presentation to new team

Introducing Your Team in Company Presentations: 4 Great Ideas!

You’ve probably already had to introduce your team within a company presentation: in 2023, this is no longer a rarity. Presentations which require you to talk about your company structure, or onboardings, for example, are going to need a team introduction, and knowing how to clearly visualize your team is a useful skill.

Why introduce your team in a presentation?

Introducing your team is a great way to positively influence public perception and to present the strengths and achievements of your company .

Products are rarely developed by individuals working on their own, so companies should never miss an opportunity to showcase the teams responsible for tomorrow’s innovations. This tends to increase stakeholder confidence and generate interest.

Involving your team in your presentations is essential to highlighting both the competence of your employees and your skills as a leader . At the same time, you double down on the authenticity of your presentation and acknowledge your colleagues’ performance, which in turn boosts their self-esteem. The positive impact of even a single slide in a presentation should not be underestimated!

Team introductions are brilliant for onboarding , where you can clearly and transparently visualize your company hierarchy.

Why not browse the PowerPoint templates for onboarding that we at PresentationLoad have put together for you?

Bonus tip: Paste images faster with the Scan&Paste app

Pictures generate feelings. This applies to team introductions as well as more generally. If people can see what a particular employee looks like, they’re more likely to want to build connections than if they’re just described in words.

To help you quickly and easily insert images of your team into your presentations, a great tip is to use the Scan&Paste app . This app allows you to upload images directly from your smartphone gallery through a PowerPoint add-in. We’ve covered this for you in our blog post “ Scan&Paste-App “.

4 great ideas to optimize your PowerPoint team presentation!

You want the team introduction in your company presentation to be memorable, right? Here are four great ideas to achieve just that!

• Use an organizational chart

One way to visualize your team structures is to use an organizational chart, or org chart. Their visual clarity and simplicity make them ideal for showing how teams work.

Org charts show at a glance how a team fits together and how different employees relate to each other. They might not be the most exciting things in the world, but they are really effective . Keep your org chart as simple as possible, though; overloading it will be counterproductive.

Use high-quality pictures of your employees. Your main focus should be on clarity: choose a clear, clean design, make sure people’s names are legible, and avoid unnecessary lines and cross-connections. We’ve covered how to create an org chart quickly and easily yourself in our article “ Creating an organizational chart “.

Why not use PresentationLoad’s organizational charts template to introduce your team?

• Rounded Photos

You can also introduce your team in the classic way, using text to cover the most important key points , and adding visual interest in a modern and stylish way by using rounded pictures .

PresentationLoad have got this covered too! You can find them here .

Including a team introduction in your presentation

There are several ways of introducing your team – here are a few of the best:

Idea #1: Team Slide

The simplest way to introduce your team is by means of a team slide . This should show high-quality images of your team, either individually or in a group photo.

Keep text to an absolute minimum here.  Anything more than the names of your employees can be distracting.  You can go into greater detail in your narration.

The advantage of a team slide is that you can clearly show all the important people on one slide.

A team slide might look something like this:

The disadvantage of such a simple slide is that it shows little in the way of a team structure. If you need to show this, go with idea #2.

Idea #2: Team Structure

A team structure slide obviously shows how your team is structured, meaning it’s clear who works for whom and how responsibilities are divided up.  They are perfect for onboarding, for example, allowing new employees to easily recognize internal structures and contact persons.

Keep in mind that team structures are not necessary for every presentation; team slides can quickly become confusing if there are too many connections. So keep them as clear as possible.

A team structure slide might look something like this:

Idea #3: Individual Slides

In some cases it may be useful to introduce your team individually . In this case, you can get all the important information on one slide per person. You’ll need to include a picture and the person’s function within the company as well as their name, and there may also be room for contact details or a short CV . Here’s an example:

Idea #4: Quote slide

A slightly different take on this is the quote slide .  Quotes can be another way to introduce your team’s thinking. Let your employees have their say by including core ideas and statements in your presentation in the form of quotes.

This highlights how important your team is, and emphasizes their individuality and competence. Quotes also help to make your presentation more interesting, which means you get to grab and keep your audience’s attention.

Bonus tip: Pay attention to layout in team introductions

When creating your team presentation, don’t forget that your slides need to be visually interesting . Use a clear structure and don’t overcrowd the slides; aim for a good balance of images and text .

We have a lot of useful tips in this respect in our article “PowerPoint Layout”. For example, a picture-text combination slide might come in really handy here. Grids of three or four usefully combine pictures of your team members with just enough text to give the important information:

To sum up: Project your team image effectively in presentations

A team introduction is a great way to introduce your company and its structures within a presentation. Depending on what you need, you can keep it short and introduce your team on one team slide, or go for more detail and use several slides.

Use our tips the next time you need to introduce your business and colleagues, and see how effective they are!

Still have questions about team presentation? Feel free to contact us by email at [email protected] . We’re always happy to help! Interested in great-looking,professionally designed, easy to use slide templates ? Feel free to take a look around our store! We have a huge range of great PPT templates to download, covering just about every business topic you need. Take a look today! ► To the store

You might also be interested in the following articles:

• 8 tips for company presentations
• Create an organizational chart with PowerPoint
• Scan&Paste App: Insert pictures faster
• PowerPoint layout

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Team Presentations: How to Present Better as a Group

Posted by Belinda Huckle  |  On January 29, 2022  |  In Presentation Training, Tips & Advice

In this Article...quick links

1. Choose a team captain

2. map out a cohesive narrative, 3. know your roles within the team, 4. have a strategy in place for question time, 5. all team presentations must have a full group rehearsal, 6. be supportive and put up a united front in your next team presentation, 7. making good, better, follow us on social media for more great presentation tips:.

We’re all getting used to being back in the office and re-learning our in person presentation skills after spending so much time working remotely. So it’s not surprising that the prospect of creating a seamless and cohesive group presentation is even more daunting right now.

It’s safe to say that team presentations involve a lot of moving parts, not least because it brings together different personalities with varying confidence levels and presentation styles.

One of the common pitfalls with group presentations is a diffusion of responsibility – ‘My bit’s OK, that’s all I should worry about, right?’ Wrong.

A group presentation is only as good as its weakest presenter. There are a lot of potential obstacles to overcome, but there are some key reasons why presenting as a team is both relevant and a good idea:

• Showcasing expertise – to showcase different people’s expertise as Subject Matter Experts (SMEs).
• Meeting the team – increasingly in new business/pitch situations, clients and customers want to see, and hear from, ‘the team’ – those who will actually be looking after their business i.e. those operating at the ‘coalface’. And so having multiple presenters becomes an imperative.
• Maintaining energy, engagement & attention – breaking up longer presentations with different presenters helps to inject energy (much like in a relay race), keep people’s attention and maintain listeners’ engagement. Remember, variety is the spice of life!

Your people may be seasoned presenters but team them up to present with others, and lots of practical questions arise:

How do you start a team presentation? Who ends a team presentation? How do you seamlessly hand over to the next presenter, or who fields questions from the audience?

In this blog post we discuss how teams can collaborate to plan, practise and present successfully as a group.

Why this is important: Having a strong Team Captain is crucial as they will usually start and finish the presentation. As part of starting and finishing the presentation the role of the Captain also often includes:

• Making sure there is a strong Attention Grab early in the presentation in order to hook the audience from the start.
• Assigning roles within the team.
• Introducing each presenter and their role at the start of the presentation.
• Managing the transitions/handovers between each presenter.
• Fielding questions from the audience on behalf of the team and directing questions to the most relevant speaker as required.
• Summarising next steps or action points after the conclusion to the presentation.

Top Tip: The Captain should typically be either the most senior person in the group, or the most confident speaker. They don’t have to be subject matter experts.

Why this is important: Team members may have differing opinions about the message they want to convey. Having a clear overall goal for the presentation before everyone starts working on their slides is crucial for ensuring the deck, and the message you’re delivering, is clear and cohesive.

The team should decide in advance roughly how long each speaker should be speaking for (and don’t forget to include time for questions), what the structure of the presentation will be and who will cover what.

SecondNature’s Presentation Mapper™ methodology is a great tool for achieving all of this. If you’re not using our Presentation Mapper™ then get together as a team with a stack of A4 paper and, on a large table, storyboard your presentation.

Don’t get bogged down in the details at this stage. Instead, decide collectively what the purpose and end goal of the presentation are, the sections of the presentation (chapters of your story), what the key takeaways for the audience should be, and then roughly the information you want to include. Once you have outlined the storyboard for the presentation you can then discuss how long each section/chapter should be and who will be delivering each element.

Spending a bit of time at the beginning mapping out the narrative and setting a single goal for the presentation will save lots of time at the end of the process because it will ensure there aren’t areas that are needlessly repetitive. And likewise it will mean there aren’t gaping holes in your logic. Missing this step could result in duplication of content, inconsistency in the flow (and impact) of different sections, and not enough clarity about who’s presenting what.

Don’t forget to ensure that every section contributes to your presentation’s main aim, and if data is critical to your presentation, ensure everyone knows the go-to data collection sources, or people to interview, so there are no conflicting numbers.

Top Tip: Everyone needs to know all of the information inside out, even if they’re not presenting it, in case someone can’t make it on the day.

Why this is important: Assigning roles based on peoples’ strengths will create accountability and ensure things don’t fall through the cracks.

Take the time to assess your team – of course you will select people to present certain sections within the presentation based on their expertise and experience. But you should also consider some additional factors. E.g. some people may be better at explaining and simplifying difficult-to-understand ideas while others are good at engaging the audience and providing supporting information through humour, videos and interesting case studies.

Now, let’s assume everyone has been assigned a speaking slot based on their strengths and expertise and you’ve got a strong team captain to open and close the presentation.

But who takes accountability for things like design, delivery, questions and setting the boardroom up?

Here are some ways to make your next team presentation smooth and effective:

• The Team Captain, along with input from the presenters, should assign responsibilities for the smaller moving parts like consistency in design, the order of presenters, organising rehearsals, AV checks, timekeeping and so on.
• Schedule brief, but regular update meetings to ensure everyone is on track to fulfil their roles.
• Put someone in charge of the dry run , which should be scheduled at least a week before the presentation. This is important so people have enough time to work on constructive feedback before the day of the presentation.

Top Tip: Remember that unequal participation can negatively impact the dynamics of your team, so sharing responsibility is important!

Why this is important: Question time can be nerve-wracking . In a group presentation, question time can also cause some confusion if too many people jump in to answer at once, or worse still, if no one seems to know who will answer the question.

It’s best to have the team captain direct questions to the speaker with the most relevant knowledge.

Remember to pause before answering and formulate your thoughts – keep your reply concise and ensure it answers the question. If you don’t understand the question, there’s no harm in asking for a clarification. To learn more about answering questions with confidence during a presentation, read this blog .

Top Tip: If you don’t know the answer, don’t be afraid to say so. You can look into the question and return with the best answer later.

Why this is important: While everyone practising their individual presentations is great, it doesn’t guarantee that once you’ve combined all the slides, it will feel coherent or go well.

As they say, practice makes perfect – and you definitely need to schedule at least one group rehearsal to present and engage a large audience. Here are some things that you should aim to cover in a dry run of your presentation:

• The order of speakers. The team captain should open and close the presentation assuming they are the strongest and most confident presenter. The remaining speakers should follow the order, or natural chapters of the story.
• It’s important that introductions establish the credibility of each speaker i.e. why are they there.
• The transition dialogue to recap the last section and briefly introduce the next section and speaker. For longer presentations, it’s a good idea to provide an agenda for the audience which details who is speaking against each section within the presentation.
• Fine-tuning and adjusting time for each section. This keeps the presentation from being too lengthy, so you don’t lose the audience’s interest. It will also ensure you stick to the time allocated for the presentation – making sure you also allow time for questions!
• At the end of the presentation, ensure you deliver a clear, concise summary that highlights all the key points, and then the overall message or final call-to-action.

