Issue 1 - January 2004

Increase your credibility and confidence
7 tips to create an executive presence
By Dianna Booher

We have all met people who seem to light up the room when they enter. Their energy fills the open space and — without saying a single word — they energize the space around them. And when they speak, the audience hangs on their every word.

What these individuals have — and many of us envy — is executive presence. Executive presence is hard to define, but most people know it when they see it. If you’d like to develop this presence and increase your credibility and confidence in both formal and informal speaking settings, consider the following tips:

1. Master the technique of gesturing. Gestures and mannerisms can make or break you. Imagine yourself in an airport, with conversations going on all around you. You are engaged in saying farewell to a friend. All of a sudden, the man and woman sitting next to you begin to wave their arms dramatically, their fingers urgently punching the air.

Immediately, your attention is diverted from your own conversation to this couple. Why did you ignore their words but now allow their gestures to distract you? It’s because movement commands attention.

Tip: If you are a woman, don’t walk like a model who brings the heel of one foot into the side of the other foot. Women who use this walk and pose often look as if they are pulling away from their audience — which doesn’t make for an authoritative stance.

If you are a man, don’t adopt the aggressive gunslinger pose with your arms extended slightly to the side, as if you are about to draw a pistol from a hip holster. This is not a relaxed or welcoming stance.

The most confident, authoritative posture is somewhere in between these two extremes. Use a confident, balanced posture to convey authority. Stand with your weight equally balanced on both feet (but without locked knees) and with shoulders and arms comfortably at your side or extended, not rigid.

Pay attention to your feet; what you do with your feet dictates your lower body posture.

2. Watch your body language. Body language shouts in front of a group. Your posture and your gestures are difficult to separate. Together they makr a total statement. What you do with your arms primarily controls your upper-body posture.

Some people stand with their head pushed forward as if they were about to scold the audience. Others stand in a slouched position, appearing as if they were exhausted from marching through a desert for days without rest. Still others stand rigidly, as if locked in a straightjacket, or sway back and forth like a shy teenager about to ask someone to the prom.

Tip: Look at yourself in the mirror and see how it feels to stand with your arms relaxed at your side or with your elbows slightly bent. It may feel awkward, but it does not look awkward. Simply stand there, looking in the mirror, and get used to the various postures that both look and feel appropriate so that you do not feel awkward with that posture, gesture or stance in front of a group.

3. Talk louder to gesture more. People who speak softly also tend to use fewer gestures. The louder your volume, the more energy you require. The more energy you require, the more natural it will seem to use gestures to emphasize key points.

Tip: It is difficult to use big, open gestures with a tiny voice. The reverse is also true. Raising your volume usually improves your gesturing.

4. Add volume to increase authority. When someone shouts, everyone turns to look—regardless of what’s being said. Volume gets attention.

Tip: Remember that your voice always sounds louder to you than to anyone else. If someone tells you to speak up, do it.

Also remember that your voice is an instrument. It needs to be warmed up, or it will creak and crack at the beginning of a presentation. Volume adds energy to your voice; it has the power to command or lose listeners’ attention.

5. Lower your pitch to increase credibility. Pitch, the measurement of the “highness” or “lowness” of your voice, is determined largely by the amount of tension in the vocal cords. When you are under stress, you may sound high-pitched. When you are relaxed and confident, you will have a naturally lower pitch. Authoritative vocal tones are low and calm, not high and tense.

Tip: You can lower your pitch slightly by practicing scales (as singers do), dropping your voice with each word and by breathing more deeply to relax your vocal cords.

Remember that a lower pitch conveys power, authority and confidence, whereas a high pitch conveys insecurity and nervousness.

6. Study — and correct — vocal flaws. Some vocal qualities may detract from your presence. Vocal quality refers to such characteristics as breathiness, harshness, hoarseness, nasality, depth and resonance. Vocal quality is also measured by weaknesses, such as slurring of words or over- or under-articulating certain sounds or accents.

Tip: Tape yourself to become aware of your vocal quality. You can correct some imperfections yourself simply by becoming aware of them. Others may require the help of a voice coach to eliminate or minimize problems.

7. Take the stage when you speak. When you speak before a group — even informally — think of your listeners as people visiting an amusement park and you as the ferris wheel operator. After they climb into their seats, they wait for you to flip the switch and make the wheel go around. If you do not, your listeners just wait, becoming mentally and physically frustrated.

When you are speaking to a group, the power or intensity you exhibit in your delivery is the voltage the audience receives. They anticipate it and respond to it. There should be no doubt that you have taken control of a meeting, discussion or presentation.

Tip: Your audience may be watching you even before you take the stage. While you are waiting for your time in the limelight, do not fidget with your clothes, pat your hair into place, shuffle through your notes or reorder your visuals. Such activity connotes a lack of interest and respect for the current proceedings, as if you are merely waiting for the most important event — your talk — to begin.

Taking stage also includes your opening remarks — those made before your prepared presentation material. For example, you might acknowledge your introduction or the occasion. Or you might compliment the audience or verify their comfort before beginning. Above all, avoid opening clichés that mark you as insincere.

Take charge completely with your posture, body language, eye contact, vocal tone and fresh comments. Do not be tentative. Project an attitude of anticipation and eagerness. Look confident. Let the audience know that you have come to deliver something of value.

©Dianna Booher. Excerpted from Speak with Confidence: Powerful Presentations That Inform, Inspire, and Persuade (McGraw-Hill, 2003). Dianna Booher is CEO of Booher Consultants (www.booher.com), a communication training firm offering workshops in oral presentations and technical writing. She can be reached at 817-868-1200 or mailroom@booher.com