October 6, 2025 • 13 mins
Ever watch the room drift during a seven-minute bio read?
We’ve all been there, so we/me (host Denny Corby) built a reliable way to introduce speakers that actually lifts the energy, respects the audience, and makes your guest feel like a headliner.
In this fast, focused walkthrough, we share the exact
60-second structure we use onstage:
gather attention with a clean opening line, deliver a sharp hook,
explain why this person matters to this audience right now,
hit two or three punchy highlights (save the best for last),
then pause and say the name, clear and strong.
We dig into the vibe check that shapes tone and pacing,
from playful member nights to heartfelt legacy awards to post-dinner experts who need polish without stand-up flair.
You’ll hear practical note-taking methods, short phrases, generous spacing, top-right placement, so you can glance down and pop back up without losing your place.
We talk rehearsal the right way, practice out loud, in the actual room if possible, mic in hand, so the mechanics are muscle memory and your presence feels calm and ready.
Then we get real about the don’ts.
no LinkedIn bios, no podium walls, and never skip the microphone in a chatty room. Plus, a few pre-stage rituals to steady your energy.
smile before you step up, shake out the nerves, and embrace that brief quiet while the audience settles.
If you’re tempted to use AI for phrasing, we show how to treat it as a brainstorming partner without losing your voice. By the end, you’ll have a simple, repeatable intro formula that respects time, builds anticipation, and sets your speaker, and your event, up to win.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hey everybody, welcome to the Private Club
Radio Show, where we give youthe scoop on all things private
golf and country clubs frommastering leadership and
management, food and beverageexcellence, member engagement
secrets, board governance, andeverything in between, all while
keeping it fun and light.
Whether you're a club veteran,just getting your feet wet, or
somewhere in the middle, you arein the right place.
(00:20):
I'm your host, Denny Corby.
Welcome to the show.
In this episode, I'm going to goover how to give somebody a
proper introduction becausenothing kills a vibe faster than
a seven-minute bio read.
Or if you've ever just walked upon stage, smack the mic a couple
of times, and said, Is thisthing on?
This episode is for you.
This is your intervention.
(00:41):
Put the mic down, back awayslowly.
Let's talk about how to actuallyintroduce someone without losing
the room.
Here we go.
You see, a good intro, a goodintroduction when you set the
tone for the speaker, for theaudience, for the person who's
about to come up for the wholeevent.
And an intro isn't justinformation.
An intro is energy, it'sconnection, it's part of the
(01:04):
event.
It's you teeing up the nextperson so the audience is
excited before they even say aword.
If you get it right and you lookpolished, the speaker feels like
a rock star.
The audience is relaxed and theyare locked in, and that's super
important.
So I'm gonna share with you alla couple tips and tricks and
just things that I use to helpbring somebody up on stage in a
(01:26):
really great, fun way.
That gets the audience excited,it lets them know about them,
and it helps set the person upfor a successful talk, speech,
keynote, or whatever they'regoing to be talking to the room
about.
So one of the most importantthings is doing a vibe check of
the room.
What's the environment?
Who's in the audience?
Who is the audience?
What's the occasion?
(01:47):
What's the time of day?
All of those things help youcreate the intro.
If you're doing one for anentertainer for one of your
member event nights, maybe alittle Dunny Corby action, you
know, it's going to be light,fun, and playful.
If it's an award for a 50-yearmember, probably a little bit
more respectful, a little bitmore heartfelt, a little bit
more legacy.
(02:08):
If it's for a guest speakerafter dinner, professional,
energetic, but not maybestand-up comedy.
You know, the the vibe tells youhow much humor, how much hype,
how much reverence, and how muchneeds to be put into the entire
thing.
Now, once you understand andhave the room in check, you have
to have a little bit of astructure in place.
(02:28):
A great intro is not abiography.
A great intro is about 30 to 60seconds.
That's it.
And it should build like areally good drum roll.