During the rehearsals you should also work out where the presenting team will be seated and/or standing in the room (taking into account where the client/customer might/will be) – when they’re presenting, and also when they aren’t speaking. Think about how you use the room. For tips about ‘The Attention Traingle’ and how to use it check out this blog .

A great option is to have the Team Captain starting and finishing at the front and centre of the room; with those that are speaking early in the presentation standing front and left of the room; and those that are speaking later, front and right of the room.

This is because we read from left to right and this visual positioning will be intuitive for the audience ‘moving through the presentation from start to finish’. And remember, if the presentation is taking place at someone else’s offices, ask to have access to the meeting room at least 30 minutes before the start to allow for adequate set up time.

Top Tip: We always recommend that there is someone outside the presentation group to listen to the presentation, from the audience’s perspective, to make sure the narrative is as clear and as tight as possible. They can also get the team to practise some Q&A and make sure timings are adhered to.

Why this is important: Remember that you’re in this together and teamwork is non-negotiable if you want to inspire confidence in your audience.

There’s nothing that puts a presenter off more than seeing their own team members look disinterested. So regardless of how many times you’ve seen and heard your team-mates present, act as though it’s the very first time.

Put up a united front by being mindful of these small but important details:

• Arrive early so the entire team has enough time to set things up.
• Be an attentive listener as each person presents – laughing, nodding and reacting in a supportive manner throughout the presentation.
• If someone can’t answer a question, step in and answer it for them, but without making them lose face..
• Avoid the urge to go through your notes when others in your team are presenting. It’s disrespectful to whomever is speaking and it will make you come across as unprepared and nervous.
• Watch your timings. The team captain should be keeping an eye on this (or they make have delegated this important task to someone else) so look to him/her to make sure you’re on track.
• Do not overrun because doing so will rob time from others in the team.

Top Tip: Remember that if in the planning process you argue, you’re only human. Work out how you can move forward in a way that makes the most of each presenter’s strengths.

Most of us don’t make group presentations that often. So a PPR (Post Presentation Review) is a great way to sharpen everyone’s skills ever further. Within 24 hours of a group presentation sit down as a team and discuss what worked well and how could things been improved in terms of:

• The process leading up to the presentation
• Handling of the technology
• The clarity of the message and the flow of the narrative
• The level of detail covered
• Overall and individual timings
• Handovers between speakers
• Management and answering of questions
• Non-verbal support from team members
• People’s individual presenting style and confidence

Top Tip: Be honest in your feedback. Remember, feedback is, as the saying goes, the breakfast of champions!

We can help improve your presenting skills

If you want to take your presenting skills (or your people’s) to the next level, we can help. We take people further TM because our programs are 100% tailored for your business and fully personalised for you/your people.

For nearly 20 years we have been the Business Presentation Skills Experts , training & coaching thousands of people in an A-Z of global blue-chip organisations – check out what they say about our programs .

To find out more, click on one of the buttons below:

Written By Belinda Huckle

Co-Founder & Managing Director

Belinda is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of SecondNature International. With a determination to drive a paradigm shift in the delivery of presentation skills training both In-Person and Online, she is a strong advocate of a more personal and sustainable presentation skills training methodology.

Belinda believes that people don’t have to change who they are to be the presenter they want to be. So she developed a coaching approach that harnesses people’s unique personality to build their own authentic presentation style and personal brand.

She has helped to transform the presentation skills of people around the world in an A-Z of organisations including Amazon, BBC, Brother, BT, CocaCola, DHL, EE, ESRI, IpsosMORI, Heineken, MARS Inc., Moody’s, Moonpig, Nationwide, Pfizer, Publicis Groupe, Roche, Savills, Triumph and Walmart – to name just a few.

A total commitment to quality, service, your people and you.

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12 Strategies to Easily Deliver A Really Great Team Presentation

Last Updated on April 1, 2024 by Lorna Barrow

You have no choice. You do have to organise a team presentation. Let me remind you how you got there.

Because of your networking skills, you got your small business on the very short list of companies to pitch their services to a very big business.

Just when you were thinking that you can handle this, the CEO of the business kinda casually remarked ” by the way, we would love if you could make a team presentation.”

“What?! This woman mad?”

You now have to bring a select group of your employees together to make a hot team presentation. Yes…you can make a fairly decent speech by yourself but pulling a team together? 

I’m sure by now you know, that having 3 or 4 persons presenting  a case, rather than a single person, has now become the rule rather than the exception in business.

So why are you nervous?

Perhaps it’s because you know that when a business, especially a small one, brings a group of their highly skilled professionals together to make a team presentation, the stakes are usually equally high.

Therefore, you need more than speaking skills. You now have to coordinate your in-house talent to speak with one voice. Your business voice. And that requires leadership skills, serious confidence before you speak and some people management.

but the above aside, how would you feel if you could make the best presentation ever and win the contract?

This is where you get lucky. You have access to my over 25 years of public speaking training to help you pull off your best team presentation. Ever!

Here’s how I will help you.

I will tell you what to do before you speak, what to do during the presentation and what you must do after.

If you’re ready, let’s jump right in…

6 strategies to use before you make your team presentation

1.  decide who will be on the team and why.

This seems so obvious that it’s not worth mentioning. Think again!

I’ve seen leaders select people to be part of a team making an important presentation just to “give them a chance to shine” or because “I’m comfortable with him” .

It is true that “Camille” needs to get out of her shell and “Ryan” is easy to get along with. But does that qualify them to be on a team making a presentation to the Ministry of Energy on a new solar plant?

2.  Appoint a leader to coordinate the whole thing

You might not believe this after watching several team presentations – but there is really more to presenting as a team, than each person standing up and speaking.

Even before you get to presenting, you must know:

1.  The objective and overall theme of the presentation

2. Which persuasion strategy you will be using

3.  What data and how much goes into the presentation

4.  Who will be responsible for what, e.g. visual aids, editing, etc 

5.  The order of speeches on the day and any other roles of the speakers

6.  Other details which are specific to the nature of your presentation

If a single person does not assume responsibility for these areas, your team will waste a lot of time either arguing or duplicating effort, instead of focusing on the case that has to be built and presented.

And guess what? Just because you own the business does not mean you’re the best person to do this, especially if you’re part of the team presentation.

3.  Know and plan to exploit the strengths of the team

In a team presentation, each member is required to handle that aspect of the topic where s/he has knowledge and experience.

But remember, a team presentation is still a public speaking activity, so you want to make a big impact on your audience. Therefore, knowledge and experience must be balanced by the speaking skills of the various speakers.

So arrange you points in such a way that you lead off and end with your strongest speakers.

4.  Know your audience

Usually, when you’re making a team presentation, the stakes are very high. With so much at stake, knowing your audience is mission critical.

Therefore, you need to collect some serious intelligence. At minimum this should include the person or persons you will be pitching to, the level of their decision-making and their requirements for detail.

Even when I make a one-woman pitch for business, this is where I start my audience analysis.

5.  Plan the details of the actual presentation

This is a very important step. If you plan these details before, on the big day, you just have to execute…well almost.

In planning, please try to cover:

1.  How you will make the best use of the available time

2.   The way you will structure your presentation

3.  How you will create influence with your presentation

4.  The order of your speeches and what each will cover

5.  Who will be the lead speaker on the day

6.  When and how you will practice

6.  Practice your team presentation… as a team

No, I’m not crazy…just very experienced with most things public speaking.

So I have come across the situation where a small business owner claimed that he did not have a lot of time before his team made the presentation.

So what did he do?

He had each person practice at home the night before, believing that this was all that was required, anyhow.

I am still shaking my head…

So please practice your presentation as a team. Have a minimum of three practice sessions. Know who will be doing the main introductions and who will be summarising. Practice your transitions and practice with your visual aids.

Most of the points that I have listed  above should inform your practice sessions as well. In addition, you can get more tips on practicing a speech in this post . Just apply them to the team as a whole.

5 strategies to use during your team presentation

1.  implement the structure you planned.

In a good structure, your lead speaker will begin with a brief introduction of your team and follow this with your big idea for solving the problem or meeting the need. Be sure to include the benefits for the clients.

Then each speaker will follow in the order which was planned, each one stressing the benefits of their aspect of the offering. 

2.  Keep the presentation flowing

Even though your team presentation has more than one speaker, don’t make the audience wait too long between speakers.

The best way to make your presentation flow is to copy all your presentations on to one flash drive in the order they will be presented.

Another good approach is to place each presentation in one presentation file (Powerpoint?) separated by a blank slide.

3.  Be a good team player even when you’re not speaking

When other team members are speaking, give them your full attention. This might be difficult especially if you’re nervous, because you will feel the urge to read over notes or whisper to your colleagues. 

Instead, stay interested and alert. Listen attentively, smile and laugh at their humour and behave as you would want them to respond when you’re speaking.

Remember, your audience is judging you as a team.

4.  Answer questions effectively

Keep it together now. This is where many team presentations fall apart.

The leader should clarify the questions and then assign them to the team member who can provide the best response.

Furthermore, in your planning and practicing, supported by your understanding of the needs of the potential client,  you should have come up with some questions that are likely to be asked.

Here are some great tips on how to answer questions after a speech. 

5.  Wrap up your entire team presentation professionally

This is where your lead speaker takes over again to restate your big idea, remind the potential client of the key benefits and then deliver your CTA.

Yes, your Call To Action. Tell your potential client what you want them to do, now that your team has so properly built your case. This post gives you some great info on how to work the CTA.

You need to be sure of what you want though, and ask for it confidently. That’s why you start and end with your best speaker.

The #1 strategy you must use after your team presentation

Review your entire presentation process.

You will realise that even though you have done many speeches on your own, speaking as part of a team is well, as they say, a whole new ball game.

When you review, check for your strengths and weakness, not only in the speeches but in the entire process. Tighten up those weak areas because you will be doing it again. And again.

And don’t forget to celebrate that you made it through your team presentation…like pros!

Your next “team presentation” step…

So there you have them!

12 practical strategies to help you just smile the next time you have to organise a team presentation.

You also now have no excuse for avoiding it or winging it. But you have every reason to pull it off with class.

Your business deserves no less.

And don’t forget, if you really want to really up your game, do contact me, I’d be really happy to provide public speaking training for you and the rest of your employees.

To your team presentation success…

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Lorna Barrow

Lorna Barrow is a Business Breakthrough Specialist, an unfiltered Transformational Speaker, a Writer, a Coach and a self-confessed Small Business Junkie. She recognises that small businesses are unique and when it comes to helping you and your business make that BIG breakthrough, she's all in for you!

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23 presentation examples that really work (plus templates!)

• 30 Mar 2023

To help you in your quest for presentation greatness, we’ve gathered 23 of the best business presentation examples out there. These hand-picked ideas range from business PowerPoint presentations, to recruitment presentations, and everything in between.

As a bonus, several of our examples include editable video presentation templates from  Biteable .

Biteable allows anyone to create great video presentations — no previous video-making skills required. The easy-to-use platform has hundreds of brandable templates and video scenes designed with a business audience in mind. A video made with Biteable is just what you need to add that wow factor and make an impact on your audience.

Create videos that drive action

Activate your audience with impactful, on-brand videos. Create them simply and collaboratively with Biteable.

Video presentation examples

Video presentations are our specialty at Biteable. We love them because they’re the most visually appealing and memorable way to communicate.

1. Animated characters

Our first presentation example is a business explainer from Biteable that uses animated characters. The friendly and modern style makes this the perfect presentation for engaging your audience.

Bonus template:  Need a business video presentation that reflects the beautiful diversity of your customers or team? Use  Biteable’s workplace scenes . You can change the skin tone and hair color for any of the animated characters.

2. Conference video

Videos are also ideal solutions for events (e.g. trade shows) where they can be looped to play constantly while you attend to more important things like talking to people and handing out free cheese samples.

For this event presentation sample below, we used bright colours, stock footage, and messaging that reflects the brand and values of the company. All these elements work together to draw the attention of passers-by.

