When you only have a minute for public speaking, every sentence counts, especially the first one.

The Influencer Project event took place last month online, and it was an interesting opportunity to examine the power of an initial business self-introduction. During this program, sixty very successful businesspeople introduced themselves and then proceeded to give one-minute tips on how to best influence others.

While all of the speakers gave great advice, some of them discreetly marketed themselves brilliantly with their 10-second introduction, while others did not.

There were some excellent tips and reinforcement of known ideas on influence including the following:

-Figure out ways to get people talking
-Deliver value always
-Increase the size of your buttons on your site
-Be transparent
-Be consistent
-Know where you’re going
-Follow “better” people (not clear what was meant by “better”)
-Don’t be afraid to repeat your tweets.

While all sixty interviewees included valuable content in their 60 seconds of public speaking, not all of them introduced the primary benefit of their work very clearly, or what their type of work even was. In order to find out this information, I would have had to open up a new page and look up many of the speakers on the internet. Too time consuming!

While The Influencer Project wasn’t primarily about giving business leaders an opportunity to market themselves, it is always to everyone’s benefit to know what these successful businesspeople deliver.

For example, when I download these types of things, I am seeking useful content, but I’m also always looking for resources in certain areas of expertise. When public speaking about your business, it’s always important to introduce your work clearly.

Nevertheless, I felt a few of them gave a brilliant one sentence introduction that explained all within 10 seconds. Their statement included their name, exactly how they help others, and their contact information.

Here’s an example of one of the best opening statements, by Michael Port. It went like this:

“Hi. This is Michael Port of MichaelPort.com, and I’m the author of Book Yourself Solid.”

That statement took less than 5 seconds to say aloud. Yet, in one simple sentence, I know that if I want to book myself solid, all I have to do is go to Michael Port’s site or Amazon.com and buy his book.

Can you present your business as powerfully in a single sentence?