How to Introduce Yourself with Confidence

It’s summer.

Also known as the Season of Author Conferences and Book Festivals.

This means that I’ll be introducing myself to lots of strangers. In noisy situations, dull situations, spur-of-the-moment situations.

But even if you aren’t an author at a bookish event, everyone wants to be able to introduce themselves with confidence.

Introduce yourself with a formula

Here’s my easy-to-remember formula: Present, Past, Future.

Here’s how it works:

• Present: Say who you are and what you are doing right now.
• Past: Share something from your past that is relevant to the present.
• Future: What’s ahead for you.

Me as the example

If I was introducing myself to you right now, I’d say something like this:

Present: I’m Carmen Amato, author of the Detective Emilia Cruz series, the Galliano Club historical thrillers and standalone suspense.

Past: Mystery author is my second career. I was with the CIA for 30 years, focusing on technical collection and counterdrug issues.

Future: This summer, I’m working on the 10^th title in the Detective Emilia Cruz series set in Acapulco, tentatively titled DRAGON CARTEL and I’m meeting up with book clubs that are reading my political thriller THE HIDDEN LIGHT OF MEXICO CITY.

Works for book characters, too

What if Eduardo Cortez Castillo, the protagonist in THE HIDDEN LIGHT OF MEXICO CITY used this formula to introduce himself?

I think it would go something like this:

Present: I’m Eduardo Cortez Castillo. My friends call me Eddo. I’m an attorney and the Mexican government’s top anti-corruption investigator. As presidential elections near, I’ve discovered disturbing links between my boss, the Secretary of Public Security and a notorious cartel kingpin called El Toro.

Past: I began my career in law enforcement where I formed a brotherhood of cops sworn to be incorruptible. We call ourselves los Hierros, The Iron Ones.

Future: I want a relationship with Luz de Maria, a woman from the opposite end of the social spectrum; not an easy thing to do in class-conscious Mexico. But unless I can shut down the conspiracy to buy the Mexican presidency with drug money, neither Luz de Maria nor myself will be alive much longer.

See the formula in practice

I made a 2-minute Reel on Instagram about this formula. Check it out here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DKSamRqg2Kd/

Good luck using the formula for your own introductions! Let me know how it works out 🙂