Likewise, try to shorten the bio you give the host — who will likely read it in a monotone. For example, if I were a host introducing Scott, it might go something like: “Our speaker was one of the driving forces behind Internet Explorer during the original browser wars. He’s since written best-selling books about project management and innovation. Please join me in welcoming Scott Berkun.” Chances are the audience knows this already, but a couple of sentences are enough to get them to stop talking and focus up front — just in time for Scott to take the focus.

Incidentally, as a long-time purchaser of major IT software systems, I offer the same advice to vendors. I don’t care who you are, who funded you, or anything else except how your solution will address a real problem I have. If you convince me of that, only then will I care about the rest of it.

You have only a few minutes — some people say seconds — to capture the audience. Use that time to set the tone, to reach out to the people who have come to listen to you.

(At any rate, that’s how I approach it. Scott has interviewed many speakers far better than I, and is a better speaker himself.)