We see a lot written about public speaking and presenting. Usually it is on the assumption we are the sole speaker or one of a line-up of speakers who wow the audience one after another. Interestingly, a lot of speakers I see these days are often members of expert panels, herded together by the MC and taken through the key points of the topic. I also notice that none of them are much good in this role and almost no wowing is going on ever. The irony is we are on the panel because we are an expert in our field, but no one bothers to inform us how to perform our expert role when being a panellist.
Whether we are the solo speaker commanding the audience from behind a podium or prowling around the stage or sitting down in a row of other speakers, the fundamental things which work best don’t change all that much. The key thing I have noticed which is missing most from panellists is projection. When we are standing, we have more access to our body language and to voice projection. We are also elevated in stature too, so we are readily visible to the audience from top to toe. We feel more powerful when standing, and this comes across in how we deliver our talk.
When we are seated, we are literally cut off at the knees. We are hunkered down in our chair, sitting low and are physically constrained. It has a deleterious psychological impact as well. This seated position is the format we use all the time for casual chats over coffee. This positioning sets up a mentality that is relaxed and conversational. Nothing wrong with a conversational speaking style, however the associated soft volume we use is the issue.
Of course we have been handed mics, but most people are not used to using them and often don’t know how to get the most out of the tech. They usually don’t get a chance to work with the mics, which is something you would get as a single speaker when you are there setting up your laptop, etc., before the event starts. Also, holding a mic means we have tied up one arm, so our gestures are handicapped, compared to when we are standing using a stand mic or a pin mic.
In short, we become small on stage and we stay that way throughout. I teach speakers to use their ki (気) or intrinsic energy when speaking to reach all four corners of the venue. Projecting your energy is magnetic with audiences and we can deeply connect with the crowd. Sitting low in a chair makes this energy projection much harder. You really have to be aware of the disadvantage you are at and you need to compensate for it. If you don’t know, then you don’t know and you just become insignificant on stage very quickly.
I recommend having a strategy for your panellist presentation. I would strongly recommend you make it your goal to connect with everyone in the audience. We do this one person at a time. What we see speakers doing, though, is looking out at everyone at the same time, at each other and at the MC in particular. They are not thinking of connecting with the audience at all, at the individual level.
Use six seconds of contact with each person. Don’t look at the other panellists or the MC – ignore them completely and only spend your time looking at the people in the room. Pick up one person in the audience at random and stare straight into that person’s eyes as you speak to them. At a distance, down the back, the ten people seated around that person all think you are looking at them, so the impact is magnified.
When you look out at the audience, break the room up into zones – left, middle, right and then front half and back half. This gives us six zones to work on and we make use of this zone breakdown to engage as many people as we can during our remarks. In a minute we can engage with six people. In three minutes we can engage with eighteen people, and if we pick up the ten people around, then we have one hundred and eighty people engaged.
Sit super tall and on the front edge of the chair, so that you are physically thrusting your body language toward the audience. Direct your ki energy to the very back wall of the room when you speak.
Make the most of the mic and use a strong voice, without yelling or creating static with the mic, to project your energy to the audience. Hold the mic a little out in front of you and then speak across the top of the mesh. I have seen panellists actually encompass their entire palm completely over the mesh, which totally defeats the efforts of the sound engineers, who have slaved over perfecting the tech.
Use the other hand for large gestures. Remember, you are tiny up on the stage and the chair has made you short, so you have to overcompensate for the lack of physicality. Don’t be afraid to go big with your gestures. Way down the back, it still looks small.
We want our three arrows coalescing together: (1) one-on-one eye contact for six seconds with specific individuals in the audience, (2) strong energy projection through the medium of our body language and voice and (3) the power of our larger than usual gestures. All of our attributes are in sync and congruent with what we are saying.
When we do this, we instantly self-select as a real professional in presenting skills, stand out from our Lilliputian colleagues on stage with us, including the MC, and we become totally memorable, whereas everyone else is immensely forgettable.
