Why? Because you really can change how you feel about finding yourself in a situation where you have to introduce yourself to strangers. That, surprisingly, is the opposite of bad news. Nonetheless, it feels like they are all focusing on you, and you respond to your feeling, not the objective facts. They are hardly paying any attention to you at all, far less to what you are feeling. And this means they are focusing exclusively on how they themselves are going to cope. In situations like this nearly all the participants have very similar feelings.

And like they will judge you and find you wanting. It still feels like a giant spotlight is on you and everyone can see how awkward and tense you are. It doesn't seem to matter whether you only have to say your name and role, or give some fuller account of yourself. Just knowing your turn is inexorably coming up and you are going to have to open your mouth and say something can turn your legs to jelly. They have far too much time to anticipate.īut you don't need an awful lot of time to get anxious about it, do you? The painful anticipation of the introduction The convention is for everyone to speak in turn, so you can see your slot coming round the room. It's almost a given nowadays if you go to conferences, business meetings, networking events or even other kinds of get-together that you will be expected at some point to tell everyone who you are. Do you dread those occasions when people have to introduce themselves in turn?ĭoes panic rise as your slot approaches? It's your turn now!

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