Here's the formula that I liketo use.
And as I usually start, if it'sa cold start, that means the
audience is doing other thingsand you have to get the
attention.
I usually have about a line ortwo that just gets me on stage
(02:51):
and allows me to chat with andsay some words, some lines to
the audience, and just wordsover the microphone that lets
the audience know thatsomething's starting to happen.
Let's start quieting down.
And right after that, I like tohave a nice hook, a quick line
that gets the attention of theaudience.
From there, you want to talkabout the connection, why this
(03:12):
person matters to this audience.
What are they doing here?
Why are we bringing them here?
Why should these people listen?
Then you're gonna want tohighlight the person, two or
three punchy accomplishments,making sure you save the best
and biggest stuff for last.
And the last thing is the name.
Always said at the very end,nice, strong, clear, and with a
(03:36):
smile.
And sometimes you can even pausebefore the name a beat or two
for a little bit of a dramaticeffect.
And now let's give it up for,and then you say the name.
That little bit of that pause,that little bit of that angst.
People, people hang on thatstuff.
And here's a challenge for youat your next event that you have
to give an intro to somebody.
(03:56):
I always like to memorize thefirst line and the last line.
That way I can connect with theaudience a little bit more.
Worst case, if you have to takea peek or something, it's not a
big deal.
But in my head, I try tomemorize especially that first
or that last line, especially,so I can be connected, focused,
and dialed in with the audience.
So now that you have your introset and ready to go, let's talk
(04:17):
a little bit more about the preppractice, energy, stage tips and
what to do and what not to do.
Whenever possible, and this isfor if you're writing your own
intro for somebody else, uh Ilike to write it out on paper,
uh, not on my phone.
To me, I'm a I'm a I'm a paperperson, so I enjoy writing
things out and moving thingsaround.
And then once I have it have itwritten out, then I can type it
(04:39):
and have it typed out and uh setin the way that I like to do it.
Why I like to write it is ithelps me memorize and kind of
just get the feel and the vibeof the whole intro a little bit
more.
Also, when I write out myintros, I don't write out full
sentences usually.
I usually will do one or twowords or a couple key phrases.
(05:04):
And each phrase and each pointthat I need to say will be a new
line on the page.
And it's usually maybe upwardsof three, four, five, six words.
And I usually will keep it ifit's on a little note card or a
piece of paper that I keep in myhand.
I normally will keep thattowards the top right side of
(05:24):
the page because I want toengage and look at the audience
as much as possible.
So if I know I can just lookdown on the paper, I know it's
going to be in the top rightcorner or wherever my visuals
are.
And what the, what the what thelines do is it allows me to
quickly know where I left off.
Whereas as compared to if it's awhole intro and it's multiple
(05:48):
sentences in paragraph form, ifyou go to look up and look back
down, it's harder to find yourplace.
But I usually keep everything asa brand new sentence and spaced
really well.
And I also play with differentsizes of fonts.
Uh, I found usually 14 to 16.
Um, and I play with the spacing,um, usually works really, really
well for me when doing introsand things of that nature.
(06:11):
And very important is once youhave the intro set and ready to
go, I like to practiceeverything out loud.
So that means in the sameenergy, in the same tone that
you're going to be reading theintro from.
And more importantly, isespecially if you're a little
bit more anxious, a little bitmore nervous for things like
this, is to practice in theroom, even on the stage or where
(06:34):
everything is going to takeplace, even with the microphone
in hand.
Microphone doesn't have to beon, but very important, uh, I
just think it's a very importantskill to have microphone
management, but I'll save thatfor a different episode.
But just practicing and havingthe paper in the microphone and
everything in your hand.
And once again, for the love ofeverything, do not tap the mic
(06:55):
and say, is this thing on?
It's bad for the mic, soundpeople hate it, and just looks
unprofessional.
This is just my little thing.
