The room overwhelmed Alan the moment he stepped in and his eyes touched the endless space around him. Unfamiliarity with the enormous size crushed his confidence and sense of importance, leaving him feeling small, nervous and terribly self-conscious. His walk to the stage was uncomfortable, an awkward expression of embarrassment. Should he walk fast? Slow? He walked like he wasn’t sure.
Alan would be speaking to almost 1,000 of his organization’s leaders in this very room.
He already dreaded the moment the room would be filled with their faces, turned toward him, silently waiting for his first words.
Long before that moment arrived, Alan had already lost the battle to save his dignity and present with confidence.
It was an honor to be invited to join the senior leadership ranks, but Alan was far from feeling the grandeur he experienced when he watched the other senior execs present.
He simply felt small.
Anticipating the event had him drowning in a sea of misery and anxiety.
But Alan wasn’t ready to give in. He was determined to fight this battle and win.
And that is exactly what Alan is doing in this picture, in this room, with our Lead Trainer, Janet.
Before you ever establish a real connection with your audience, your primary foundational step is to establish a healthy relationship with the room, the space. Most people skip this. Or just give it a superficial glance.
You need to master owning the room.
Most people, when you ask them to “Show me the size of your personal space with your hands,” will mark out a boundary that ends about 2 or 3 feet out in front of them.
This poses a problem when you are presenting, because a GREAT presentation requires that you must have the audience INSIDE your personal space, NEVER outside.
This means your concept of your “personal space” must EXPAND and EXPAND and EXPAND until it is BIG enough to contain your WHOLE audience.
Given that most people have “personal space” that ends 2 feet in front of them, you can see this will take practice. And what you’re practicing as you expand your personal space is, you are practicing “owning the room.”
If you’ve ever done one of our in-person workshops, you have practiced owning the room and you know what I’m talking about. You’ve even practiced walking in and immediately owning it upon entering. You’ve practiced continuing to OWN the whole space, all the way through your talk, until you’re done.
Practice, practice, practice.
Very worthwhile. Owning the room is a major step that gives you as a presenter tremendous confidence. When you have the CERTAINTY that you own the room, it gives you not only confidence, but also calm and composure, otherwise known as poise. And on a large stage, you start to develop what’s known as stage presence.
Alan initially started his practice slightly slumped, worried-looking, shrunken, apologetic.
After Janet’s coaching we see a new Alan. Now ALAN is TALLER, shoulders back, chin up, smiling, face clear of worry lines. Powerful. All this happened naturally as he owned the room.
This is important: Janet never coaches on these points (standing tall, shoulders back, large hand gestures, a confident walk, looking handsome or beautiful), they all happen instinctively when you OWN the room.
Poise is in your nature. Embarrassment is taught. Reclaim your poise.
Learn to infuse the entire space with your presence. Learn to feel your presence reach ALL the way to the back of the room. And behind you as well. Fill the room with it.
Now, and only now, will you look like you BELONG there.
Then you can go onto the next step, to expect all eyes to be on you, and to comfortably welcome the great rush of audience attention with warmth.
It takes practice. It’s worthwhile to get into big rooms and practice.
In the beginning it will feel strange, uncomfortable, too big. As you practice and the big space becomes familiar, the people in the back will feel closer and closer and closer, until you really feel they are IN your space.
At that point, when you communicate with them, your words will reach them and they will feel “you are talking to me”. They will pay more attention and be more engaged.
Most people have shriveled into being something so small, it takes them a while to grow big again. But the truth is, we ARE big. We just need to reach and reach and REACH in order to grow big again.
That’s what practice is all about.
Be the cause!