Self-serving introductions and butt-kissing thank yous

I downloaded an e-book the other day that went like this:

Title page
Second title page
Copyright page
Publisher page
About the authors (2 pages)
Contents
Foreword (5 pages)
Introduction by one of the authors (2 pages)
Chapter 1

I was fifteen pages into the e-book before the actual content began.

If you were to approach an audience like this, the room would be empty by the time you started your actual presentation.

The e-book is 44 pages long. The introductory pages make up 1/3 of the whole book. Imagine taking 20 minutes out of your hour-long presentation to talk about yourself and your history and the background of your presentation.

This was a free e-book, which makes me think that the authors were trying to get all their marketing information up front. But guess what: I don't care about all of that! I can wait till the end to read about the authors and their credentials and their accolades. What I want is content. Information. Value.

If you do nothing else in your presentation, don't waste the audience's time. Respect your audience by giving them what they've come for. Don't make them wait through your self-serving introduction and butt-kissing thank yous.

Get right down to business. It's the least you can do.

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