For a huge selection of video presentation templates, take a look at our  template gallery .

Business PowerPoint presentation examples

Striking fear into the hearts of the workplace since 1987, PowerPoint is synonymous with bland, boring presentations that feel more like an endurance test than a learning opportunity. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Check out these anything-but-boring business PowerPoint presentation examples.

3. Design pointers

This PowerPoint presentation takes a tongue-in-cheek look at how the speakers and users of PowerPoint are the problem, not the software itself.

Even at a hefty 61 slides, the vintage theme, appealing colors, and engaging content keep the viewer interested. It delivers useful and actionable tips on creating a better experience for your audience.

Pixar, as you’d expect, redefines the meaning of PowerPoint in their “22 Rules for Phenomenal Storytelling”. The character silhouettes are instantly recognizable and tie firmly to the Pixar brand. The bright colour palettes are carefully chosen to highlight the content of each slide.

This presentation is a good length, delivering one message per slide, making it easy for an audience to take notes and retain the information.

Google slides examples

If you’re in business, chances are you’ll have come across  slide decks . Much like a deck of cards, each slide plays a key part in the overall ‘deck’, creating a well-rounded presentation.

If you need to inform your team, present findings, or outline a new strategy, slides are one of the most effective ways to do this.

Google Slides is one of the best ways to create a slide deck right now. It’s easy to use and has built-in design tools that integrate with Adobe, Lucidchart, and more. The best part — it’s free!

5. Teacher education

Here’s a slide deck that was created to educate teachers on how to use Google Slides effectively in a classroom. At first glance it seems stuffy and businessy, but if you look closer it’s apparent the creator knows his audience well, throwing in some teacher-friendly content that’s bound to get a smile.

The slides give walkthrough screenshots and practical advice on the different ways teachers can use the software to make their lives that little bit easier and educate their students at the same time.

6. Charity awareness raiser

This next Google slide deck is designed to raise awareness for an animal shelter. It has simple, clear messaging, and makes use of the furry friends it rescues to tug on heartstrings and encourage donations and adoptions from its audience.

Pro tip: Creating a presentation is exciting but also a little daunting. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed — especially if the success of your business or nonprofit depends on it.

Prezi presentation examples

If you haven’t come across  Prezi , it’s a great alternative to using static slides. Sitting somewhere between slides and a video presentation, it allows you to import other content and add motion to create a more engaging viewer experience.

7. Red Bull event recap

This Prezi was created to document the Red Bull stratosphere freefall stunt a few years ago. It neatly captures all the things that Prezi is capable of, including video inserts and the zoom effect, which gives an animated, almost 3D effect to what would otherwise be still images.  

Prezi has annual awards for the best examples of presentations over the year. This next example is one of the 2018 winners. It was made to highlight a new Logitech tool.

8. Logitech Spotlight launch

What stands out here are the juicy colors, bold imagery, and the way the designer has used Prezi to its full extent, including rotations, panning, fades, and a full zoom out to finish the presentation.

Sales presentation examples

If you’re stuck for ideas for your sales presentation, step right this way and check out this video template we made for you.

9. Sales enablement video presentation

In today’s fast-paced sales environment, you need a way to make your sales enablement presentations memorable and engaging for busy reps.  Sales enablement videos  are just the ticket. Use this video presentation template the next time you need to present on your metrics.

10. Zuroa sales deck

If you’re after a sales deck, you can’t go past this example from Zuora. What makes it great? It begins by introducing the worldwide shift in the way consumers are shopping. It’s a global phenomenon, and something we can all relate to.

It then weaves a compelling story about how the subscription model is changing the face of daily life for everyone. Metrics and testimonials from well-known CEOs and executives are included for some slamming social proof to boost the sales message.

Pitch presentation examples

Pitch decks are used to give an overview of business plans, and are usually presented during meetings with customers, investors, or potential partners.

11. Uber pitch deck

This is Uber’s original pitch deck, which (apart from looking a teensy bit dated) gives an excellent overview of their business model and clearly shows how they intended to disrupt a traditional industry and provide a better service to people. Right now, you’re probably very grateful that this pitch presentation was a winner.

You can make your own pitch deck with Biteable, or start with one of our  video templates  to make something a little more memorable.

12. Video pitch template

This video pitch presentation clearly speaks to the pains of everyone who needs to commute and find parking. It then provides the solution with its app that makes parking a breeze.

The video also introduces the key team members, their business strategy, and what they’re hoping to raise in funding. It’s a simple, clear pitch that positions the company as a key solution to a growing, worldwide problem. It’s compelling and convincing, as a good presentation should be.

13. Fyre Festival pitch deck

The most epic example of a recent pitch deck is this one for Fyre Festival – the greatest event that never happened. Marvel at its persuasion, gasp at the opportunity of being part of the cultural experience of the decade, cringe as everything goes from bad to worse.

Despite the very public outcome, this is a masterclass in how to create hype and get funding with your pitch deck using beautiful imagery, beautiful people, and beautiful promises of riches and fame.

Business presentation examples

Need to get the right message out to the right people? Business presentations can do a lot of the heavy lifting for you.

Simply press play and let your video do the talking. No fumbling your words and sweating buckets in front of those potential clients, just you being cool as a cucumber while your presentation does the talking.

Check out two of our popular templates that you can use as a starting point for your own presentations. While they’re business-minded, they’re definitely not boring.

14. Business intro template

Modern graphics, animations, and upbeat soundtracks keep your prospects engaged as they learn about your business, your team, your values, and how you can help them.

15. Business explainer template

Research presentation examples.

When you’re giving a more technical presentation such as research findings, you need to strike the perfect balance between informing your audience and making sure they stay awake.

As a rule, slides are more effective for research presentations, as they are used to support the speaker’s knowledge rather can capture every small detail on screen.

With often dry, complex, and technical subject matter, there can be a temptation for presentations to follow suit. Use images instead of walls of text, and keep things as easy to follow as possible.

16. TrackMaven research deck

TrackMaven uses their endearing mascot to lighten up this data-heavy slide deck. The graphs help to bring life to their findings, and they ensure to only have one bite-size takeaway per slide so that viewers can easily take notes.

17. Wearable tech research report

Obviously, research can get very researchy and there’s not a lot to be done about it. This slide deck below lays out a ton of in-depth information but breaks it up well with quotes, diagrams, and interesting facts to keep viewers engaged while it delivers its findings on wearable technology.

Team presentation examples

Motivating your team can be a challenge at the best of times, especially when you need to gather them together for….another presentation!

18. Team update template

We created this presentation template as an example of how to engage your team. In this case, it’s for an internal product launch. Using colorful animation and engaging pacing, this video presentation is much better than a static PowerPoint, right?

19. Officevibe collaboration explainer

This short slide deck is a presentation designed to increase awareness of the problems of a disengaged team. Bright colors and relevant images combine with facts and figures that compel viewers to click through to a download to learn more about helping their teams succeed.

Recruitment presentation examples

Recruiting the right people can be a challenge. Presentations can help display your team and your business by painting a dynamic picture of what it’s like to work with you.

Videos and animated slides let you capture the essence of your brand and workplace so the right employees can find you.

20. Company culture explainer

If you’re a recruitment agency, your challenge is to stand out from the hundreds of other agencies in the marketplace.

21. Kaizen culture

Showcasing your agency using a slide deck can give employers and employees a feel for doing business with you. Kaizen clearly displays its credentials and highlights its brand values and personality here (and also its appreciation of the coffee bean).

Explainer presentation examples

Got some explaining to do? Using an explainer video is the ideal way to showcase products that are technical, digital, or otherwise too difficult to explain with still images and text.

Explainer videos help you present the features and values of your product in an engaging way that speaks to your ideal audience and promotes your brand at the same time.

22. Product explainer template

23. lucidchart explainer.

Lucidchart does a stellar job of using explainer videos for their software. Their series of explainers-within-explainers entertains the viewer with cute imagery and an endearing brand voice. At the same time, the video is educating its audience on how to use the actual product. We (almost) guarantee you’ll have more love for spiders after watching this one.

Make a winning video presentation with Biteable

Creating a winning presentation doesn’t need to be difficult or expensive. Modern slide decks and video software make it easy for you to give compelling presentations that sell, explain, and educate without sending your audience to snooze town.

For the best online video presentation software around, check out Biteable. The intuitive platform does all the heavy lifting for you, so making a video presentation is as easy as making a PowerPoint.

Use Biteable’s brand builder to automatically fetch your company colors and logo from your website and apply them to your entire video with the click of a button. Even add a  clickable call-to-action  button to your video.

Share your business presentation anywhere with a single, trackable URL and watch your message turn into gold.

Make stunning videos with ease.

Take the struggle out of team communication.

Try Biteable now.

• No credit card required
• No complicated design decisions
• No experience necessary

7 brilliant ways successful leaders start presentations

.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo{-webkit-transition:all 0.15s ease-out;transition:all 0.15s ease-out;cursor:pointer;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;outline:none;color:inherit;}.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo:hover,.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo[data-hover]{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo:focus,.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo[data-focus]{box-shadow:0 0 0 3px rgba(168,203,251,0.5);} Jacquelyn Smith

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Stay up to date:, future of work.

“The beginning is the most important part of the work.” —Plato

When we speak, we have about 60 seconds to capture our audience’s attention, establish credibility, orient them to our topic, and motivate them to listen, says Darlene Price, president of Well Said, Inc., and author of “Well Said! Presentations and Conversations That Get Results.”

If you waste those precious opening seconds with a joke, an agenda, an apology, housekeeping details, a string of thank-yous, or a rambling, pointless paragraph littered with “ums” and “uhs,” your audience’s minds are likely to drift, and you may not get them back. “You need to put the art in the start, the most important part of the work,” says Price.

That’s a tall order for any speaker — and it requires us to develop and rehearse a well-crafted, attention-getting opener.

Price offers seven options:

1. Tell a captivating story.

“Of all the starters in your toolkit, storytelling is among the most powerful and consistently successful,” Price says. “As humans, we’re hard-wired to enjoy and learn from stories. From bedtime stories and campfires, to Broadway theaters and boardrooms — heroes, villains, conflict, plots, dialogue, and lessons learned draw us in, remind us of our own lives, and hold our attention.”

The story can be about you personally, which tells the audience first-hand why you’re invested in and passionate about the topic. Or you can tell a story about another person who the audience can learn from. “Another option: Tell a fable, wisdom tale, historic event, or anecdote,” Price says. “The idea is, start with a brief 60- to 90-second narrative that launches your speech and captivates your listeners, and make sure the story encapsulates the key point of your message.”

She suggests you consider these questions as you craft your version of “Once upon a time”: What challenges have you (or another) faced in relation to your topic? How did you (or another) overcome them? Who or what helped you or harmed you? What lessons were learned? What do you want your audience to gain, feel, or do as a result of the story?

2. Ask a rhetorical, thought-provoking question.

“As Shakespeare wrote in ‘The Merchant of Venice,’ ‘If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?'” says Price. “As a speaker, you ask rhetorical questions for persuasive effect; you don’t expect the audience to answer aloud, rather silently to themselves.

When crafted and delivered well, rhetorical questions influence an audience to believe in the position of the speaker. “Clearly, Shakespeare’s character Shylock is leading his listeners to think ‘yes’ four times in order to justify revenge against Antonio. What do you want your audience to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to?”

In addition to yes or no questions, you can also arouse curiosity and motivate your audience to think about the answer, she says.

3. State a shocking statistic or headline.

Price says the vice president of sales for America’s leading healthcare IT company successfully sells software solutions to hospitals by starting her presentations with the following:

“According to a new study in the Journal of Patient Safety, medical errors leading to patient death are much higher than previously thought. Preventable adverse events, known as PAEs, cause up to 400,000 deaths per year for patients who seek care at a hospital. That means medical errors are the third leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer. Our vision is to create a world free of medical errors, and we need your help.”

