To command a room effectively, speakers can employ several strategies:

This article explores three strategies: exuding confidence, engaging through storytelling, and mastering delivery techniques.

Exude Confidence

Confidence is the foundation of a strong speaking presence. It signals the audience that you are knowledgeable, prepared, and in control.

Confidence doesn’t just come naturally. However, it can be cultivated in several ways.

Thoroughly understanding the material and anticipating questions helps eliminate anxiety.

Rehearsing in front of a mirror, recording yourself, and practicing with a trusted audience builds familiarity and reduces nervousness.

How you practice your presentation for the last time is how you will deliver it in the actual presentation. Make sure you can be proud of your last presentation performance.

Affirmations and focusing on past successes can also help reinforce a positive mindset.

Your subconscious mind believes anything your conscious mind tells it. Your subconscious mind believes your self-talk. That is why it is essential to always speak positively.

Whatever your subconscious mind “hears” will be manifested in your conscious life. Make sure your thoughts of your future is what you want it to be.

Standing tall, making direct eye contact, and using open gestures project confidence even before you start speaking.

Consider the conversations you’ve had with other people. Do you trust the other person if they are slouching, not meeting your eyes, and using closed gestures? Of course not. It is the same when you speak.

Before speaking, take five seconds to face the audience, stand up straight to your full height, and take a deep breath. Only after doing this should you begin to speak.

So, exuding confidence is a great way to “own the room.”

Another is storytelling.

Engage Through Storytelling

Storytelling transforms dry information into engaging, relatable narratives.

A well-told story can captivate the audience by tapping their emotions, making the content more memorable and impactful. Your goal is not only to tell a story but to tell it effectively.

The most compelling stories to maximize your audience engagement are personal stories relevant to your topic.

You might say, “I don’t have any stories.” The truth is all of us have stories. You might realize situations in your life are stories, but they are.

Remember, these situations or stories may be “old hat” to you, but very few people have heard your personal stories. Use relevant ones to engage with your audience more deeply.

Choose stories that align with your audience’s interests, challenges, or aspirations.

Think about why you have the friends you have. To a large extent, it is because of the things you have in common, including the situations you have experienced in your life. These commonalities bring you closer together. It is the same with your audience.

Chances are there will be commonalities in your stories with audience members’ stories. It is these commonalities that allow you to engage your audience more fully. These commonalities should be nurtured and used often.

Just like in your presentations, you must give your audience a “roadmap” or structure to your presentation. Within you presentation, your stories must have a structure.

Everyone has heard someone tell a story and asked themselves, where is the storyteller going with this? Don’t tell your stories this way.

Follow the classic storytelling framework—beginning (setting the scene), middle (highlighting conflict or challenge), and end (resolution or takeaway).

Stories are so important in presentations that numerous books have been written on them. Anyone who has seen a TED talk knows what I am talking about.

Act out your stories. Use the dialogue, body movements, and vocal varieties in your stories. Bring your audience into your stories.

Use descriptive language to help your audience visualize the story.

So, exuding confidence and telling stories are great ways to “own the room.”

A final one is mastering delivery techniques.

Master Delivery Techniques

How a message is delivered matters as much as the content itself, sometimes more. Mastering delivery techniques can enhance your effectiveness.

Varying pitch, tone, and pace to emphasize key points and keep the audience engaged.

You have probably attended a talk where the speaker was talking in a monotone. No matter how exciting the topic is, a monotone quickly turns off audiences.

We are all born with a fantastic instrument for creating excitement, suspense, and drama – your voice.

To create excitement, speak faster and at a higher volume.

To create suspense, make use of the pause.

To create drama, talk slower with a lower volume.

Your voice is truly a marvelous tool to be used in your speaking.

Moving naturally across the stage can help maintain energy and draw attention, but aim for purposeful movements rather than pacing.

As a reader of these articles, I have said body language and vocal variety are the majority of your communication. Use these in your presentations to significant effect.

To overlook body movement and vocal variety in your presentations is to handicap you by not using two of the best ways to communicate with your audience.

So, how do you use your body movement to aid you in communicating to your audience?

The easy answer is to do what is natural when you are speaking. Think about the body movements you use when conversing with another person.

A video of your conversation would show many movements of your body, sometimes wild. Why not use the same method to communicate your point when speaking to your audience?

Let’s get one thing straight here. Everyone uses some type of gesture when they talk. Are some people more pronounced with their gestures than others? Yes. But this does not discount that when you talk to people, you use your hands to emphasize your message. You just don’t realize it.

Use these gestures in your presentations, which come so naturally in one-to-one conversations, to reinforce your words. This being said, ensure they are deliberate and not distracting. Make sure your gestures have a purpose.

Establishing eye contact with individuals in the audience helps create a sense of connection and trust.

Good eye contact does not mean staring. It does mean you must purposefully look at multiple people in your audience to engage with them. People ignore speakers who don’t have good eye contact. Don’t be one of these speakers.

You must also convey a genuine passion for the topic. This will inspire your audience and make your presentation more dynamic.

Don’t be afraid to let your emotions get wrapped up in your presentation. Keep them under control, but let your enthusiasm for your topic show. Your enthusiasm will be contagious, making your presentation more memorable for your audience.

Speakers can captivate their audience and make a lasting impact by combining confidence, storytelling, and polished delivery techniques.

These strategies, rooted in psychology and practical application, allow speakers to connect authentically and effectively command any room.

Become a master connector with your audience.

You and your audience will be glad you did.

Own the room!

Call to Action

• Practice your presentation until you are confident your confidence on your topic explicitly show.

• Become a master storyteller. Always inject relevant stories in your presentations. They are the “icing on the cake” for your audience.

• Master delivery techniques such as vocal variety, purposeful movement, and eye contact to fully engage your audience.

Reference

Being a confident, engaging, and effective technical speaker is a vital personal and professional asset. With more than 40 years of engineering experience and more than 30 years of award-winning public speaking experience, Frank DiBartolomeo can help you reduce your presentation preparatory time by 50%, overcome your fear of public speaking and be completely at ease, deliver your presentations effectively, develop your personal presence with your audience; and apply an innovative way to handle audience questions deftly.

Working closely with you, Frank provides a customized protocol employing the critical skills and tools you need to create, practice, and deliver excellent technical speeches and presentations. Connect with Frank and explore how he can help you become the exceptional speaker you were meant to be. Please reach out to him at frank@speakleadandsucceed.com or 703-509-4424 for a complimentary consultation. Schedule a meeting with him at calendly.com/frankdibartolomeospeaks. Listen to his Successful Speaking for Technical Professionals podcast