How many times do you think
you've introduced yourself
to other people in your native language? Think about all
the new neighbors, other parents, colleagues, coworkers,
bosses, supervisors, doctors, nurses, bank managers, teachers
at the gym or your yoga studio. Think of all the people that you've
met in your life and how many times you've probably introduced yourself. You've done it so many times. You
don't even have to think about it. It's simply automatic. Not only that, but you can easily adapt your
introduction to any situation or any individual. Of
course, at a dinner party, you might be more relaxed and
use more personal information. Whereas at work, you're going to use
a more professional introduction. You automatically change your
introduction so that it's appropriate for that situation. But
what about in English? Recently? One of my students sent
me an email and said, Annemarie, I have many topics I want to improve. But one that would be very helpful
is talking about myself when I need to do an informal or
short introduction. For example, with colleagues and new clients.
Do you feel the same way? I'm Annemarie with
Speak Confident English. This is as always exactly where you
want to be to get the confidence you want for your life and work in
English today. In this video, you're going to learn a simple
structure you can follow so that you can easily introduce yourself
and adapt it appropriately to any situation, particularly at work. You'll also get three clear examples
of how to adjust your introduction for meeting new co-workers, introducing
yourself to a potential client, and when introducing yourself
in a business meeting or an online meeting. By the end of this lesson, you'll have a hundred percent clarity
on how to best introduce yourself and feel comfortable doing it
so that you can easily make connections and build
relationships with others. [Inaudible]. Let's get started right away with
step number one in how to best introduce yourself in English at work. The first thing you need to do is
decide whether this is a formal or casual situation. You already do this instantly
in your native language, but in English, your mind might be overcome
by other areas of stress. For example, the anxiety of having to communicate
in English or worrying about what might be the right thing to say. So in another language we do
need to consciously think about is this a formal or casual situation, because that will certainly
influence what you say. With more formal introductions,
we use more formal greetings. We're more likely to use a
title, for example, Mr., Dr., Or Ms. And we're more
likely to use first and last names as well. So that first decision is important
because it will determine how you adapt your introduction appropriately. Once you've decided whether this is
appropriate for a formal or casual introduction, step two is start
with a greeting and your name. It may be as simple as, Hey,
I'm Annemarie or hi everyone, I'm Rebecca. Or more formally
hello or good morning, I'm Rebecca Stewart. In an introduction,
particularly formal introductions, we tend to use our
given name or our formal name, but it's possible that you have a
nickname or there's a short form of your name that most people call you. So in this part of the introduction, you could certainly follow
up with something like, but please call me Becca or,
but everyone calls me Becca. So here's what that would sound
like. If we put it all together, Hey, I'm Rebecca, but please call me Becca. And then step three in our
structure for an introduction is to share relevant details and keep it simple. This is the most important and the most
challenging part of the introduction, because there are some big
decisions to make. For example, if you're meeting your boss for the
first time and you introduce yourself in English, talking about how much you love pizza
or how you can't wait to take some time off from work to go on vacation,
wouldn't be appropriate, right? The same is true if you're on an
international zoom call with colleagues in your industry. In your introduction, you wouldn't spend time talking about
your hobbies or whether you have kids. I know all of this
seems obvious and it is, it is obvious to us when we think about
introducing ourselves in our native language. But we struggle when we have
to do it in another language. When you have to introduce yourself in
English and you need to make a decision about which details are
relevant for this particular situation. Here's a question
that you should ask yourself. What does this person, or what do these people
need to know about me? What is most important
right here right now? A new coworker may want to
know what is your position or job title in the company? What is your role or problems
do you solve in the company? If they have a problem, can they
come to you to ask for help? Are you the right person? How
long have you been at the company? What do you like about working
there? Now of course later, as you get to know your new coworker, other more personal details will
become part of the conversation. But that first introduction is
thinking about what does this person need to know about me right now? If you're introducing yourself
to a potential new client, what they need to know the most in
that moment is what is your position? Why are they meeting with
you and not someone else? What is your particular area
of expertise or how are you going to help this potential
new client solve a problem? How will you be able to answer
any questions they have? And finally, if you're in a meeting or an online call
with peers or others in your industry, they will also want to know your
position or which team you're on within the company. They may
want to know where you're located, if you're part of an international company
and they would certainly want to know why you are on this particular call, what expertise do you have
that will be important in the conversation. Those are just a few examples
of what someone may need from you in the moment that
you're introducing yourself. Now in this third step, I said that you have to share