I usually do a little t and thatlets me know how much of like
the microphone sounds comingthrough the speakers.
And then from there I'll justusually make a hello.
Like I'll just start a funny,because that's that's more my
(07:15):
style.
So I'll usually start justchatting in some capacity.
And Mike chat hello as thisthing on.
That's that's not my not my jam,and it shouldn't be yours
either.
Now here's a little bit aboutjust energy and stage tips, and
that is smile before you go upon stage.
Uh right before you go on andyou take stage and you're about
to get the attention.
(07:35):
Uh, I like to tell a joke tosomebody.
I like to I like to makesomebody smile.
Because when I do that, Iusually smile, and then that
gets me a nice natural smile tostart the interaction with.
And that's when you walk onstage.
If you have a smile and you'relooking up towards the audience
and the people there, eventhough everybody might not be
looking and engaging with you inthat moment, you can still at
least grab some of those peopleand they can see a nice, happy,
(07:58):
energetic, and ready-to-go face,someone who's confident, who's
ready to take the stage and takecommand.
Also, I like to jump around andloosen up a little bit, even if
it's only a quick thing onstage, a quick thing, long
thing.
I usually like to just jump upand down, shake it out uh for
just a you know a couple ofseconds.
Uh, just helps me loosen up andget some of that weirdness and
(08:19):
just stiffness out.
Um usually I don't do that infront of people.
Usually I'm like behind, youknow, somewhere.
Uh, but just, you know, justshaking it all out, getting all
the energy, getting all thegetting all the stuff out, and
then uh trying to put a smile onmy face as well, maybe getting
ready to tell a joke to somebodyand just getting ready for
what's what's about to happen.
And I'll say one of the thingsis just being okay with the
(08:40):
weirdness of that five to 15,sometimes 30 seconds on stage of
waiting for the attention andjust waiting for the control and
really waiting to give thatproper introduction when
everybody's ready and everyone'ssex.
I think that's one of like theworst things you can do is when
you have a speaker who's comingup, especially if they're maybe
not as well-versed in speaking,meaning they're not a
(09:03):
professional speaker by trade,and maybe there's up here giving
an appreciation speech orsomething of that nature.
It's, you know, it's sometimesvery nerve-wracking, as you
know, to be on stage.
And I think when you can waitfor the audience and wait for
that silence and wait for theattention, it sets it up better
for your speaker who's going tocome up.
Here's a few don'ts for you.
(09:24):
Don't read a LinkedIn bio.
Don't read a bio in general.
Nobody cares about their entireresume.
Remember, 30 to 60 seconds.
If possible, if you don't haveto, don't use a podium.
If you can avoid it, avoid one.
It's a wall between you and theaudience and connection.
Don't skip the mic.
If you are given one, use it.
(09:46):
Even if you don't think you'regoing to need it, use a
microphone.
That was one of my rules.
I violated at one of my lastevents.
It was still fine, but reallycould have used it.
When in doubt, don't skip themicrophone.
Always use a microphone,especially if it's something in
the very beginning and you needto get attention in a fairly
(10:07):
chatty room.
And here's a fun tip when itcomes to intros as well don't
forget, use chat GTP.
Chat GTP can be your friend, butdon't let it be your end all be
all, especially if it's anaudience that may or may not
know you.
They may or may not know yourvoice and your rhythm and your
pattern.
So you want to use chat GTP as atool to help you enhance and not
(10:31):
use it as a crutch.
So to me, it's always about,hey, giving it, you know, all
the info, all the proper inputs.
And then you're really justlooking for that one or two,
maybe a word or a phrase or aline, or just, you know, you use
it as as a as a sounding board,as a backboard to help enhance,
not use as a crutch.
(10:52):
Very, very important.
So there you have it.
Just a couple of tips on how tojust give a better intro.
We can dive into this so muchmore, and there's so is and
there is so much more to it.