“The statistic, bold claim, or headline needs to be directly related to the main purpose of your presentation,” Price explains. “Its impact ideally persuades the audience to listen and respond positively to your recommendation and next steps.”

4. Use a powerful quote.

“Employ the wise words of a well-known person, because the name allows you to tap into his or her credibility, likeability, and notoriety,” she says. The quote must have meaning and relevance to the audience.

Imagine you’re urging a group to reach consensus, or giving a talk on conflict management. You could open with: “Mark Twain once said, ‘If two people agree on everything, one of them is unnecessary.’ Even though some of us disagree on the xyz issue, each of us is necessary in reaching a resolution.”

5. Show a gripping photo.

A picture is worth a thousand words — “maybe even more,” Price says.

“Use photos instead of text, when possible,” she suggests. A quality photo adds aesthetic appeal, increases comprehension, engages the audience’s imagination, and makes the message more memorable.

Price offers the following example of an effective use of an image:

The president of an electronics equipment company needed his managers to cut costs. Rather than showing mundane charts, graphs, and spreadsheets, he opened the meeting by asking, “What sank the Titanic?” When everyone in unison replied, “an iceberg,” he displayed a beautiful high-definition image of an iceberg on the screen: the tip of the iceberg was clearly visible above the water; the much larger portion was dimly visible below the surface of the water.

“The same thing is about to happen to our company,” he continued. “Hidden costs — the dangers beneath the surface — are about to sink this company. I need your help.” This visual metaphor spawned a creative, productive brainstorming session that inspired every business unit manager to diligently hunt for what they labeled the “icebergs,” says Price. The result was saving millions and ultimately the company.

6. Use a prop or creative visual aid.

“A prop is a magnetic tool that hooks your audience and keeps them watching — or listening,” Price says. A visual aid can also help emphasize a point.

Price uses the example of a sales VP at a large insurance company, who happens to be an avid tennis player. She says he wanted to kick off his annual meeting with a bang — so he “brilliantly used his tennis racquet to emphasize ‘acing the competition,’ ‘rallying together as a team,’ and winning a ‘grand slam’ through great customer service.” Year after year, other speakers were compared to this leader’s creative ability to present a motivational message, she says.

“Think about how you could use items like a big wall clock, a colorful gift bag, juggling balls, a deck of cards, a bunch of carrots, or another prop, to introduce your topic, captivate the audience, inject humor, and drive home your message.”

7. Play a short video.

Imagine kicking off a product management meeting with a video of compelling customer testimonials, or opening a fundraising event for endangered species by showing an Amur Leopard playing with her cubs in the wild.

“Videos evoke emotional responses,” Price explains. “Unlike text and bullet points on a slide, you can employ people, pictures, and sound to reel in the audience, add drama, and communicate the gist of your message quickly.”

As Walt Disney said, “I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained.”

This article is published in collaboration with Business Insider . Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

To keep up with the Agenda  subscribe to our weekly newsletter .

Author: Jacquelyn Smith joined Business Insider as the careers editor in February 2014.

Image: an empty meeting room is shown. REUTERS.

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World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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5+ Best Slides for Team Introduction in a PowerPoint Presentation

Last updated on January 8th, 2024

Are you making a pitch deck or applying for a project? Have you considered adding a slide to introduce your team? Your team is not only a part of your company but also your final product or project outcome! Their skills and experience reflect the arsenal you possess for delivering the outcome you are pitching to an audience. This is why you must spend some time introducing your team as a part of your pitch.

What is a Team Introduction Slide?

A team introduction slide introduces a team before the audience. Team introduction slides are used by organizations to provide the audience an overview of the skills and expertise of their team members. This can be helpful during pitch decks, when bidding for projects, introducing a company before an audience, etc. The reason for introducing your team during a presentation is to showcase the capability of your organization. Since your team is truly the quality of outcome you can provide to your clients.

Why Should You Introduce Your Team?

To introduce your organization.

One of the basic reasons for adding a company profile in your presentation is to discuss your organization during an introductory session. Regardless of whether you are presenting a presentation before potential clients, a bunch of students at a college event, or industry experts, introducing your team is a part of introducing your organization before the audience.

To Pitch Your Organization for a Contract or Investment

A team introduction slide is like showcasing a part of your portfolio or company profile. Many professionally designed PowerPoint templates provide such a sample intro slide by default, as this can be a key part of an important presentation where you are trying to pitch your organization as the best candidate to acquire a contract or attract investment. Another reason for providing such a slide can be to create a positive organizational image by showing off how good your team is and why they are the best team to get the job done.

To Prove Your Team can Deliver Desired Results

You don’t necessarily need to have a very experienced team to make a case for your organization to be good at your job. Even startups with an experienced, yet qualified team can emphasize how young, innovative, and academically qualified the team is. Similarly, a team with a vast experience in the industry can be a good selling point for your services.

To Create a Positive Image

Many businesses take pride in their teams and try to use their capabilities as a highlight to build a positive image for their business. For example, a startup might want to emphasize that their team contains people who have worked for other reputable organizations in the past and have the requisite experience to propel their company forward. This type of image building can be good for attracting potential clients and to get recognized in the industry.

Key Elements of a Team Introduction Slide

A team introduction slide can contain basic information about your team. Some of the key elements that your slide should have are mentioned below.

Inclusion of Key Members

The most basic team introduction slides contain a name and designation for each of the key team members highlighted in the slide. This might include the organizational head, vice president, director, project manager, etc. Since medium-sized or large organizations can have a lor of employees, you don’t need to include everyone in your team introduction slide. Usually, you can include the top tier and the most qualified individuals. If you are creating a pitch deck, you might want to focus on your core team, along with a few senior officials in the slide.

Professional Summary

While it can be hard to cram in a professional summary for each individual, especially if you have more than 5 people listed in your intro slide, a few words to highlight the qualifications of each individual can be quite useful. For the purpose of brevity, you can add the names and designations of your employees, along with their key qualifications below their names to show what expertise they possess.

A Face to the Name

While some people might prefer not to add pictures for their team, this can be a useful addition to a team introduction slide, since adding a face to a name can make the team look more realistic and can also have a positive impact on your presentation.

Examples of Slides for Team Introduction

We have compiled a list of slides that can help you create a team introduction for your next presentation. The below-mentioned PowerPoint templates not only serve as an example for making team introduction slides but can also help you create comprehensive pitch decks, and other types of presentations meant to highlight your organization.

1. Introduce Company Profile PowerPoint Template

This PowerPoint template has been designed to enable presenters to create comprehensive company introductions. You can create entire company profiles and also introduce your team with their names, designation, and a brief summary about them. What makes this template quite comprehensive for team introductions is that it also provides additional slides for emphasizing certain team members to highlight their qualifications and achievements. The template also provides an organizational chart with some team members highlighted.

2. Team PowerPoint Infographic Layout

The Team Infographic PowerPoint Layout is a slide to introduce your team which is a part of a PowerPoint template with comprehensive slides for making business presentations. This slide provides a basic collage-like layout for presenting your team with a name, designation, and a picture for each team member. The default layout allows introducing up to five team members, with scope for duplicating the placeholders to add more individuals. You can also add additional placeholders to add a description for each team member.

3. Multi-Purpose Business PowerPoint Template with Slide for Team Introduction

The Multi-Purpose Business PowerPoint Template comes with a slide for a team introduction where you can highlight your key team members with their pictures, name, designation, and qualification. The slide is meant to introduce a handful of team members, where you can also duplicate slide elements to increase the number of team members you intend to showcase. Other than teams, this is a comprehensive PowerPoint template for introducing your company, services, projects, etc.

4. Team Discussion PowerPoint Template

This presentation deck contains slides for creating effective business plans, team-oriented and brainstorming slides, pitch decks, and the like. You can use this multi-purpose template to create a variety of business-themed slides and also introduce our team using a simple team introduction slide. This template is an example of how to create a crisp team introduction, business plan, and other types of business presentations. You can pick and choose the slides relevant to your presentation topic and make something that is easy to create and present with simple, flat design layouts.

5. Free Team Building PowerPoint Template

The Free Team Building PowerPoint Template is a minimalist team-oriented template with a title slide and a few basic slides to help you create slides about your team. the lively title slide depicts a team holding speech bubbles and a placeholder for a title. This is followed by slides with default layouts for making lists, comparisons, and other types of slides.

Final Words

Introducing your team in a slide is as important as other aspects of your business. Showing that you have a reliable team can help you build a positive image for your company and brand, as well as enable you to create a convincing pitch deck. Introducing your team also shows that your organization values and trusts its team members to reach desired goals.

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How To Introduce Yourself To New Colleagues (With Scripts & Examples)

The importance of introducing yourself to your colleagues and team.

For a lot of people, being a newbie at work can be an overwhelming part of their career journey. You need to learn and adapt to a number of things. First are the morals of the office, the company’s culture, and its ins and outs.

You also need to adjust to the workflow, the hierarchy, and the different personalities of your coworkers. A common concern is how to introduce yourself to a group. Introducing yourself at a new job sets the tone for your future professional affiliations, and doing it properly can make the transition more comfortable.

It’s a good way to reinforce positive relationships from the get-go. Acquiring a level of perceptiveness through several new team introduction strategies can encourage a warm reception from your associates and allow you to start on a positive note.

How to Introduce Yourself To New Colleagues

Settling into whatever job role you’ve been hired to fulfill deserves a pleasant start. Whether you’re entering the company as part of a team or leading it, delivering a personal introduction with the right attitude is vital. In some scenarios, a company would have a team orientation and you probably won’t be the only newcomer. In others, there’s an introductory session, where the hiring manager will take care of introducing you to your superiors and coworkers. If this isn’t the case, you should make an effort to establish optimistic expectations with the people at work. Here are some tips on how to introduce yourself in a team meeting

1. Write a short description

An introduction should be clear and brief, so prepare a draft beforehand. Brainstorm a few facts about yourself that you’re comfortable sharing. This way you can choose the most critical information to include, which should concentrate on your new position, previous experience, and expectations. If you’re entering a small company in a management or leadership role, it’s crucial to add personal details such as your interests and what you like to do in your free time. It’s more possible to do this if the company culture isn’t too formal, or perhaps as a manager, you want to institute a more casual atmosphere.

Brief introductions in large and formal organizations

Short and sweet can be your new mantra. Here’s one way to do it:

“Hi, my name is Maheep. I am the new web developer and I look forward to the things we can accomplish together. Before this job, I worked at Kaisei Solutions for 6 years where I became a Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer.”

Brief introductions in small organizations

Some establishments have an easy-going culture. In this case, you can offer more details in your introduction, but don’t get into a long-winded speech with more background than necessary. Try to inject a little humor if it’s applicable.

For example:

“Hi, my name is Annely. I am the new marketing manager and I am excited to work with all of you. I have over 10 years of experience in organizing corporate events, from huge conferences to low-key workshops. In particular, I’m very passionate about the marketing process that goes on behind the scenes. Success in marketing is only possible with a dedicated team that works well together. I am positive that we can accomplish great things. Outside work, I am a mother of three teenagers, who have taught me to enjoy online gaming, believe it or not.”

2. Utilize onboarding and orientation procedures

Introducing yourself doesn’t end in your introductory spiel. It includes the conversations that follow. Many companies arrange a meeting reserved for orientation or onboarding where they introduce new employees to the old-timers in the company. This is a great chance to have some interaction with your associates. If an HR, project manager, or senior officer is moderating the introductions, you can start a short conversation with the people you meet. You can prepare some generic questions such as:

• How long have you been with the company?
• What do you like most about your job?
• Is there anything to take note of during my first week?
• Where do you guys go on your break time or for lunch?
• Will we be working together a lot?
• How would you describe the company culture?

3. Request to be introduced to the team

Ask the orientation facilitator to introduce you to your team members if ever you don’t get a chance to do so yourself. It shows an eagerness to collaborate and creates a positive impression. You can ask the person in charge by saying, “I’m quite keen on meeting the people I’ll be working with closely. Do you think I could meet them today?”

