A great way to ensure that an audience pays careful attention to your presentation is to establish your credibility to speak on the topic from the start. There are two ways to achieve this. Firstly, you can introduce yourself and your background before launching into the presentation proper. Alternatively, you can use my favorite approach, which is to ask someone else to introduce you. This is the common format at conferences and seminars, however it can also be used in workplace and other situations. It can be as informal as the meeting chairperson telling others a little about you and why they should listen to you before you start speaking. For example, if you are invited to speak to clients about a new product or service your colleague can introduce you and boost your credibility with the audience at the same time.

‘John Smith has five years  of experience of implementing new training solutions very successfully. He will now explain how you can do this within your company.’

We all have expertise and knowledge that others want to understand and so you do not need to be a senior executive to use this method Taking control of how you are introduced, can be a really powerful way of establishing credibility and starting a presentation whoever you are.