Episode #253: Presenters, Lose the Vice Like Grip on The Rostrum

Good posture never goes out of fashion. Standing up straight shows confidence, allows good breath control and projects energy. Given this is pretty simple, then why is it we get this so wrong when presenting? The problem is temptations aplenty in the presenting environment. The various acting awards or music performance awards are broadcast all around the world, to celebrate people making their living as professional presenters. Acting is presenting and so is singing, although we do not often think of the performances in that way, but fundamentally that is what these artists are doing.

Now this is one group you would expect to do this well. Yet, we see award recipients murdering their acceptance speeches. They stand there shoulders curved, hunched over the stand microphone, bending low from the waist to accommodate the tech, rather than the other way around. These are people who spend an inordinate amount of their time around microphone technology as users. Yet they seem incapable of mastering this sound dispersal device. We get a terrific view of the top of their heads, which when we have a bald or balding pate on display, makes the whole experience even more memorable in a bad way.

If you are ever in a position like that, where the height of the microphone stand makes the distance from the top of the microphone to your mouth seem too far, then change the scenario. Actually, hopefully you will have arrived early and will have checked the equipment beforehand so will know if the microphone as already mounted will do the trick or not. You should have already alerted the organisers to your preferred tech arrangements and because it is going to be an extended presentation, you have requested a hand microphone or a lavalier microphone.

Let’s presume you have not had that chance, because it is an award ceremony and your remarks will be brief. Don’t worry because the solution is devastatingly simple. Remove the microphone from the stand holder completely and bring it closer to your mouth when you want to speak. If the microphone is wedged in there and is not relenting or responding to your efforts to remove it, then go for more radical measures. Pick the whole damn thing up holus-bolus and speak into the microphone, so that you can be heard by everyone. Don’t be bossed around by the tech – show it who is boss around here.

The other great good posture denier is the podium. I always recommend dispensing with the podium entirely, if you can do that. These days we can have our slides there to help us navigate our way through the speech. The ubiquitous slide advance clickers free us from being trapped behind the podium and having to hit the arrow keys on the laptop to move through the slide deck. We can advance the slide show from anywhere on the stage and thus be able to access our full body language, to add to our communication piece.

What we often see though, is the speaker, usually male, applying a vice like grip on the outer edges of the podium, in an effort to stop it escaping from the stage at any moment. Male speakers also love it because they don’t know what to do with their hands, so choking the life out of the podium takes care of that problem completely. This double grip arrangement eliminates the possibility of using gestures, to back up the words, because the podium has now become a function of the speaker’s balance. This is because the speaker is standing back from the podium and leaning forward, head down, shoulders hunched over the microphone attached to the low flying microphone stand. When your weight is back like that, you tend to get stuck in that position and wind up delivering the whole speech with that poor posture.

If for some sad reason you are using a podium as a notes bench or even worse, are using your laptop screen as your notes bench, then stand up straight and slightly back and away from the podium. From here, you can’ t easily grip the furniture and this frees you up to use your gestures. I make a point of only ever touching the podium with my finger tips to make sure I am not tempted to throttle the podium and to remind myself to stand up straight, when I deliver my talk.

Good posture shows the mark of the professional, who is in control of their environment, the furniture and the tech. Gestures are there to amplify the points we are making and we don’t want to lose that functionality. We need to get such basics things right when presenting. Once we have managed that, all we have to do is concentrate on our audience and that is why we are there in the first place, isn’t it.