When the chance to meet arrives, try to get one-on-one interaction with each member. Tell them your name, your role, and how you feel about your first day in the company. For example: “Hi, I’m Renata, the new software tester on the team. I feel a bit nervous but very excited about the job. How long have you been with the company?”

4. Having a conversation with other team members

Your team members aren’t the only employees in the company. Make an effort to introduce yourself to other colleagues. You may have to work with them in the future, so forming a gracious working relationship early on is a good gesture. You’ll also get acquainted with employees from the other units. If you know people from different sectors such as the accounting or marketing department, it’ll be easier to cooperate with them when you need their expertise. Make sure to return the favor as well.

5. Meet new colleagues during lunchtime or coffee breaks

Break times and lunch hours are the social gateways in any establishment. Use these opportunities to talk to people you haven’t had the chance to during orientation. You can talk more casually about company policies, workflow, and internal processes. If you’re unsure or need help on some tasks, you can use this time to inquire about them.

“Hi. We met earlier today during the meeting. I’m Arden. Do you have some time to explain how to set up my access codes?”

“Hi, it was great meeting you at orientation earlier. I’m the new consultant for technology sales. I wonder if you could teach me how to register my employee account in the system.”

6. Understand the company’s hierarchy

Many companies include an organizational chart in the employee handbook. Others have a map on display at the appropriate office. Getting a copy is helpful for identifying your immediate associates and superiors, understanding the chain of command and communication, and knowing the overall structure of the company. If you find that you’ll be working with counterparts who weren’t in the onboarding meeting, you can go out of your way and introduce yourself to them.

6. Send an introductory or a follow-up email

If your company sends a follow-up email to welcome and update present staff about new employees, send a reply before the end of your shift. Express your thanks to your superiors and coworkers for a great reception. If there isn’t an email, you can consider sending one yourself to engage the other members of your team. Here are some examples:

Reply to an introductory email: “Hello everyone. I’d like to take this chance to thank you all for the warm welcome. It’s been a pleasure getting acquainted with all of you on my first day at work. I look forward to working with everybody and accomplishing great things together.”

Your own introduction email: “Hi everybody. It’s been so great to have met you all at orientation. I can’t thank you enough for the warm reception. I’m delighted about this opportunity to work at Hokkaido Tech and excited for future collaborations with the team. Thank you again for an amazing first day.”

7 Useful Tips for workplace introductions

Companies have their own way to handle introductions. Some organize orientation sessions, and others let new hires establish connections on their own. Regardless of methods, grabbing the opportunity to properly introduce yourself can lead to rewarding professional relationships at work. Don’t forget that first impressions matter. Read along for more tips and samples on achieving that.

1. Base your introduction on your team’s environment and company culture

Put simply, read the room. You’ll soon figure out whether to introduce yourself in a formal or casual manner. This part of the company culture can be apparent from the beginning, so ensure that your approach matches. Including your name and position is, of course, the first thing to do.

Example: “Hi, I’m Kyle and I’m the new creative lead of the marketing team.”

If the atmosphere allows for a casual introduction, your coworkers will expect you to share some personal details. Include some trivial information such as leisure activities you enjoy and other similar stuff.

Example: “It’s great to meet you. My name is Lana. I’m the new content creator. My last job was with Blithe Solutions and I was there for 3 years. I’m excited to work with this talented team of writers. In my free time, I enjoy surfing although I’m not yet very good at it.”

If you’re joining the company in a management role, you may need to present a longer introduction. If you’re the new leader of the team, it’s important to confirm your credentials, create rapport, and gain their respect.

Example: “Hi everyone, my name is Jeminah Ritz Alhambra, your new operations manager. I have over 12 years of experience with corporate events management. I’ve been blessed with skills that are well-suited to organizing an event and ensuring its success. Even so, the success of any event is only possible with a dedicated and collaborative team, which is the reason I expect you to work with me and commit to your best capacity to help me achieve success in our future projects. It’s delightful to be working with you all.”

2. Make the most of your company’s orientation process

The most suitable time for self-introductions is the orientation program. You may wonder how to introduce yourself in a company meeting. You should introduce yourself to as many colleagues as possible during this time. If a senior staffer or HR manager is facilitating the introductions, the activity will be much easier. Normally, they’ll be responsible for introducing you to team members, department associates, and other people pertinent to your role. Take your time to introduce yourself properly to each individual. Use the introduction you have previously prepared. However, if you’re in a small space, make sure that you vary the information that follows your name and job title, or you could be overheard and misconstrued as having memorized and automatically repeating the same lines

3. Request an HR manager for a team introduction

If you realize that you haven’t been introduced to everyone at orientation and feel that the facilitator didn’t complete your introduction to team members, take the initiative let them know.

Example: “I’d like to know everyone who I’ll be working closely with. Is there anyone else I’ve missed?”

Ultimately, it’s much better to introduce yourself individually to your coworkers. This actually fosters instant connection and future interaction so much easier. When doing this, remember to communicate that you’re glad about the opportunity to work together.

Example: ” It’s a pleasure meeting you. I’m Calum, the new junior subject matter expert. I really look forward to working together.”

4. Introduce yourself to other units inside the organization

In many cases, there will be other teams connected to your role and you’ll find yourself cooperating with them in the future. Other than that, you may have employee-related concerns that you need to consult with employees from other departments. It’s better to widen your network early as it can strengthen your professional relationships with people who aren’t just members of your team. Ask an HR representative or a senior officer to introduce you to the staff members who you’ll work with on a regular basis.

Example: “Hi. My name is Julius from the creative department. It’s good to meet you. They’ve mentioned our teams will be collaborating on a future project. Please don’t hesitate to tell me if you need anything.”

5. Find more opportunities for introductions that encourage casual interactions

Take advantage of your break times, lunch hours, or any extra time between tasks to make acquaintances and friends at work. A short conversation or chit-chat after-hours and waiting times can be taken as a chance to build an extensive network at the office, especially if you’re working for a large corporation or if you have daily interactions with specific departments and groups outside of your team.

Example: “Hello. I remember you from orientation. Annika, right? I’m Doreen. Do you happen to know how to get the employee badge?”

6. Review the company’s hierarchy before starting your new role

There may be an organizational chart contained in your employee handbook. If not, getting a printout is useful for knowing who your colleagues are and how they relate to the hierarchy of the company. and how they. If you find that some of your new associates aren’t present during the orientation session, you can take the initiative and work on a later introduction to colleagues.

Example: “Hi, are you Jiminy? I am Alexander from the Human Resources department. I’m the new junior diversity officer. I heard we may be working with each other on future tasks.”

Introductions in different situations

Depending on the situation, you’ll have a different way of introducing yourself to your colleagues. The following are the most typical scenarios you’ll encounter at work with some tips and samples to inspire and guide your self-introductions:

Introduction in interviews

The question “Tell me about yourself.” Or “How would you describe yourself.” come up quite often in interviews. Your answer serves as your introduction, which should be simple and concise but adequate enough to hold their interest and make a good impression. Never come unprepared. You would have already drafted and practiced your answer before coming to the interview. Also, make sure that it sounds natural and not memorized.

Example: “My name is Jonathan Bascon. I have a degree in Media with a Corporate Communications background. I moved to the capital because of its exciting career opportunities. My professional background includes headlining ad campaigns for international companies. It has allowed me to hone my skills in identifying cultural and social trends globally. I would love to tell you more about the qualities that I can bring to the role.”

Introduction in small offices

Introducing yourself to smaller groups allows a more casual tone, so you’ll have more space to share something personal. They would probably expect it from you. After your name and job title, consider telling them about your interests or anything your new coworkers may need to know about you. There may be room for longer conversations after the introductions, so take some time to ask personal questions from your coworkers as well.

Example: “Hello, my name is Katrina del Blanco, and I’m starting as the new software developer in Anya’s team. Something about me—I grew up in Cane Town but moved here to study at the Bacolor University of Technology for my IT degree. I’m very outdoorsy and keep an active lifestyle. On the weekends, you’ll probably find me on a hike or trekking with my friends. In my previous job, I worked as a coder and data analyst and I’m looking forward to being a productive member of the team.”

Introduction in group settings

As always, have an introduction prepared in case you’ll be introduced to larger departments or meetings. Also, prepare to answer some common questions in this context. It won’t be like an interview where you have to convince the hiring officer that you’re the best candidate for the job. Your coworkers will simply ask about your professional, academic, or communications background. They may ask you why you chose the company or how long you intend to stay. You should answer formally but maintain a personable tone.

Example: “I’m Krishna Patel, and I recently moved here from Abra. I’m excited to be a full-time support engineer. I’ve been involved with network engineering for over 12 years. I’m excited to be part of this company and innovate solutions that are attuned to our goals.”

Introduction in a virtual setting

The trend of using video conferencing as a mode of contact is practiced by many companies. They may have branch offices in other places or countries or have employees working remotely. It may be necessary for you to do your introduction in a virtual conference or meeting. It’s not so different from a regular self-introduction except for the factors that affect remote communications. Prepare yourself for connection issues and maintain positive body language, especially with your facial expressions, posture, and eye contact.

Example: “Hello everybody. I’m Edward Jan Fuentes and I’m your new marketing manager. I have over a decade’s worth of experience in marketing, focusing primarily on storefront campaigns for expanding tech companies. I believe a marketing project can only succeed with a dedicated and like-minded collective so I’m quite excited to collaborate with all of you.”

Introduction in emails

If in-person introductions aren’t possible, you may establish contact with your team via email. An introduction email is a viable alternative to include your personal and employment background in greater detail and initiate a good working relationship.

My name is Margarita Raymundo and I’m the new Event Marketing Manager here at Kloot & Plath Tech Solutions. Two of my current goals are to strengthen existing relationships with our advertising contacts and consider your recent evaluations to delegate assignments. I also look forward to working closely with our financial analysts to find innovative ways to keep our project expenditures within budget.

Learning about our company culture is one of the chief reasons that I accepted this position. It’s very much in line with my management style so I hope to meet everyone in person over the next week or so and get to know each one of you better. Before joining the company, I was the social media marketing manager at Quick Goals Inc. and the chief marketer of the sales team over at PEAG ‘R US (People Excited About Gadgetry). My personal interests include cafe hopping with my friends, reading, and cooking.

Don’t hesitate to reach out whenever you have questions or clarifications. I’ll be more than happy to learn how to best support you.

Best regards,

Margarita Raymundo

Template for introducing yourself as a new team colleague in person

Below is a template you can use for introducing yourself as a new colleague to your team:

“Hi everybody, I’m [Your name]. I’m the new [Job position]. Before joining, I worked at [Name of company] for [Time period]. I have heard a lot of great things about your work ethic, group culture, and output quality during my interview. It made me even more eager to be a part of the unit. On a personal note, [Talk about your hobbies, interests, and similar topics]. I’m excited to get to know you all and collaborate with you on future projects.”

Template for introducing yourself as a new team colleague virtually via video call

You can use the following template for introducing yourself in a virtual setting:

“Hello everyone, my name is [Your name]. I’m the new [Job position] and it’s a pleasure to be an official member of the team. I’m excited to collaborate with you all and meet you in person when circumstances allow. I heard a lot of good things about you during my interview, especially how you work with each other as a collective unit. Before working here, I was a [Previous role] at [Name of company]. I was there for [Time period]. Outside of work, [Talk about your hobbies, interests, and similar topics]. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to introduce myself. I’m excited about the work we can accomplish together.”

Template for self-introduction via email

Even if you work remotely or from home, you can’t miss the chance to introduce yourself to the team on your first day. Study the following template for your own introduction email.

Subject line: [Name of company] – New [Job title]

Hi [Name of your coworker],

My name is [Your name]. I’m the new [Job title].

Previously, I was [a brief description of your prior work history e.g. role, name of the company, time period, etc.]

