How do you remember people's names? How do you introduce yourself when networking so people never forget you? How do you introduce complete strangers with enthusiasm when you are suddenly asked to speak at a wedding or conference and introduce the next speaker or thank the host?
I am always remembered. My name is the same as that of the actress Angela Lansbury, a chance coincidence. But if I am just labelled with a badge as Angela I introduce myself as Angelic Angela.
At a recent poetry evening the poets were introduced solely by name, to save time. This was a great success. No preamble to the readers nor the poems. We cut the event from one and a half or two hours with an interval to one hour straight. We did not lose people at half time. Readers were not kept up late, nor peeved at being in the second half. Clapping was not allowed after each poem but saved to the end of the reading of two or three shorts or one long poem.
However, the presenter had no time to enthuse about anybody. i learned a useful tip at Toastmasters International (a worldwide organisation training you in public speaking - for everybody from beginners to professionals with standard and advanced speaker clubs). I have seen accomplished presenters who were called in at the last minute encouraging enthusiasm for each speaker and from each speaker by simply adding an alliterative word to the introduction of the speaker's name.
You can use one word with the name to signal to the speaker that they are to approach the microphone. Repeat, with two or three adjectives to fill in time as they walk to the microphone and increase the level of clapping. If you cannot make an alliteration with their name, ask for their trade, business, profession, qualification, subjects a student studies, or hobbies. For a themed evening call them all by the international or national titles, such as for a French evening, Madame Mary. Here are some suggestions:
A
Amiable Ada / Amy
Alluring Allison / Alistair
Amazing Ali
Amusing Amy
Angelic Angela
Artistic Arthur
Available Aunty ...
Awesome Accountant Anthony
B
Ballet dancer Beatrice
Bold Brian
Beautiful Brenda
Business woman Brenda
C
Campaigning Caroline
Charming Chong
Shapely Charlotte
Clap for Clive, Applaud for Claud
D
Dashing Dick
Delightful / Delicious / Debonair Donna
Delightful David
E
Easy-going Edith
Elegant Eleanor
Eligible Elizabeth
Energetic Eric
Extraordinary Extravert Emily
F
Fantastic Flora
Fabulous Fanny
Funny Fiona /
Friendly Freddy
Freewheeling Freda
Fred the financier
G
Game Gary
Glamorous Gloria
Gorgeous Gloria
Great Gareth
H
Hurrah for Hans / Henry
Hooray for Hilda / Hilary
Hopeful Horace
I
Impressive, Indispensable Ian
Intelligent Iris
J
Joyful Joy
Jolly James/ Jennifer
K
Kick-starter Kris
L
Laughing Larry
Lovable Lee / Leigh / Linda / Lim
M
Marvellous Malcolm,
Magical Michael
Marriageable Mary
Musical Morris
Marvellous Molly
Miss Mildred
Mister Morris
Amazing Miranda
Monsieur Michel
Madame Marianne
N
Not to be missed, No Nonsense, Know-it-all, Not now Nora/ Nick
O
One and only Olive / Olga
One and Only Oliver
Entrepreneur Olivia
P
Perfect Penny / Perfect Poet Peter
Pretty, Punctual Pamela
Pianist / Professional Poet Peter
Praiseworthy Pierre
Problem-solving Patel
Prize-winning Polly
Punctilious Pierre
Q
Quick-witted Queenie
R
Rich Richard
Riotous Richard
Rhyming Ricardo
S
Single Sarah
Senorita Suzanna
Senor Simon
Special Simon
Super Susan, Soothing Susanna
Super Sheng
Sir Singalong
Smashing Smith
Smiling Sidney
Successful speaker Sidney
T
Terrific Terry / Tony
Well-travelled Tina
Trained Teacher Tanya
U
Unmatchable, Unmissable, Unbeatable, Unforgettable Ursula
V
Victorious Victor / Veronica
W
Wonderful Wendy
Watchable Wang / Wong
Please Welcome Winning Winsome William!
X
Excellent, Exciting Xanthe
Y
Exciting Yvonne / Yvette
Your Yolanda
Youthful Yorick
Z
Zany / Zippy Zoe
Insults For Humorous Effect
(For a humorous occasion or contest, or an evening when everybody is already laughing, if you can say it with a smile and look as if you really like the speaker. Check in advance with speaker that they are happy to be introduced with this word) - if not then choose one from the list above
A
Always Late Alan
Awful Andrew
Accident-prone Alice - Mind the step!)
