Commanding a room is easier than you think. The reason why you aren't doing it is mainly because you believe you can't.
Without belief and self confidence it is nearly impossible to command a room and lead in any situation.
In this article I will share three Do's and Don'ts that will help you with commanding the room you speak in next.
- Be Direct - When you try to explain every detail including the background/origin you will start to lose your audience. Let the audience know what they are going to learn, what to expect, and what you expect out of them.
- Make Eye Contact - There isn't anything better than making eye contact to show confidence and have people pay attention. I'm sure you can think about a time in a meeting when your manager or the speaker looked at you and you weren't looking back. You immediately felt a little guilty and started to pay attention! That is "commanding" attention in itself as the speaker.
- Use The Space You Have - Don't be a statue and stand in one place the whole time if you have the opportunity. It's natural to stay in one spot, but by moving around you're making the audience pay attention to your movements. This will help with keeping the audience engaged!
- Speak Louder - Speak at a volume that the room can hear you, but don't raise your voice in order to show you are in charge. I've seen plenty of people try to speak louder just to continue to have the attention of the room. This is a poor way to keep the attention of the room.
- Be Boring - Especially if you are presenting on a more technical topic, try to find ways to make it more engaging. The easiest way to do that is let your passion come through on the subject. Simply only speaking the facts will make the presentation boring. Bring a little of you and your passion out!
- Be Unprepared - It may go without saying, but "winging it" for a presentation won't work unless you know the subject like the back of your hand. When you go in prepared and really know your stuff there will be more respect from those in the room. Don't come in prepared and it's almost guaranteed that people will not respect you as a speaker.
Being able to command the room is an invaluable skill that can serve you in all areas of your life, including getting noticed by the right people. If you want to elevate your leadership and hone your presentation skills I've created a digital course
to help you prepare for any presentation and learn the mindset and actual steps needed to prepare properly to command any room you present in.