I’d like to have a quick call to introduce myself and discuss a few things regarding daily tasks and the workflow. Please let me know if [Schedule, i.e. time and date] works for you. I look forward to cooperating with you on future projects.

[your name]

[company name]

Introducing yourself to a new team creates the foundation for corporate relationships at the office. Some companies have orientation programs that introduce newcomers to the company. In these social events, it’s best practice to prepare for work-related questions. Introductions during orientation of smaller groups may require you to share some details of your personal life. In some scenarios, it may be necessary to know how to introduce yourself to the team by email. Email introductions may become a more in-depth way to present your professional career. This can be quite useful if you are joining the company in a managerial position. Introductions may also be done in virtual meetings. Whatever the case, it’s sensible to prepare before the scheduled meeting. Study the samples and templates in this article to provide you with a framework and guide your preparation.

Frequently Asked Questions

When introducing yourself virtually, the preparation required is quite similar to the typical way of doing it face-to-face. The difference is that you will need to consider some factors that are unique to video technology such as connection problems. Prepare yourself for lag times and issues with your audio. You will need to do a system or equipment check before you join the meeting. Maintain positive body language throughout the call as they won’t be able to judge your body language well and misinterpret distracting gestures or facial expressions.

Start with your name and your job role. After that, include whatever information matches the context of the introduction. For example, if you’re in a leadership role, you should include your employment background to establish your authority and gain respect. If you’re a new hire, you can include some personal details to make you relatable and personable as a coworker.

You can review the samples and templates included in this article to take inspiration from or to create your own template. When studying premade introductions or samples, ensure that you’ve filled in your information and that you practice the speech out loud to adapt a natural pace and intonation. Avoid sounding robotic or obvious that you’ve memorized your introduction.

Pay attention to the atmosphere of the workplace and match your introduction to the culture you’ve observed from your initial assessment. The purpose is to know whether to introduce yourself formally or casually or if it’s okay to inject some humor into your introduction.

An introduction doesn’t really change according to your profession. It’s the same way as any of the “how to introduce yourself to new colleagues” examples in this article in various contexts. You can simply state your name and role as a developer and offer some facts about your academic background and work experience. However, the tone changes according to your position. If you’re entering the company in a leadership capacity, you may need to speak a little more formally.

You’re probably wondering how to introduce yourself in a new company in a management role. Let me use and make some adjustments to one of the samples included in this article. From the following version, you can glean the purpose of each paragraph and use it as your own template: “My name is Margarita Raymundo and I’m the new Event Marketing Manager. Two of my current goals are to strengthen existing relationships with our advertising contacts and delegate assignments based on your performance evaluation. I also plan to find innovative ways to save money on our expenditures. I have over 12 years of experience in sales and marketing. Before joining the company, I was the social media marketing manager at Quick Goals Inc. and the chief marketer of the sales team over at PEAG ‘R US (People Excited About Gadgetry). If I can share a little bit about myself, I enjoy cooking and reading. I look forward to the great work we will achieve as a team.”

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Home Blog Presentation Ideas About Me Slides: How to Introduce Yourself in a Presentation

About Me Slides: How to Introduce Yourself in a Presentation

From conference talks to client demos, it’s always essential to include an About Me slide in any presentation you are giving. Introducing yourself early into the presentation helps build a better rapport with the audience.

You can start with several fun facts about me slide to break the ice or go for a more formal professional bio to explain your background and what makes you qualified to talk about the topic at hand. At any rate, your goal is to get the audience on your side by revealing some of your personality. 

How to Introduce Yourself in a Presentation: 4 Approaches 

It’s a good practice to include self-introduction slides at the beginning of your presentation. If you are looking to answer how to introduce yourself professionally, typically somewhere after the title, opening slide , and the main agenda. However, the presentation structure will be somewhat different depending on whether you are presenting to a new audience or a group of people familiar with (e.g., your team, clients, or business partners). 

Here are four about me slide ideas you can try out, plus an About me template you can use to present yourself in a presentation. 

1. Mention Your Name and Affiliations

Start with the introduction basics. State your name, company, title/position, and several quick facts about who you are and what you do. Even if you present to a familiar audience, a brief recap is always welcome. 

To keep things a bit more engaging, consider adding some lesser-known facts about yourself. For example:

• Your interests 
• Recent accomplishments
• Testimonial/quote from a team member 
• Fun nicknames you got 

The above can be nice ice breakers for less formal team presentations, project updates, or catch-ups with clients. 

Here are several unique About Me examples you can try out:

For a client case study presentation : 

“Hi, I’m Lynda, Chief Customer Success Specialist with Acme Corp. (Also, someone you thought was a chatbot for the first few encounters)

47 NPS | 15% Churn Rate | 40% repeat purchase rate”

For a team after-action review presentation :

Mike, Project Manager at Cool Project

(aka Maximizer)

Personal Project stats:

387 Slack messages answered

56 cups of coffee consumed

Project profit gross margin: $1.2 million 

2. Work On Your Elevator Pitch 

One of the best ways to introduce yourself in a presentation is to share a punchy elevator pitch. This works extra well if you are presenting to a new audience. 

An elevator pitch is a concise statement (1-2 sentences) that summarizes your unique strengths, skills, and abilities and explains how these can benefit your listener. 

It’s nice to have one ready for your presentations and networking in general since it helps you immediately connect with new people and communicate your value. 

Writing a solid elevator pitch may require several attempts and iterations. But the sooner you start — the faster you’ll arrive at the best formula! 

To get your creative juices flowing, here are several elevator pitch ideas you can incorporate in an introduction slide about yourself. 

For professionals: 

“Certified Salesforce Administrator, data visualization specialist, and analytics for top SaaS brands. I help businesses make more sense of their data to drive better outcomes”.

For a mentor :

“Adjunct professor of creative writing at Columbia University, published author, former lifestyle editor at Esquire, the New York Times. I can teach you how to find, shape, pitch, and publish stories for web & print.”

For a student: 

“Third-year Marine Biology student at Denver State Uni. Volunteer at Lake Life Protection NGO, climate change activist, looking to expand my research about water conservation”.

3. Answer Popular Questions or Assumptions 

If you are a frequent presenter , chances are you get asked a lot of the same “About Me questions” after your speeches and during the networking bits. So why not address a roaster of these in your About Me slide? Select 4-5 most common questions and list them as quick FAQs on your slide deck. 

4. Focus on Telling a Story 

Strong introductions are personable. They are meant to offer a sneak-peak into your personality and the passion behind your work. That’s why for less formal presentations, you can (and should!) start with a short personal story. 

Remember: reliability is important to “click” with your audience. 

For instance, neuroscience research of political ads recently found that ads featuring real people performed better than those with genetic stock footage. Among viewers, emotional engagement and memory encoding (recall) increased dramatically when political ads showed relatable people. 

The same holds true for commerce. In 2015, GE launched a viral “What’s the Matter With Owen?” video ad series to attract more young talent to the company. The clips featured a relatable protagonist, struggling to explain what his work at GE entails e.g. that the company isn’t building railroads, but actually does some very innovative pilots. Many engineers related to the promo and work applications to GE shoot up by 800% ! 

As the above examples show, a good relatable story can go a long way. So think about how you can make a PowerPoint presentation about yourself more representative of who you really are as a person. 

How to Give a Presentation About Yourself: 4 Fool-Proof Tips

On other occasions, you may be asked to give a full-length “about me” presentation. Typically, this is the case during a second interview, onboarding , or if you are in attending a training program or workshop where everyone needs to present themselves and their work. 

Obviously, you’ll need more than one good about me slide in this case. So here’s how to prepare a superb presentation about me. 

What to Put in a Presentation About Yourself?

The audience will expect to learn a mix of personal and professional facts about you. Thus, it’s a good idea to include the following information: 

• Your name, contact info, website , social media handles, digital portfolio .
• Short bio or some interesting snippets. 
• Career timeline (if applicable).
• Main achievements (preferably quantifiable).
• Education, special training.
• Digital badging awards , accolades, and other types of recognition.
• Something more personal — an interest, hobby, aspiration. 

The above mix of items will change a bit, depending on whether you are giving an interview presentation about yourself or introduce yourself post-hiring. For example, in some cases a dedicated bio slide may be useful, but other times focusing on main achievements and goals can be better.

That being said, let’s take a closer look at how to organize the above information in a memorable presentation. 

P.S. Grab an about me slide template to make the design process easier! 

1. Create a List of “Facts About Me”

The easiest way to answer the “tell me about yourself” question is by having an array of facts you can easily fetch from your brain. 

When it comes to a full-length about me presentation , it’s best to have a longer list ready. To keep your brainstorming process productive, organize all your ideas in the following buckets: 

• Key skills (soft and hard)
• Educational accolades, training
• Accomplishments and other “bragging rights”
• Personal tidbits (a.k.a. fun facts ) 

Once you have a list, it gets easier to build a series of slides around it. 

2. Think Like Your Audience 

Most likely you’d be asked to make a presentation about yourself by a recruiter. There’s a good reason why many ask this — they want to determine if you are a good “cultural fit” for their organization. 

After all, 33% of people quit within the first 3 months of accepting a new job. Among these:

• 43% of employees quit because their day-to-day role was different than what they were told it would be during the hiring process.
• 32% cite company culture as a factor for leaving within the first three months. 

About me presentations often serve as an extra “filter” helping both parties ensure that they are on the same page expectations- and work style-wise. Thus, when you prepare your slide deck, do some background company research. Then try to align the presentation with it by matching the company tone, communication style, and cultural values. 

3. Include Testimonials and Recommendations

Use the voice of others to back up the claims you are making in your presentation. After all, trumping your own horn is what you are expected to do in such a presentation. But the voices of others can strengthen the claims you are personally making. 

Depending on your role and industry, try to sprinkle some of the following testimonials: 

• LinkedIn recommendations
• Quotes from personal or professional references
• Social media comments 
• Data metrics of your performance
• Funny assessments from your colleagues/friends 

The above not just strengthen your narrative, but also help the audience learn some extras about you and your background. Testimonial slides can be of help for this purpose.

4. Include a Case Study 

One of the best ways to illustrate who you are is to show what you are best in. Remember, an about me presentation often needs to “soft sell” your qualifications, experience, and personality. 

One of the best ways to do that is to showcase how you can feel in a specific need and solve issues the business is facing. 

So if you have the timeframe, use some of the ending slides to deliver a quick case study. You can present: 

• Short retrospective of a past successful project
• Before-after transformations you’ve achieved 
• Spotlight of the main accomplishments within the previous role 
• Main customer results obtained
• Specific solution delivered by you (or the team you’ve worked with) 

Ending your presentation on such a high note will leave the audience positively impressed and wondering what results you could achieve for them.

To Conclude 

It’s easy to feel stumped when you are asked to talk about yourself. Because there are so many things you could mention (but not necessarily should). At the same time, you don’t want to make your introduction sound like a bragging context. So always think from the position of your audience. Do the facts you choose to share benefit them in any way? If yes, place them confidently on your About Me slides! 

1. Personal Self Introduction PowerPoint Template

Use This Template

2. Self Introduction PowerPoint Template

3. Meet the Team PowerPoint Template Slides

4. Introduce Company Profile PowerPoint Template

5. Modern 1-Page Resume Template for PowerPoint

6. Modern Resume Presentation Template

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Introduce Yourself, Introduction, Presentation Ideas Filed under Presentation Ideas

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Why is the first meeting important?

9 ways to prepare for a successful meeting, final tips and recommendations for leading your first team meeting.

Even the most experienced and confident people have the jitters w hen first meeting with a new team.

That's true for extroverts and people in every industry. Whether you're a new manager  or a new employee, you want to get the first meeting with a new team right.

The first meeting with a new team is important because it introduces who you are as a person, what you'll contribute to the team, and how you plan on helping your team succeed. It's a time to answer and ask questions and start bonding with the people you'll be working closely with. You have one shot at this, so preparation is crucial for a successful first meeting.