But I thought I would just givea quick little overview, quick
little tidbit to help you in thenext time you're gonna give a
proper intro to someone onstage.
(11:12):
At the minimum, as long as youhave good energy and you know
the person's name and you cansay one or two key things,
that's gonna rocket more than ifyou just read off this long,
boring intro.
Let the person speak forthemselves, let what they have
to say speak.
But as long as you can just getup there with a smile, get the
attention, make everybody feelcomfortable, say a line or two
(11:33):
about how great the person isand what the audience should
expect, say their name nice andclear.
That's more than half thebattle.
Feel comfortable on stage, use amicrophone, and you're gonna do
great.
Hope you got something fromthis.
That's this episode.
Until next time, I'm your host,Danny Corby.
Catch you all on the flippityflip.
Hey everybody, welcome to the Private Club
Radio Show, where we give youthe scoop on all things private
golf and country clubs frommastering leadership and
management, food and beverageexcellence, member engagement
secrets, board governance, andeverything in between, all while
keeping it fun and light.
Whether you're a club veteran,just getting your feet wet, or
somewhere in the middle, you arein the right place.
(00:20):
I'm your host, Denny Corby.
Welcome to the show.
In this episode, I'm going to goover how to give somebody a
proper introduction becausenothing kills a vibe faster than
a seven-minute bio read.
Or if you've ever just walked upon stage, smack the mic a couple
of times, and said, Is thisthing on?
This episode is for you.
This is your intervention.
(00:41):
Put the mic down, back awayslowly.
Let's talk about how to actuallyintroduce someone without losing
the room.
Here we go.
You see, a good intro, a goodintroduction when you set the
tone for the speaker, for theaudience, for the person who's
about to come up for the wholeevent.
And an intro isn't justinformation.
An intro is energy, it'sconnection, it's part of the
(01:04):
event.
It's you teeing up the nextperson so the audience is
excited before they even say aword.
If you get it right and you lookpolished, the speaker feels like
a rock star.
The audience is relaxed and theyare locked in, and that's super
important.
So I'm gonna share with you alla couple tips and tricks and
just things that I use to helpbring somebody up on stage in a
(01:26):
really great, fun way.
That gets the audience excited,it lets them know about them,
and it helps set the person upfor a successful talk, speech,
keynote, or whatever they'regoing to be talking to the room
about.
So one of the most importantthings is doing a vibe check of
the room.
What's the environment?
Who's in the audience?
Who is the audience?
What's the occasion?
(01:47):
What's the time of day?
All of those things help youcreate the intro.
If you're doing one for anentertainer for one of your
member event nights, maybe alittle Dunny Corby action, you
know, it's going to be light,fun, and playful.
If it's an award for a 50-yearmember, probably a little bit
more respectful, a little bitmore heartfelt, a little bit
more legacy.
(02:08):
If it's for a guest speakerafter dinner, professional,
energetic, but not maybestand-up comedy.
You know, the the vibe tells youhow much humor, how much hype,
how much reverence, and how muchneeds to be put into the entire
thing.
Now, once you understand andhave the room in check, you have
to have a little bit of astructure in place.
(02:28):
A great intro is not abiography.
A great intro is about 30 to 60seconds.
That's it.
And it should build like areally good drum roll.
Here's the formula that I liketo use.
And as I usually start, if it'sa cold start, that means the
audience is doing other thingsand you have to get the
attention.
I usually have about a line ortwo that just gets me on stage
(02:51):
and allows me to chat with andsay some words, some lines to
the audience, and just wordsover the microphone that lets
the audience know thatsomething's starting to happen.
Let's start quieting down.
And right after that, I like tohave a nice hook, a quick line
that gets the attention of theaudience.
From there, you want to talkabout the connection, why this
(03:12):
person matters to this audience.
What are they doing here?
Why are we bringing them here?
Why should these people listen?
Then you're gonna want tohighlight the person, two or
three punchy accomplishments,making sure you save the best
and biggest stuff for last.
