Should You Walk Around the Stage During a Presentation?
Stage presence is the memorability factor of a speaker.
When the speaker gets off stage, will the audience remember them?
There are a few variables that make up stage presence.
A few include:
- The content of the message
- Engaging voice
- Posture
- Eye contact
- Timing
- Ability to interact with the audience
One overlooked variable of stage presence is the speaker’s ability to effectively utilize the stage.
I have a simple philosophy when it comes to walking around the stage during a presentation:
- Standing still is better than walking around aimlessly.
- Walking with purpose is better than standing still.
If you have a lectern, then you can ignore this blog.
Just stand behind the lectern and give the talk.
But what if you don’t have any props?
What are you going to do with all that real estate?
Shortly, I’m going to give you a simple framework to effectively walk around the stage.
But before I give you this framework, I want to share the danger of aimless walking.
Distractions in Communication
Have you ever had a conversation with someone who did something distracting?
The distractions could be:
- Moving around their arms a lot when they spoke.
- They had a loud hyena laugh that made you wary about cracking a joke.
- They had nasty teeth which made you avoid eye contact with them.
These distractions took away your focus from their message.
The speaker’s talk can address how to kill cancer for good.
But if the body language is too distracting, then the audience will not pay attention.
A distracting public speaking move is when the speaker is excessively walking around the stage.
This faux pas happens when the speaker:
- Has a lot of nerves and is looking to release the energy.
Or
- Is unaware they are walking around so much.
Our audience can’t pay attention if they are dizzy!
Let’s stop making them dizzy.
The Triangle Framework
Here is a simple framework to polish up your walk:
- Imagine a triangle.
- Project the triangle on stage.
- Walk to each point of the triangle as you see fit.
You can experiment with other shapes if you want.
But I like the triangle because it’s a simple shape that covers ground.
Once you project the triangle on stage, you have a boundary to keep you in line.
By the way…
You don’t have to walk to each point of the triangle like a military sergeant.
Walk to the points in a relaxed way.
The speaker chooses how to utilize the triangle.
Example:
- Spend the 1st part of the speech hovering around the left and right triangle points.
- Spend the 2nd part of the speech hovering around the middle triangle point.
- Spend the final part of the speech hovering around the entire triangle.
Get creative with it.
Match Your Speech with the Triangle
As a beginner, it’s smart to practice your walk with your speech.
This allows you to match the content to your walk pace.
During practice, experiment.
See what works and what doesn’t.
Maybe during speech day, your professor will be on the left side of you while your classmates are in front of you.
Are certain portions of your speech better addressed to the professor?
Are certain portions of your speech better addressed to the students?
Practice away and smoothen the rough edges.
After getting through your speech 5x to perfection, your walk will be in your subconscious mind.
Now you don’t need to exercise too much cognitive effort on speech day.
The triangle serves as training wheels.
You don’t always have to think of a triangle when you’re creating your speech (although many veteran speakers still use it).
It just helps in the beginning stages when you’re clueless.
After giving a few speeches with the triangle, you’ll have a built-in radar for the future.
When you’re giving a speech in the future, it’ll be easier to know when you are being polished and when you are straying.
What Walking Around The Stage Does for Your Stage Presence
A few years ago, I was at a wedding where I was the 3rd best man.
Leading up to my speech, I noticed something:
- Cellphones and stiff body language.
Most of the people who were called to give a talk pulled out their phones and read off their speech, word for word.
Due to their attention on their phone, they were unable to walk around the stage.
By the time I was called, I knew I could say whatever and I’d win over the audience.
Why?
Because I was not going to read off my phone nor was I going to stand still.
I memorized my speech.
This allowed me to deliver my talk, make eye contact with the audience, and walk around the stage.
In that event, I learned something about stage presence:
- Taking up real estate shows that you control the dynamic.
An underrated way to overcome speech anxiety is to take up space.
When you’re feeling timid, fix your body language.
Then show the audience that the stage is yours.
When the audience sees you taking up space like that, they respect you.
You can fumble a couple of points and they won’t even notice.
Final Thoughts
If you don’t feel comfortable walking around the stage, then stand still.
Walking around the stage is an intermediate to advanced move.
As a newbie, standing still is fine.
With that being said, don’t use standing still as an excuse to be stiff.
You can still utilize your voice, facial gestures, and eye contact!
Ultimately, the message is king.
How you deliver the message will depend on you.
After a certain point, you feel that standing still is not cutting it anymore.
You know what to do.
- Envision a triangle.
- Project it on stage.
- Walk to each point as you see fit!
This is a beginner’s method to improve your stage presence.
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