What Is Stage Presence?
Stage presence cannot be defined by one word. Stage presence is a combination of things – your charisma, appeal, confidence, and energy when performing on stage or a guest on a podcast / live stream. This also includes your level of comfort on stage (podcast / live stream), your ability to connect with your audience and hold their attention, and how memorable the experience was once it’s over. Your stage presence is the biggest variable that determines whether your audience will be spreading the word about your presentation after it’s over.
Having a great stage presence is very important when delivering a speech or presentation. The best speakers have a very captivating stage presence – they are able to capture the audience’s full attention and keep them interested throughout the entirety of their speech. Improving your public speaking skills allows you to build confidence and develop a strong stage presence anytime you are a guest, host on a live stream / podcast.
Great speaking is always about connecting with your audience first, and secondly delivering your information.
What’s Your Magic Dust?
The truth is, there’s no magic dust involved. And specialized training isn’t required either. What is needed is something a lot more old-fashioned and powerful than that: simplicity. The formula is so simple, in fact, that it’s easily lost amid the anxiety and intense desire to do well that accompanies our performances. We complicate things and try to grasp the golden ring as the carousel whirls around when we really should be enjoying the ride. (And that, of course, is a surefire way to get audiences to enjoy it too.)
KNOW THIS Your everyday persona and your public speaking live stream/podcast persona don’t have to be one and the
same. What’s something about you that makes you different? Can you exaggerate it for the stage or medium you are working on (Live stream /podcast)? If you want to increase your stage presence you need to be willing to be bigger, bolder, and to be truly seen!
Disclaimer to the above statement, you must still be authentic. Everyone can spot an inauthentic person a hundred miles away! You must ALWAYS be authentic and in integrity, always!
Here are three ways to develop your stage presence for whatever type of speaking, presentation, or live stream/podcast you are delivering:
Count on yourself and your talent. It is virtually always true that you are being asked to speak because you are the right person for the task. Your knowledge, experiences, abilities, and wisdom are what recommended you for the role you’re fulfilling. Trust in that and in yourself. Remember, that it’s your personality as much as your content knowledge that will move your listeners. Subject matter experts are a dime a dozen. As an audience member, I want you to move me, and you should make every effort to do so, not just throw information at me.
Establish and maintain a rapport with your audience. This is why your greeting is so important. The entire tone of your live stream/podcast, and the belief on the part of your listeners that they are in good hands, start here. Every speech, presentation, sales pitch, lecture, live stream, or podcast is a performance—it’s the reason your audience is gathered to hear you. Whatever your topic or area of expertise, this fact rings true: you should spend less time gathering your content and more time being comfortable in front of a roomful of people, talking to them. No one will remember the facts and figures you present unless you are talking to accountants and actuaries, but even accountants or actuaries will recall how you made them feel.
Be fully present. Most of us are masters at living in the past and the future, along with the present. We’re thinking about what happened at the office this morning, or the board presentation we have coming up next week. Just like Marley’s ghost from Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol,” we drag that ball-and-chain (past or future) on stage with us; and instead of a riveting speaker, the audience gets someone who’s half or one-third “there” for them. Develop the ability to occupy, at 100%, the present moment so that you achieve mindfulness. You’ll be entirely invested in your message, and equally aware of whether it’s getting through to your listeners.presntation
How To Tell If You Have Good Stage Presence
Stage presence can be gauged by a few metrics. If you’re wondering how well you perform on stage, here are a few ways to figure it out.
- Your audience’s reaction. Does your audience appear interested and engaged throughout your presentation? Are they laughing or reacting at all the right parts? Is their full attention on you? Did they give you positive feedback once your talk/speech was over?
- Your audience’s remembrance of your presentation. Was your audience talking about your presentation after it was over? Will they tell their friends, family, and colleagues about what you presented? Were there memorable quotes or anecdotes in your speech that your audience can recall later on? Is your presentation being referenced long after you gave it?
- Your own confidence in your presentation. How well do you think you performed? Did you feel like you executed the speech just as you hoped? Did you feel comfortable and confident throughout the presentation? Is there anything you could have improved?
These are all very important questions to ask yourself when determining your stage presence. The answers to these questions will help you understand what’s working, what can be improved, and what’s not working for you!