Fortunately, simple strategies are available to ease your nerves and help ensure your first meeting is successful.

Fir st impressions matter a lot. Walking into your first team meeting gives you and the rest of your team members a lot of information, even if it seems nonchalant. 

If you're joining a new team at work, you want to clarify that you're ready to contribute  and bring your skills and ideas to the team — especially if that team is high-performing. Maybe you're meeting with a new boss before your team's first meeting. Don't be afraid to ask questions so your introduction meeting with your new team goes smoothly.

If you're wondering what to say when joining a new team, remember to be your authentic self as you introduce yourself. New employees want to relate to team members on a personal level, so tell them some things about yourself that aren’t work-related to easier connect.

You can gain a sense of team values and culture by listening to people talk . If you're leading the meeting, ensure there are plenty of opportunities for different people to speak.

If it's your first meeting with employees as a new manager , the first meeting is a time to establish your management style . When you're managing a new team, people need to bond and get to know each other. Aim to build trust and foster a team where everyone gets along . The initial meeting will help you start off on the right foot and develop your team .

It's okay if you're a little nervous about leading a new team. Our professional BetterUp coaches are ready to support you when you learn new strategies that will help make all of your meetings a hit.

Your first meeting can bring a lot of pressure. Of course, you want to get your points across clearly and not fumble with your words. The best way to do that is to walk in as prepared as you can be. (Don't forget breathing exercises are an important part of the preparation for a big meeting.)

Here are nine tips to help you lead your first meeting with confidence and ease:

1. Have a set agenda

What new team leaders should do first is create a set agenda. When you have something to reference, remembering everything yourself takes the stress off. Make a template with either a slideshow or handwritten cue cards .

These aides will help you stay on topic and hit all the points you wanted to discuss during your meeting. 

As a new manager, you want your first impression to be that you’re organized and can lead your team well . Your agenda template sets the tone for the meeting. It also indicates your broader expectations and leadership philosophy .

2. Prepare questions and prepare to be asked questions

Ask your team members to tell you a bit about themselves in a professional way. Social connection and trust are hard to build in the virtual environment. Model vulnerability by sharing a bit about yourself, including who you are as a person. Be thoughtful about what details you want to share and why to avoid going too deep or intimate.

Ask each person to introduce themselves with a few points that might include something light-hearted but also something about their current work. Icebreaker questions help lighten the mood and encourage people to share their values and what's meaningful to them.

For a new manager, first meetings with staff are the chance to start learning who they are in addition to what kind of professional development  and mentoring opportunities they're searching for.

Don’t be afraid to ask some tough questions, either. Ask them what their worst team experiences have been like and how you can help them with their problems. Allow them to ask you some questions, too, to help them better know your management style .

3. Get your meeting space set up just the way you’d like it

What’s worse than walking into a meeting space and finding it totally upside down? If you're lucky enough to be in-person, set up the physical space. 

If people are too spaced out or too close together, they’ll feel awkward. Make sure your space is intimate enough to have room for everyone, but they aren’t struggling to hear others when they speak. Make sure that any seating faces in the direction you want and that there’s enough space for everyone. 

Even in the virtual environment, consider what virtual collaboration tools you will use, when, and where. Err on the side of leaving the presentation off so that people can see you and each other for a first meeting.

A comfortable environment for your first meeting can help ease any tension or nerves. That goes for both you and your new team members.

4. Research your new team ahead of time

There's nothing wrong with doing a little research before you meet face-to-face . Try using Lin kedIn to check out what kind of skills your team members bring to the team and where they've worked before. It's a way of getting to know your team ahead of time, which is helpful if you're nervous. It can inspire you to ask questions and help you relate more personally.

It will also help you remember names, learn pronunciations, and become familiar with their faces ahead of time. Check out your new company's website to see if they have a "meet the team" page. 

Even if you do a lot of research, don't let that get in the way of getting to know your team and leaving them room to tell you about themselves. People are far more than their LinkedIn profile. Leave room for them to surprise you.

5. Set a good example

Model the behavior you want to see from your team members and throughout the office in your new role. Keep distractions such as electronics away so they don't derail your prepared agenda. If cameras-on is the norm, tell people in advance and remind them again in the first meeting.

Show them what kind of team culture you want to establish. Explain the i mportance of collaborative intelligence in the workplace and set an example during your meeting by listening to others, asking questions, and being open to feedback. Bring an optimistic attitude and be excited about the work you're about to do.

Up your energy by doing quick exercises or breathing before the meeting, if possible. If it's a video call, take it from a standing position and speak to the camera as if the team members are in the room with you.

And, of course, arrive on time. You don't want to be late for your introduction meeting with a new team.

6. Set proper goals

Establish what goals you want to set for your team ahead of time. Think about what direction you want your team to take, or what quota you want to fill. These goals for your team members could be daily, weekly, or monthly. High-performing teams will want you to set goals so they can continue to grow, but setting clear and attainable work goals benefits every kind of team.   

7. Don't over-explain things

It's great to be articulate when you're communicating, but make sure you aren't over-explaining things. Your team members are intelligent. If people already know their roles and responsibilities, you don't need to include onboarding information in your initial meeting.

Check-in with people if they seem confused, but don't assume they don't know anything about how the business works or what their roles demand. 

Your working relationship with others should respect and acknowledge their intelligence, experience, and expertise rather than doubt it.

8. Practice your timing

There's no need to spend the whole meeting talking about one topic. You want to keep your team member's attention, not bore them. An effective team meeting doesn't have to last two hours. It should be concise and respect other people's time and attention.

Review your meeting agenda, see if one section seems too long, and see how you can shorten it. Leave some time for questions, too. Your new team is likely just as curious about you as you are about them.

9. Have a strong close

Don't be the first to leave the room. But don't let the meeting trail on awkwardly. Summarize your points and action items and end it. Your close should be concise and motivational, too. Motivating your team  will encourage team members to become passionate, set goals for themselves, and work hard.

Be inviting and reinforce what you've put effort into preparing for your new team by sticking around to chat. Offer to clarify any final questions and schedule any one-on-one meetings , if necessary. Show that you're open to connecting with people and getting to know your team members by being openly interested in what they have to say.

You want your first meeting with employees as a new manager to be successful since you've done so much preparation. You also want your employees to succeed , and a strong first meeting helps with that.

As you think about how the meeting will go, here are 13 recommendations to remember before, during, and after your first meeting with a new team:

• Be intentional — think about what you want people to take away from each agenda item and interaction
• Be open to feedback and prepared to listen
• Acknowledge that you’re learning , too, since you’re a new team member
• Understand that building trust can take some time
• Establish a plan for the first 90 days and let everyone know about it
• Take note of your mistakes to help you in the future
• Practice what you have to say before the meeting a few times
• Make sure that you have all the necessary materials and that your technology is working
• Think about how to l ead your team in a way that boosts morale  and uplifts one another
• Give people plenty of time in advance for when the meeting takes place by sending out Slack messages or sharing the Zoom link ahead of time
• Share the team meeting agenda so everyone can follow along
• Take the time to explain processes and set expectations for team members thoroughly
• Explain what goes into your decision-making and how you evaluate progress and mistakes

Even with ample preparation, a first meeting can be an intimidating moment. Don’t hesitate to seek support. A BetterUp coach can help you mentally prepare and practice for a stellar meeting that will leave you and your new team members excited.

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Maggie Wooll, MBA

Maggie Wooll is a researcher, author, and speaker focused on the evolving future of work. Formerly the lead researcher at the Deloitte Center for the Edge, she holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from Princeton University and an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. Maggie is passionate about creating better work and greater opportunities for all.

Love them or hate them, meetings promote social learning and growth

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Team Building Presentation Tips That Inspire Instead of Bore

Teamwork makes the dream work, right? That’s what they say, anyway. But how many companies actually put team building at the forefront of their culture and values? 37% of workers consider employee teamwork, team building, and collaboration to be very important. So much so that it can affect how long employees stay with a company. So what are employers doing to support their teams, and foster cross-departmental relationships and collaboration?

Many companies have attempted to maintain culture and team building during the pandemic through virtual happy hours, events, and snack boxes mailed to employees’ homes. And while those efforts didn’t go unnoticed, it’s just not quite the same as water cooler talk, in-office happy hours, or huddles in the conference room.

As teams gear up to return to the office after a nearly two year stretch of remote work, team building is extremely important. "There's going to be such a reversion to trying to reconnect," Mark Hoplamazian, CEO of Hyatt Hotels Corp said of returning to the office at Fortune's Reimagine Work Summit. Any professional will agree that that personal connection is an integral part of culture, collaboration, and workforce function, so restoring in-person teamwork should be top of mind for many companies as offices start to open.

The first step to nailing team building— both virtually and not— is to create training , onboarding , and group presentations that inspire instead of bore. Consider the following five team building presentation ideas for a more enjoyable presentation experience for all parties involved. 

Open with a bold statistic

You’ve heard us talk about introductions before, and that’s because they can make or break your entire presentation in less than 30 seconds. If you’re really looking to rev up your team and inspire them, start the team building presentation with a bold quote or a motivating statistic from your business. This can be an impressive metric or a positive customer quote that shows their efforts are paying off, but it should be something that grabs the team’s focus and makes them want to pay attention to the slides that will follow. 

Hide easter eggs throughout the deck

How can you be sure the team is actually paying attention to your presentation and not pondering what they might eat for dinner? This is a challenge presenters will face regardless of whether you’re giving an in-person or a remote team building presentation. Our recommendation: hide easter eggs throughout the deck. These could be hidden words, a specific icon included a certain number of times throughout the presentation, or funny photos. Use said easter eggs as an incentive to your team to pay attention to the deck, and offer prizes to whoever can find the most hidden eggs throughout the course of the team building presentation. 

Utilize dynamic visuals and animations

The fastest way to lose your audience to boredom? Loads of data and text that’s impossible to digest. Instead, make sure you’re including plenty of beautiful visuals— photos, video, or icons— and utilizing dynamic animations to bring your slides to life. Using visuals allows you to say more with less. And it’s no secret that over half of people are visual learners, so by simply opting for photos or icons you’re a lot more likely to have your team building presentation resonate with your audience. 

Get them involved

Whether you choose to include icebreakers mid-deck, or leave time for discussion at the end, don’t forget to involve the team. You can involve them in a variety of ways including gamifying the presentation with polls, quizzes, or questions, asking them to each create their own slide to include, or bringing them into the conversation with their own ideas. Whichever method you decide to run with, make sure your deck reflects that. By involving your colleagues in the team building presentation it will make them feel seen and valued, which is a surefire way to inspire them. 

Start inspired with a template

As things start to return to normal, there’s an increased pressure to foster team building. But when it comes to your presentation there’s no need to stress—Beautiful.ai can handle the heavy lifting so that you can focus on your team building strategy, onboarding, or training. With countless pre-built presentation and slide templates in our inspiration gallery you can plug and play without having to start from scratch. Focus on your team, we’ll do the rest. 

Jordan Turner

Jordan is a Bay Area writer, social media manager, and content strategist.

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What New Team Leaders Should Do First

• Carolyn O’Hara

Your agenda for the first few weeks.

Getting people to work together isn’t easy, and unfortunately many leaders skip over the basics of team building in a rush to start achieving goals. But your actions in the first few weeks and months can have a major impact on whether your team ultimately delivers results. What steps should you take to set your team up for success? How do you form group norms, establish clear goals, and create an environment where everyone feels comfortable and motivated to contribute?

• Carolyn O’Hara is a writer and editor based in New York City. She’s worked at The Week, PBS NewsHour, and Foreign Policy. carolynohara1

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Important Steps when Building a new Team

This article outlines essential steps in forming a new team . These steps are also useful for existing teams that are interested in assessing their format and effectiveness.

First, the work of the team needs to be clearly defined and matched to some real needs of the department, lab or center or of the Institute as a whole. If the team doesn't get a clear mission or scope statement from the team sponsor , creating these should be part of the team's kick-off process. (See our Checklist for Team Start-up Microsoft Word tool.)

