasts. It gives me an error saying "Error Opening File". Could you kindly suggest possible solutions?

Thanks
Jacob

Jacob, Typically, the problem is a

Jacob,

Typically, the problem is a bad download in your browser cache. If you clear your browser cache, you should be fine. If you are trying to access from work, it is possible that your network folks have restricted access to our hosting site in an attempt to manage network bandwidth. It doesn't happen often, but it has happened to several folks. If that is the case, you may wish talking to them about removing the restriction. If they are unwilling to do that, send me a private email and we'll figure out a way to give you alternative access.

regards,
Mike

What happens if you can't recall the

What happens if you can't recall the name of the person you want to introduce?
Is it good to ask for the name?
If so, when is the best time to ask for the name, before or during the introduction process?

This may sound funny, but it happened to me that I ran into an old acquaintance of mine while taking a walk with a friend. With the rush of the situation, the surprise moment, etc. I simply couldn't recall the acquaintance's name. I left my friend and the old acquaintance un-introduced, making them and myself feel very uncomfortable.

Thanks
Andreas

Hi - you mentioned in this episode that

Hi - you mentioned in this episode that you had previously released a podcast on how to introduce yourself... Could you point me to which episode contains this important bit of knowledge (I can't seem to find it with the search tool).

Regards,

Ron

Andreas- Use my favorite name and

Andreas-

Use my favorite name and introduction technique: simply ask.

You can ask either after you've started - once you've said the "senior" person's name, turn to the junior and ask - or before you say the senior's name.

Allie, do you know... please forgive me but I have forgotten your name! ...do you know Noah Calhoun?"

Or, I'm sorry, I've forgotten your name. Noah? Okay. Allie, do you know Noah Calhoun? Noah, this is Allie Nelson."

Either way is completely fine.

Mark

Thank you Mark! I appreciate your work

Thank you Mark!
I appreciate your work here a lot!

@rjholohan: There are two members-only podcasts that partly talk about how to introduce yourself:

1. http://www.manager-tools.com/2005/12/december-2005-member-only-podcast/
2. http://www.manager-tools.com/2006/10/interviews-the-introduction/

Andreas

I just started listening to your pods

I just started listening to your pods and I'm listening to the second feedback pod. Great information. I am already sharing this with my direct reports so they in turn can share witih their direct reports. Where do I find the one on one tracking form? Thanks again for a great job!

Thanks, ali_alm ... you'll find the

Thanks, ali_alm ... you'll find the 1-on-1 form here: http://www.manager-tools.com/podcasts/Manager-Tools_One_on_One_Basics.do...

Regards,
Mike

There's another nice facet to this

There's another nice facet to this intro technique: most people forget names from time to time. So when you say, "Patti, do you know Fred Smith?" you are often helping folks who may have met last year at an offsite but have forgotten each other's names. Your intro has saved them the awkward "I forgot your name..."

John

Hi guys - GRRREAAAT job! Having just

Hi guys - GRRREAAAT job! Having just completed 45 years of consulting Internationally ( even though I am still abroad) I can confess to a weakness and a - well really my personal - work-around.
At most parties and other meeting events my wife and I were together. I can remember faces, events, locations, discussions, etc. BUT NO NAMES. My wife comes to the rescue: SHE remembers the names after she has heard the occasion when we met. Well, it works for us.

Keep up the good work.

muffelputz

John- Sorry this took me so

John-

Sorry this took me so long....BRILLIANT catch. We had hoped someone would get that one.

My mother would be proud of you. And she's not even proud of ME!

Mark

I used this method today and it worked

I used this method today and it worked very well. It felt a little formal, but sounded professional. Thanks guys.

Additional Guidance

Hey guys,

Listened to the podcast today and as always great advice.  I was wondering what you think about the advice of adding some additional details when introducing people to stimulate conversation.

This is generally how I do it:

"Allie, do you know Noah Calhoun? Noah, this is Allie Nelson.  Noah has just joined our team in Accounting and Allie is the VP for Product Development.”

or

"Allie, do you know Noah Calhoun? Noah has just joined our team in Accounting. Noah, this is Allie Nelson; Allie is the VP for Product Development.”

Though the idea isn't specifically to share job titles but really to give a little bit of information so one or the other parties involved can immediately engage with one-another.

good

hey,guys~i wonder if all of you are here listening to this piece.it's a wonderful pod~

Here's what I'm needing to

Here's what I'm needing to know about introductions...what if you FORGOT the person's name and you need to introduce them to your spouse/family/friends who just walk up. This is embarrassing~