relevant details and keep it simple. Thankfully in English
introductions are typically extremely short. You don't need to spend a lot
of time talking about yourself. You don't need to give
your entire job history. There are situations where
that may be more appropriate. If you're giving a presentation
or you're lecturing, it would certainly make sense to give
a much longer introduction in that moment, but here in these
situations, keep it short, keep it simple. Remember you can always share
more and become more personal. If you want to ask the
conversation continues after the introduction. The last step of a successful introduction
is to end with a positive statement or a question. Once again, you need to think about the context
or the situation that you're in. Are you meeting a new coworker
in a casual situation where it makes sense to continue
a conversation after the introduction? If so, you would probably want to continue
that conversation by ending with a question so that you can start
to get to know your new coworker. But if you're in an online
meeting with 23 other people, that certainly is not the moment to
continue in a conversation with one other person. So instead you would quickly introduce
yourself and end with a positive statement, such as I'm looking
forward to our discussion today, I'm looking forward to working
with all of you on this project, or I'm looking forward to learning
more about your work and that's it. That's all you need for a simple, clear, successful introduction at work. Decide if it's formal or casual, start with a greeting and your
name share relevant details, keeping it simple and end with a
positive statement or a question now that you have that structure. Let's look at three clear
examples to put this into practice situation. Number one is you have
a new coworker or team member, a perfect introduction. It
might be hi, I'm Rebecca, but everyone calls me Becca. I'm the digital outreach coordinator
in the marketing department. What that really means is I'm responsible
for our social media presence. And I look for opportunities
to partner with other sponsors, community members or
social media influencers. If you ever have a social
media question or a great idea, I'm definitely your go-to
person. And what about you? Tell me more about what
you'll be doing here. Let's take a quick look at how that
introduction uses all four of our steps. First it's clearly casual, which is definitely the right
approach with a new coworker. We use a casual greeting with hi, and we use a first name
followed by a short name. Then the introduction includes the
job title and some additional details on what that job title really
means or what that person's role is in the company. And finally it ends on a positive
note by sharing how this person can be helpful to their new coworker
in the future. And with a question. And now let's take a look
at example, number two, an introduction that you might use when
meeting a new client or a potential new client. Hi, good to meet
you. I'm Rebecca Stewart, the digital outreach coordinator here, which means I'm the person who can answer
all your questions about social media partnerships. I'm definitely looking forward to getting
to know you better in this meeting today and identifying opportunities on
how we might be able to work together going forward. Once again, we have
all four steps in that introduction. It's slightly more formal
than our first example. And we can see that reflected in
the fact that in this introduction, the first and last name are included. There's a brief description of the job
title and the role or responsibility of this individual. And it ends with
a positive statement and finally, situation. Number three, an introduction you might use for
an online or face-to-face meeting. Good morning, everyone, Rebecca Stewart, I'm the digital outreach coordinator in
our Chicago office marketing department. I'm looking forward to learning more
about how our team can help you on this project today of our three introductions. That one is certainly the most formal
we've used a more formal greeting with good morning, and we've
included a first and last name. There is a very short statement with
the individual's job title and which team they're on in the company. They
also include where they're located. And finally, there's an ending
with a positive statement. Introductions in English can be much
easier than you think they don't need to be complicated or long. Following this simple structure
will help you successfully introduce yourself in a variety
of situations at work. And now the best thing that
you can do is practice. I would love for you to share an
example introduction with me and others in the Confident English
community, in a comment below. Think about a real
situation in your work life. Imagine someone that you may need to
introduce yourself to a new coworker, a new client, a new boss,
a potential partner. How might you adapt your
introduction to those situations? Follow the examples I've given here today. Practice with your own example
and share it with me below. Now, before we finish today, I know
you might be thinking Annemarie, this is all really helpful, but
what about after the introduction? What do I say next? How do I start a conversation
with someone new at the office? Those are all great questions. And I've got a lesson coming up
for you very soon on that topic with that. If you found today's
Confident English lesson, helpful to you, I would love to know. And you can tell
me in three simple ways, number one, give this lesson a thumbs up on YouTube
and be sure to subscribe to this channel. So you never miss one of my
Confident English lessons. Number two, if you have friends, family, or coworkers who are also working to
build confidence in their English, share this lesson with them
directly by email or on Facebook, and finally practice practice
with me by sharing your example, introduction below, have a wonderful
week. Thank you so much for joining me. And I look forward to seeing you next
time for your Confident English lesson.