In the early stages it is important to talk to the team's sponsor about their role and how they will support the team's work. What will the sponsor do for the team? What does the sponsor expect from the team? Teams need the clear support of the organization's leadership, including concrete support such as release time, funding and resources.

Selecting the right team members is critical. Ideally, teams should be small (not more than ten people) so that members can develop a high-level of connection and interdependence. Members need both technical expertise (including writing and presentation skills) and good interpersonal skills for working in small groups. For teams working on Institute-wide projects, diverse membership (across MIT's units, across payroll/employee classifications and across gender/race categories) can lead to a richer team with better results. Content experts, process experts and end users can all play key roles.

Team kick-off events are an important part of the start-up process. Kick-off events enable the team to articulate and understand the goals, mission and structure. A well-planned kick-off can increase team productivity and build team momentum. A formalized start-up activity will help the team define its mission, deliverables, roles & responsibilities, and success factors.

How can I build a successful team?

Six items are crucial to help teams function effectively.

It is the shared commitment to a specific mission that helps define a team. A mission statement can provide powerful documentation about the team's purpose. Creating a mission statement requires team members to think about, discuss and come to agreement on the following questions:

• What is the work we were brought together to do?
• Why can this work best be done as a team?
• What will be different as a result of our working together?
• What will our work create for our organization, our team and ourselves?
• For project teams: What will a successful outcome look like for our team? How will we know we've completed our task?
• For standing teams: How will we measure our success in an on-going way?

A team's mission may be based on a directive from management or others outside the team. But good team discussion about how each member -- and the group collectively -- understands that mission will make the mission statement meaningful and useful to the team. Mission statements may be short; they should be written in everyday language that each team member understands and supports.

Mission statements give a team guiding principles, but goals give the team a real target for their activity. Goals should be something worth striving for -- important results that the team can provide for the organization.

The best goals are S-M-A-R-T goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. "Improving customer service" may sound like a good goal for a team, but it doesn't really meet the S-M-A-R-T criteria. A more effective goal would be "Reduce call-back time to customers to two hours or less within six months." The revised goal is:

• Specific (reduce call-back time to customers)
• Measurable (to two hours or less)
• Achievable (The team would need to decide this. Maybe call-backs need four hours, or maybe the time can be reduced to 30 minutes.)
• Relevant (Again, the team will know - is slow call-back time an issue for the customers? For the team's manager? Is reducing call-back time important enough to merit team effort?)
• Time bound (within six months)

3. Roles and responsibilities

It's particularly important in a team environment that team members know what is expected of each of them. Without these expectations, members can't develop mutual accountability or trust in the team. When a team's expectations are clear and members meet (or exceed) expectations, trust and an increased sense of "teamness" are natural by-products.

Almost all teams at MIT have designated team leaders. Team leaders are the individuals who are held accountable for the team's results by the team's sponsor. The Team leader often serves as a spokesperson for the team and may also be responsible for coordinating the team's work. Facilitators may be a member of the team or a resource person for the team. The facilitator is responsible for guiding the team's process. This might include helping to set agendas for team meetings and running the meetings. Sometimes these two roles are played by one person. (Learn more about facilitators in the Meeting Design and Facilitation Learning Topic.)

4. Groundrules

To be effective, teams need to be explicit about the ways they will work together. Groundrules are guidelines for specific behaviors. Teams don't need a lot of groundrules to work together well, but everyone on the team should agree to the groundrules and share responsibility for ensuring that they are followed.

Possible areas for groundrules include:

• How you communicate DURING team meetings (Are interruptions OK? Should the Facilitator call on you before you speak? What about side conversations?)
• How you communicate BETWEEN team meetings (How quickly should you respond to emails? Are there suggested length limits on emails or memos? How do you keep everyone on the team informed of your progress?)
• What constitutes respectful behavior towards other team members?

Some sample ground rules include:

• Be respectful of others -- don't bad-mouth team members within the team or outside the team
• Share your own experiences and opinions; avoid "they say" statements
• One speaker at a time
• Keep discussions focused on topic at hand
• Honor time limits - start and end on time

5. Decision-making

Teams may choose different models for making decisions; the most important factor is that the decision-making model be explicit and understood by all team members. A clear decision making model describes who makes the decision and how others will be involved. (Will decisions be made by consensus where everyone can agree to support the final decision? Will the team leader get input but make the final decision? Will the team vote?) Knowing what decision-making model will be used lets team members know what to expect and what is expected; this can help build support for the final decision.

Good decisions have two characteristics: quality and commitment. Quality decisions are logical, supported by sound reasoning and good information. Steps towards making quality decisions include checking to see if all available information has been gathered and shared, that all team members have been consulted, and that critical input from stakeholders (individuals or groups affected by the decision) outside the team has been considered as appropriate.

Commitment is demonstrated by the active backing for the decision by every team member. Each team member agress with the decision, is committed to carrying out the decision, and understands their individual role in doing so.

Learn more about consensus decision-making in our " Decision-making Models " article.

6. Effective Group Process

Communication: Using groundrules as a starting point, teams need to develop practices for open communication. Examples include:

• Listen respectfully and respond with positive interest to ideas from team members. If an idea is confusing or seems unconventional or odd to you, ask for more information to understand the idea better. (Saying, "Can you tell me more?" is a great way to continue a conversation.)
• Help create an environment that encourages team members to share all ideas - even the "half-baked" ones. Most great ideas are built by teams building on an initial thought. Sometimes it's the "crazy" ideas that really spark the team's creativity. Treating every idea as important keeps team members from holding back some "half-baked" thought that could be just what the team needed.
• Don't hide conflicts; try to surface differences and use them to create better results that all team members can support.

Learn more about effective communication in our Communicating with Others learning topic.

Mutual Accountability: Each member of a team is responsible for the success of the team as a whole. This is the interdependence that makes teams stronger than the sum of their parts. Working together towards specific tangible results is the best way to start creating mutual accountability. Recognize and celebrate small accomplishments and successes of individuals and milestones (large and small) for the team as a whole. By acknowledging successes, team members can develop an increasing trust in their teammates and the team as a whole.

Appropriate self-evaluation: It is be helpful for team members to "stop action" at regular intervals and check out how the team is working. These self-evaluations can be as simple as a team discussion: "Looking at X, what things worked well and what would we like to improve next time?" or they can be deep and reflective (e.g., "How can we deal with conflict more effectively?"). Regardless of the method or tool used, the real benefit of self-evaluation comes from the team discussion about their assessments of the team.

See Articles and Tools  for survey examples.

Stages of team development

Just like individuals, teams go through stages of development. Although there are a number of descriptions of the stages of team development, the most commonly used terms are forming, storming, norming and performing. (Bruce Tuckman, "Developmental Sequence in Small Groups," 1965 Psychological Bulletin, 63, 384-99)

As in human development, team development is not a linear process -- the introduction of new members, a change in the organization's climate, or the successful completion of a particular milestone can cause a team to loop back to an earlier stage of team development.

Recognizing the team's development stage can be really helpful as you work to improve your team's effectiveness and meet your goals. Each stage has recognizable feelings and behaviors. For more information, see our "Using the Stages of Team Development" article and the "What Stage is Our Team In?" tool (Microsoft Word).

Content experts: People who know the team's subject well End users: People who will use the products produced by the team Mission: The purpose of the team Process experts: People who are experienced at helping groups be successful Scope statement: The work that the team should accomplish Sponsor: The person who set up the team or who receives the team's products

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Cries of Sexism Greet a Nike Olympic Reveal

The sporting giant offered a sneak peek at its track and field outfits for Team U.S.A., and an unexpected backlash ensued.

By Vanessa Friedman

Ever since the Norwegian women’s beach handball team turned the fact that they were required to wear teeny-tiny bikini bottoms for competition into a cause célèbre, a quiet revolution has been brewing throughout women’s sports. It’s one that questions received conventions about what female athletes do — or don’t — have to wear to perform at their very best.

It has touched women’s soccer (why white shorts?), gymnastics (why not a unitard rather than a leotard?), field hockey (why a low-cut tank top?) and many more, including running.

So it probably should not have come as a shock to Nike that when it offered a sneak peek of the Team U.S.A. track and field unies during a Nike Air event in Paris celebrating its Air technology on Thursday (which also included looks for other Olympic athletes, like Kenya’s track and field team, France’s basketball team and Korea’s break dancing delegation), they were met with some less-than-enthusiastic reactions.

See, the two uniforms Nike chose to single out on the mannequins included a men’s compression tank top and mid-thigh-length compression shorts and a woman’s bodysuit, cut notably high on the hip. It looked sort of like a sporty version of a 1980s workout leotard. As it was displayed, the bodysuit seemed as if it would demand some complicated intimate grooming.

Citius Mag , which focuses on running news, posted a photo of the uniforms on Instagram, and many of its followers were not amused.

“What man designed the woman’s cut?” wrote one.

“I hope U.S.A.T.F. is paying for the bikini waxes,” wrote another. So went most of the more than 1,900 comments.

The running comedian Laura Green posted an Instagram reel in which she pretended to be trying on the look (“We’re feeling pretty, um, breezy,” she said) and checking out the rest of the athlete’s kit bag, which turned out to include hair spray, lip gloss and a “hysterectomy kit,” so the women would not have to worry about periods.

When asked, Nike did not address the brouhaha directly, but according to John Hoke, the chief innovation officer, the woman’s bodysuit and the man’s shorts and top are only two of the options Nike will have for its Olympic runners. There are “nearly 50 unique pieces across men’s and women’s and a dozen competition styles fine-tuned for specific events,” Mr. Hoke said.

Women will be able to opt for compression shorts, a crop top or tank and a bodysuit with shorts rather than bikini bottoms. The full slate of looks was not on hand in Paris but more will be revealed next week at the U.S. Olympic Committee media summit in New York. The Paris reveal was meant to be a teaser.

Mr. Hoke also pointed out that Nike consults with a large number of athletes at every stage of the uniform design. Its track and field roster includes Sha’Carri Richardson, who happened to be wearing the compression shorts during the Paris presentation, and Athing Mu. And there are certainly runners who like the high-cut brief. (The British Olympic sprinter Dina Asher-Smith , another Nike athlete, told The New York Times last summer that while she opts to run in briefs, she also leans toward a leotard style, rather than a two-piece.)

What Nike missed, however, was that in choosing those two looks as the primary preview for Team U.S.A., rather than, say, the matching shorts and tanks that will be also available, it shored up a longstanding inequity in sports — one that puts the body of a female athlete on display in a way it does not for the male athlete.

“Why are we presenting this sexualized outfit as the standard of excellence?” said Lauren Fleshman, a U.S. national champion distance runner and the author of “Good for a Girl.” “In part because we think that’s what nets us the most financial gain from sponsors or NIL opportunities, most of which are handed out by powerful men or people looking at it through a male gaze. But women are breaking records with ratings in sports where you don’t have to wear essentially a bathing suit to perform.”

The problem such imagery creates is twofold. When Nike chose to reveal the high-cut bodysuit as the first Olympics outfit, purposefully or not, the implication for anyone watching is that “this is what excellence looks like,” Ms. Fleshman said.

That perception filters down to young athletes and becomes the model girls think they have to adopt, often at a developmental stage when their relationships with their bodies are particularly fraught.

And more broadly, given the current political debate around adjudicating women’s bodies, it reinforces the idea that they are public property.

Still, Ms. Fleshman said, “I’m glad Nike put this image out as the crown jewel of Olympic Team design,” because it may act as the catalyst for another conversation that has been long overdue.

“If you showed this outfit to someone from the W.N.B.A. or women’s soccer, they would laugh in your face,” she said. “We shouldn’t have to normalize it for track and field anymore. Time’s up on that.”

Vanessa Friedman has been the fashion director and chief fashion critic for The Times since 2014. More about Vanessa Friedman