And the last thing is the name.
Always said at the very end,nice, strong, clear, and with a
(03:36):
smile.
And sometimes you can even pausebefore the name a beat or two
for a little bit of a dramaticeffect.
And now let's give it up for,and then you say the name.
That little bit of that pause,that little bit of that angst.
People, people hang on thatstuff.
And here's a challenge for youat your next event that you have
to give an intro to somebody.
(03:56):
I always like to memorize thefirst line and the last line.
That way I can connect with theaudience a little bit more.
Worst case, if you have to takea peek or something, it's not a
big deal.
But in my head, I try tomemorize especially that first
or that last line, especially,so I can be connected, focused,
and dialed in with the audience.
So now that you have your introset and ready to go, let's talk
(04:17):
a little bit more about the preppractice, energy, stage tips and
what to do and what not to do.
Whenever possible, and this isfor if you're writing your own
intro for somebody else, uh Ilike to write it out on paper,
uh, not on my phone.
To me, I'm a I'm a I'm a paperperson, so I enjoy writing
things out and moving thingsaround.
And then once I have it have itwritten out, then I can type it
(04:39):
and have it typed out and uh setin the way that I like to do it.
Why I like to write it is ithelps me memorize and kind of
just get the feel and the vibeof the whole intro a little bit
more.
Also, when I write out myintros, I don't write out full
sentences usually.
I usually will do one or twowords or a couple key phrases.
(05:04):
And each phrase and each pointthat I need to say will be a new
line on the page.
And it's usually maybe upwardsof three, four, five, six words.
And I usually will keep it ifit's on a little note card or a
piece of paper that I keep in myhand.
I normally will keep thattowards the top right side of
(05:24):
the page because I want toengage and look at the audience
as much as possible.
So if I know I can just lookdown on the paper, I know it's
going to be in the top rightcorner or wherever my visuals
are.
And what the, what the what thelines do is it allows me to
quickly know where I left off.
Whereas as compared to if it's awhole intro and it's multiple
(05:48):
sentences in paragraph form, ifyou go to look up and look back
down, it's harder to find yourplace.
But I usually keep everything asa brand new sentence and spaced
really well.
And I also play with differentsizes of fonts.
Uh, I found usually 14 to 16.
Um, and I play with the spacing,um, usually works really, really
well for me when doing introsand things of that nature.
(06:11):
And very important is once youhave the intro set and ready to
go, I like to practiceeverything out loud.
So that means in the sameenergy, in the same tone that
you're going to be reading theintro from.
And more importantly, isespecially if you're a little
bit more anxious, a little bitmore nervous for things like
this, is to practice in theroom, even on the stage or where
(06:34):
everything is going to takeplace, even with the microphone
in hand.
Microphone doesn't have to beon, but very important, uh, I
just think it's a very importantskill to have microphone
management, but I'll save thatfor a different episode.
But just practicing and havingthe paper in the microphone and
everything in your hand.
And once again, for the love ofeverything, do not tap the mic
(06:55):
and say, is this thing on?
It's bad for the mic, soundpeople hate it, and just looks
unprofessional.
This is just my little thing.
I usually do a little t and thatlets me know how much of like
the microphone sounds comingthrough the speakers.
And then from there I'll justusually make a hello.
Like I'll just start a funny,because that's that's more my
(07:15):
style.
So I'll usually start justchatting in some capacity.
And Mike chat hello as thisthing on.
That's that's not my not my jam,and it shouldn't be yours
either.
Now here's a little bit aboutjust energy and stage tips, and
that is smile before you go upon stage.
Uh right before you go on andyou take stage and you're about
to get the attention.
(07:35):
Uh, I like to tell a joke tosomebody.
I like to I like to makesomebody smile.
Because when I do that, Iusually smile, and then that
gets me a nice natural smile tostart the interaction with.
And that's when you walk onstage.
