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[auxesis]

I have recently been asked to chair a session at a conference. This was a last minute thing on their side – so nothing extremely “glorious” ! 

Because I have attended many conferences where I thought the chair did not do a very good job, I want to do it right. The two colleagues who will also be speaking have sent me a short bio, and I feel fine introducing them to the crowd.

But what shall I do with myself? How do you introduce oneself?  Is first person fine, or should the “Hu” be used? It is a little bit uncomfortable and, maybe because I am not a native English speaker, I am even more stressed out… But your kind advice or even a tiny idea of what to say would be of tremendous help for me !

[larryc]

Make a joke out of it. "Due to a last minute cancellation I am chairing my own session and so have to introduce myself." Then do a parody introduction, talking about your Nobel prize, your many awards, and your attendance at the Oxford Round Table in the third person.

That is what I would do.

[rockprof]

I did it, I just said "and the third speaker is... me!" or something like that and just gave my talk.

[polly_mer]

While LarryC jokes, the chairs that I have seen introduce themselves used first person and were a little joking.

"I have known the next speaker my entire life and can honestly say that I have never met someone who did more interesting work.  I am speaking, of course, about myself.  In case you have forgotten, I am Auxesis.  I am from X [and continue with whatever biographical information is comparable to that of the other speakers].   Today I will be talking on [title of paper].  Let me set the timer for [double standard time] and I will begin."

Of course, I tend to go to very informal meetings with scientists and engineers who think that sort of thing is fine.  In fact, I can think of several people who have done what LarryC suggested because they were well known enough that most of the audience didn't need an introduction anyway and the few lost graduate students could be let in on the joke later.

Even if you are in a reasonably formal setting, don't speak of yourself in the third person or use 'hu'.  Just introduce yourself at the same level of detail that you are introducing the other speakers, but use first person.  Do remember to set the timer or arrange for someone else to keep the time for you.  The biggest faux pas in being chair and speaker is allowing yourself to run over time.

[mended_drum]

I had to step in and do this once; the best part was when I said, "I have a question for Mended_drum.  Well, not so much a question as a comment..."

Much hilarity ensued.

[auxesis]

This does help a lot : thank you !

While I am not certain I will be able to play the LarryC's hilarious approach, you all show me that the situation is a funny one, and I should take care of it with smiling in mind (the venue itself sounds formal - but maybe humor can still please the crowd )

The biggest faux pas in being chair and speaker is allowing yourself to run over time.

Ah ah ah. I did not think about this one : that would be terrible indeed :)

[ls410]

I think this answer is really conference specific.  At my field's annual conference, everything is closely timed.  Each paper in a session is given a specific slot of time so that someone can come to hear a certain paper.  Any introductions at the beginning just take away time from the first person.  Usually the chair gives a quick welcome and then reads the title and institution of the author.  As chair, I think the more important job is keeping everyone on time.

[temporaryname]

I think this answer is really conference specific.  At my field's annual conference, everything is closely timed.  Each paper in a session is given a specific slot of time so that someone can come to hear a certain paper.  Any introductions at the beginning just take away time from the first person.  Usually the chair gives a quick welcome and then reads the title and institution of the author.  As chair, I think the more important job is keeping everyone on time.

Same in my field. In fact, if the chair did anything except give title and author, and then cut off discussion at the time limit, it would be seen as pretty impolite, and even incompetent.

This means, of course, that chairing a session you're in is more or less trivial in my field, as long as you obsessively keep yourself from going over time (or get a friend to signal you when you're to be finished). It's still not normally done, but it wouldn't be anything to really stress about.

On preview: Introductions like the ones everybody keeps talking about are generally given before plenaries in my field, but even there my field's intros are a lot briefer than the ones I've heard when I've gone to other fields' conferences.