Sounds odd, but why risk having the audience judge you in your first couple of sentances when you could have already partially informed them before your main presentation?
I was fortunate enough quite recently to see Ranulff Fiennes present, now if you have never heard of Ran as he is affectonaly known, he is best described as the greatest living adventurer. He has a reportoire of stories that will simply amaze you and keep you gripped to the edge of your seat, however the introduction his colleague gave before he spoke was somewhat dull, laborious and didnt set the audience on fire.
If you ever need to present to a large audience, and there is a compere holding the show together, always ensure you prepare an introduction for the compere to follow. If, you arent well known as Ran (myself included), your intro should qualify you so that you get the audience to appreciate your authority and give you kudos before you say a single word, this will help you deliver a punchier message as you have already established your base credentials.
There isnt a single roule to follow, as it will depend on the audience and topic, but compere scripts should include:
who you are
what is your background
any qualifications or research that is relevant to the talk
any startling data e.g. advisor to the Home Office, guest presenter on BBC etc etc.
what you are here to discuss
Write out the script for the compere to follow to the letter. The rest is up to you, but keep it short and punchy, 2 minutes max.