If you have a smile and you'relooking up towards the audience
and the people there, eventhough everybody might not be
looking and engaging with you inthat moment, you can still at
least grab some of those peopleand they can see a nice, happy,
(07:58):
energetic, and ready-to-go face,someone who's confident, who's
ready to take the stage and takecommand.
Also, I like to jump around andloosen up a little bit, even if
it's only a quick thing onstage, a quick thing, long
thing.
I usually like to just jump upand down, shake it out uh for
just a you know a couple ofseconds.
Uh, just helps me loosen up andget some of that weirdness and
(08:19):
just stiffness out.
Um usually I don't do that infront of people.
Usually I'm like behind, youknow, somewhere.
Uh, but just, you know, justshaking it all out, getting all
the energy, getting all thegetting all the stuff out, and
then uh trying to put a smile onmy face as well, maybe getting
ready to tell a joke to somebodyand just getting ready for
what's what's about to happen.
And I'll say one of the thingsis just being okay with the
(08:40):
weirdness of that five to 15,sometimes 30 seconds on stage of
waiting for the attention andjust waiting for the control and
really waiting to give thatproper introduction when
everybody's ready and everyone'ssex.
I think that's one of like theworst things you can do is when
you have a speaker who's comingup, especially if they're maybe
not as well-versed in speaking,meaning they're not a
(09:03):
professional speaker by trade,and maybe there's up here giving
an appreciation speech orsomething of that nature.
It's, you know, it's sometimesvery nerve-wracking, as you
know, to be on stage.
And I think when you can waitfor the audience and wait for
that silence and wait for theattention, it sets it up better
for your speaker who's going tocome up.
Here's a few don'ts for you.
(09:24):
Don't read a LinkedIn bio.
Don't read a bio in general.
Nobody cares about their entireresume.
Remember, 30 to 60 seconds.
If possible, if you don't haveto, don't use a podium.
If you can avoid it, avoid one.
It's a wall between you and theaudience and connection.
Don't skip the mic.
If you are given one, use it.
(09:46):
Even if you don't think you'regoing to need it, use a
microphone.
That was one of my rules.
I violated at one of my lastevents.
It was still fine, but reallycould have used it.
When in doubt, don't skip themicrophone.
Always use a microphone,especially if it's something in
the very beginning and you needto get attention in a fairly
(10:07):
chatty room.
And here's a fun tip when itcomes to intros as well don't
forget, use chat GTP.
Chat GTP can be your friend, butdon't let it be your end all be
all, especially if it's anaudience that may or may not
know you.
They may or may not know yourvoice and your rhythm and your
pattern.
So you want to use chat GTP as atool to help you enhance and not
(10:31):
use it as a crutch.
So to me, it's always about,hey, giving it, you know, all
the info, all the proper inputs.
And then you're really justlooking for that one or two,
maybe a word or a phrase or aline, or just, you know, you use
it as as a as a sounding board,as a backboard to help enhance,
not use as a crutch.
(10:52):
Very, very important.
So there you have it.
Just a couple of tips on how tojust give a better intro.
We can dive into this so muchmore, and there's so is and
there is so much more to it.
But I thought I would just givea quick little overview, quick
little tidbit to help you in thenext time you're gonna give a
proper intro to someone onstage.
(11:12):
At the minimum, as long as youhave good energy and you know
the person's name and you cansay one or two key things,
that's gonna rocket more than ifyou just read off this long,
boring intro.
Let the person speak forthemselves, let what they have
to say speak.
But as long as you can just getup there with a smile, get the
attention, make everybody feelcomfortable, say a line or two
(11:33):
about how great the person isand what the audience should
expect, say their name nice andclear.
That's more than half thebattle.
Feel comfortable on stage, use amicrophone, and you're gonna do
great.
Hope you got something fromthis.
That's this episode.
Until next time, I'm your host,Danny Corby.
Catch you all on the flippityflip.
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