B
Blundering, Bullying, Bossy, Big-mouth Brian
C
Chatterbox Charlie
Complaining Carry
Crappy Clive
D
Dictator Dennis, Dennis the Menace
Drippy Dick
Drunk David
E
Ebullient Erudite Eric
Exciting, exhilarating Elizabeth
F
Facetious, Fat Freddy
Frail Florence ("A bit of a tongue twister")
Fussy Fanny
G
Galloping George
Grandfather George (works well with a speaker who is elderly or amusingly, absurdly with one who is very young such as a teenager)
H
Hard-to-please, Head in the Sand, Hopeful Harry
I
Indignant Ian
J
Jimmy Junior
K
L
Lovely Lizzie / Laura / Larry
M
My mother Mary (with somebody much younger than the speaker)
N
Naughty Neil
O
Old, Obstreperous, Obstinate Olive
P
Perfectionist Peter
Promiscuous Peter
S
Single, Scary Sarah
Small Sammy
Shouting, Shrieking, Shrinking, Shrink, Sheila
T
Tall, Trouble-maker Tommy/ Terence
Terrible, Terrifying Terry
Tippling, Tripping Tony
U
Ugly Uncle Jack
V
Vacuous Vera / Victor
W
Whispering Wanda /
Whining William
X
Everybody's X, Xanthe
Exciting, Exasperating Xavier
Y
Z
ZZZ - put you to sleep Zoe
To find a compliment, take an insult and reverse it. To find an insult, take a compliment and reverse it.
Some of these are rather unsuitable, and so will be your first thoughts. But if you keep brainstorming, you will eventually find something suitable pops up. You can do the same alliteration with Indian and other ethnic names - it might help the audience to quickly catch the initial letter or ending with a rhyme. For example
Amiable Ade, Adorable Ade
Marvellous Mina
Super Seema
Happy Hina
Make a list of all the VIPs or committee members who are likely to be at the meeting, making speeches, or awards.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, speaker, speech trainer, presenter, toastmaster of the evening, stand in registrar at wedding rehearsals. (I conducted an impromptu mock wedding rehearsal for photos and videos in the last of the sunlight when the lost registrar was late for a sunset wedding in Singapore in Feb 2016.)
I am currently (2016) a member of two Toastmasters clubs in London, Harrovians (past president), HOD (past secretary and current committee observer), judge and chief judge at speech competitions in Singapore.
I am always remembered. My name is the same as that of the actress Angela Lansbury, a chance coincidence. But if I am just labelled with a badge as Angela I introduce myself as Angelic Angela.
At a recent poetry evening the poets were introduced solely by name, to save time. This was a great success. No preamble to the readers nor the poems. We cut the event from one and a half or two hours with an interval to one hour straight. We did not lose people at half time. Readers were not kept up late, nor peeved at being in the second half. Clapping was not allowed after each poem but saved to the end of the reading of two or three shorts or one long poem.
However, the presenter had no time to enthuse about anybody. i learned a useful tip at Toastmasters International (a worldwide organisation training you in public speaking - for everybody from beginners to professionals with standard and advanced speaker clubs). I have seen accomplished presenters who were called in at the last minute encouraging enthusiasm for each speaker and from each speaker by simply adding an alliterative word to the introduction of the speaker's name.
You can use one word with the name to signal to the speaker that they are to approach the microphone. Repeat, with two or three adjectives to fill in time as they walk to the microphone and increase the level of clapping. If you cannot make an alliteration with their name, ask for their trade, business, profession, qualification, subjects a student studies, or hobbies. For a themed evening call them all by the international or national titles, such as for a French evening, Madame Mary. Here are some suggestions:
A
Amiable Ada / Amy
Alluring Allison / Alistair
Amazing Ali
Amusing Amy
Angelic Angela
Artistic Arthur
Available Aunty ...
Awesome Accountant Anthony
B
Ballet dancer Beatrice
Bold Brian
Beautiful Brenda
Business woman Brenda
C
Campaigning Caroline
Charming Chong
Shapely Charlotte
Clap for Clive, Applaud for Claud
D
Dashing Dick
Delightful / Delicious / Debonair Donna
Delightful David
E
Easy-going Edith
Elegant Eleanor
Eligible Elizabeth
Energetic Eric
Extraordinary Extravert Emily
F
Fantastic Flora
Fabulous Fanny
Funny Fiona /
Friendly Freddy
Freewheeling Freda
Fred the financier
G
Game Gary
Glamorous Gloria
Gorgeous Gloria
Great Gareth
H
Hurrah for Hans / Henry
Hooray for Hilda / Hilary
Hopeful Horace
I
Impressive, Indispensable Ian
Intelligent Iris
J
Joyful Joy
Jolly James/ Jennifer
K
Kick-starter Kris
L
Laughing Larry
Lovable Lee / Leigh / Linda / Lim
M
Marvellous Malcolm,
Magical Michael
Marriageable Mary
Musical Morris
Marvellous Molly
Miss Mildred
Mister Morris
Amazing Miranda
Monsieur Michel
Madame Marianne
N
Not to be missed, No Nonsense, Know-it-all, Not now Nora/ Nick
O
One and only Olive / Olga
One and Only Oliver
Entrepreneur Olivia
P
Perfect Penny / Perfect Poet Peter
Pretty, Punctual Pamela
Pianist / Professional Poet Peter
Praiseworthy Pierre
Problem-solving Patel
Prize-winning Polly
Punctilious Pierre
Q
Quick-witted Queenie
R
Rich Richard
Riotous Richard
Rhyming Ricardo
S
Single Sarah
Senorita Suzanna
Senor Simon
Special Simon
Super Susan, Soothing Susanna
Super Sheng
Sir Singalong
Smashing Smith
Smiling Sidney
Successful speaker Sidney
T
Terrific Terry / Tony
Well-travelled Tina
Trained Teacher Tanya
U
Unmatchable, Unmissable, Unbeatable, Unforgettable Ursula
V
Victorious Victor / Veronica
W
Wonderful Wendy
Watchable Wang / Wong
Please Welcome Winning Winsome William!
X
Excellent, Exciting Xanthe
Y
Exciting Yvonne / Yvette
Your Yolanda
Youthful Yorick
Z
Zany / Zippy Zoe
Insults For Humorous Effect
(For a humorous occasion or contest, or an evening when everybody is already laughing, if you can say it with a smile and look as if you really like the speaker. Check in advance with speaker that they are happy to be introduced with this word) - if not then choose one from the list above
A
Always Late Alan
Awful Andrew
Accident-prone Alice - Mind the step!)
B
Blundering, Bullying, Bossy, Big-mouth Brian
C
Chatterbox Charlie
Complaining Carry
Crappy Clive
D
Dictator Dennis, Dennis the Menace
Drippy Dick
Drunk David
E
Ebullient Erudite Eric
Exciting, exhilarating Elizabeth
F
Facetious, Fat Freddy
Frail Florence ("A bit of a tongue twister")
Fussy Fanny
G
Galloping George
Grandfather George (works well with a speaker who is elderly or amusingly, absurdly with one who is very young such as a teenager)
H
Hard-to-please, Head in the Sand, Hopeful Harry
I
Indignant Ian
J
Jimmy Junior
K
L
Lovely Lizzie / Laura / Larry
M
My mother Mary (with somebody much younger than the speaker)
N
Naughty Neil
O
Old, Obstreperous, Obstinate Olive
P
Perfectionist Peter
Promiscuous Peter
S
Single, Scary Sarah
Small Sammy
Shouting, Shrieking, Shrinking, Shrink, Sheila
T
Tall, Trouble-maker Tommy/ Terence
Terrible, Terrifying Terry
Tippling, Tripping Tony
U
Ugly Uncle Jack
V
Vacuous Vera / Victor
W
Whispering Wanda /
Whining William
X
Everybody's X, Xanthe
Exciting, Exasperating Xavier
Y
Z
ZZZ - put you to sleep Zoe
To find a compliment, take an insult and reverse it. To find an insult, take a compliment and reverse it.
Some of these are rather unsuitable, and so will be your first thoughts. But if you keep brainstorming, you will eventually find something suitable pops up. You can do the same alliteration with Indian and other ethnic names - it might help the audience to quickly catch the initial letter or ending with a rhyme. For example
Amiable Ade, Adorable Ade
Marvellous Mina
Super Seema
Happy Hina
Make a list of all the VIPs or committee members who are likely to be at the meeting, making speeches, or awards.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, speaker, speech trainer, presenter, toastmaster of the evening, stand in registrar at wedding rehearsals. (I conducted an impromptu mock wedding rehearsal for photos and videos in the last of the sunlight when the lost registrar was late for a sunset wedding in Singapore in Feb 2016.)
I am currently (2016) a member of two Toastmasters clubs in London, Harrovians (past president), HOD (past secretary and current committee observer), judge and chief judge at speech competitions in Singapore.
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