A couple of years ago I posted a blog Executive Presence in Meetings. Today I want to discuss a related topic. I facilitated two intensive training sessions last year where I and some colleagues were taking on the potentially challenging task of teaching contract issues to project and delivery executives over a day. I was concerned about how to engage the audience effectively but also entertainingly because I am convinced we learn more from an event we enjoy. The converse is also true. The first and obvious step was to divide the room up into 4 different tables. Pretty basic but it encourages interaction. But then I took more of a risk and allocated the tables into the four Hogwarts houses from the Harry Potter books. I asked how many people had read the books - surprisingly a significant minority had not. Then I gave each table the chance to choose its house and gave them a small banner with their house insignia.
So what you may ask. Well without even approaching potentially dry and (to some) boring legal and contractual topics I had established a rapport with the audience and gained their attention. At least most shut their work laptops down! I also had the room divided up into teams for the interactive exercises we had planned. Then I introduced my piece de resistance - a plastic but quite realistic brown Harry Potter wand I had purchased on Amazon for a few pounds. It flashes and makes a sound when I press a button. Every time the room seemed to be going off piste, I simply marched into the middle of the tables and waved the wand. The effect was, well magical; everybody shut up and paid attention to me. Looking back on it, I took a bit of a chance, but succeeded in creating a way to entertain and to be in control of the training session when I needed to be.
This ability to command a room is equally applicable in negotiations. I recall as a junior lawyer having great difficulty agreeing a contract provision with a more senior lawyer who had an Eastern European name I struggled to pronounce. My boss who was working on a much larger matter turned up to help. He marched in with another assistant in tow, sat down, pronounced the lawyers name completely wrong, ignored his attempts to speak and told him to stop messing about and agree a way forward. Then he stormed out saying he was too busy to spend any more time on this agreement as he had far more important matters to attend to. The crestfallen and rather shaken lawyer was much more conciliatory and soon agreed a reasonable compromise. I am not advocating being rude, but it was clear my boss at the time had far more ability to command the room, and it was effective.
AI suggests “Commanding a room requires exuding calm confidence through purposeful, open body language, steady eye contact, and deliberate, slower speech.” Well maybe, but if you are not careful you will come across as an automaton – like those speakers who won’t ever leave the sanctity of the lectern, and indeed hang onto it as if it was a life raft. This Yale University post Command the Room: Strategies for Engaging Presentations is more on point saying “Mastering the art of presentation isn’t just about delivering information; it’s about making an unforgettable impact”. In addition to sensible practical advice like knowing your audience it suggests having a Compelling Narrative – “Storytelling is not just a tool for entertainers; it’s a powerful weapon in the arsenal of effective communicators”. It advocates:
This advice is highly relevant to the challenging task of commanding online rooms when it is so much harder to interact with your audience and even tell if they are listening. There is a lot of rather banal advice about how to face the screen, adjusting your camera correctly, which matters but is not very innovative. I found some much more to the point and imaginative tips and advice in this article Virtual Presentation Tips: How To Command Attention Through A Screen which comments “Most virtual presentation advice focuses on technology — lighting, microphones, backgrounds. That’s like telling someone to buy a better suit before fixing their terrible content. The real problem is attention economics.” It says “Research from Stanford shows that video calls drain mental energy 15% faster than in-person meetings. Your audience is literally exhausted before you start.” This means you have to completely rebuild your approach. It then provides some sound advice including:
It concludes the biggest mistake with virtual presentations is “Treating them like in-person presentations. The attention dynamics are completely different. You need shorter segments, more interaction, higher energy, and simpler visuals. Adapt your entire approach, don’t just turn on your webcam.”
Before anyone coined the expression “death by PowerPoint” for those awful over detailed slides which kill your presentation before you even open your mouth, there was another overused presentation aid – overhead projectors. Everyone came with their set of overhead slides in their briefcase and spoke religiously to them. In his excellent book about transforming IBM Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance Louis Gerstner, Jr. tells how he challenged the company's reliance on, and abuse of, slide presentations (overhead transparencies or "foils") saying they were being used as a substitute for thought, clarity, and genuine communication. And yet – I once saw an inspirational talk by Edward de Bono, who originated the term lateral thinking, at the Institution of Electrical Engineers in London. My heart fell as he sat down next to an overhead projector and took out some acetates. But they were blank. He then proceeded to illustrate his talk very effectively by drawing cartoons and caricatures on the slides!
As the American scholar and author Maya Angelou once observed "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel".
So what you may ask. Well without even approaching potentially dry and (to some) boring legal and contractual topics I had established a rapport with the audience and gained their attention. At least most shut their work laptops down! I also had the room divided up into teams for the interactive exercises we had planned. Then I introduced my piece de resistance - a plastic but quite realistic brown Harry Potter wand I had purchased on Amazon for a few pounds. It flashes and makes a sound when I press a button. Every time the room seemed to be going off piste, I simply marched into the middle of the tables and waved the wand. The effect was, well magical; everybody shut up and paid attention to me. Looking back on it, I took a bit of a chance, but succeeded in creating a way to entertain and to be in control of the training session when I needed to be.
This ability to command a room is equally applicable in negotiations. I recall as a junior lawyer having great difficulty agreeing a contract provision with a more senior lawyer who had an Eastern European name I struggled to pronounce. My boss who was working on a much larger matter turned up to help. He marched in with another assistant in tow, sat down, pronounced the lawyers name completely wrong, ignored his attempts to speak and told him to stop messing about and agree a way forward. Then he stormed out saying he was too busy to spend any more time on this agreement as he had far more important matters to attend to. The crestfallen and rather shaken lawyer was much more conciliatory and soon agreed a reasonable compromise. I am not advocating being rude, but it was clear my boss at the time had far more ability to command the room, and it was effective.
AI suggests “Commanding a room requires exuding calm confidence through purposeful, open body language, steady eye contact, and deliberate, slower speech.” Well maybe, but if you are not careful you will come across as an automaton – like those speakers who won’t ever leave the sanctity of the lectern, and indeed hang onto it as if it was a life raft. This Yale University post Command the Room: Strategies for Engaging Presentations is more on point saying “Mastering the art of presentation isn’t just about delivering information; it’s about making an unforgettable impact”. In addition to sensible practical advice like knowing your audience it suggests having a Compelling Narrative – “Storytelling is not just a tool for entertainers; it’s a powerful weapon in the arsenal of effective communicators”. It advocates:
- effective use of visuals and slides – High-quality images can evoke emotions and add context to your content, while graphs and charts can help illustrate data trends and comparisons.
- embracing technology - Incorporate dynamic transitions, animations, and multimedia elements to add visual interest and keep your audience’s attention.
This advice is highly relevant to the challenging task of commanding online rooms when it is so much harder to interact with your audience and even tell if they are listening. There is a lot of rather banal advice about how to face the screen, adjusting your camera correctly, which matters but is not very innovative. I found some much more to the point and imaginative tips and advice in this article Virtual Presentation Tips: How To Command Attention Through A Screen which comments “Most virtual presentation advice focuses on technology — lighting, microphones, backgrounds. That’s like telling someone to buy a better suit before fixing their terrible content. The real problem is attention economics.” It says “Research from Stanford shows that video calls drain mental energy 15% faster than in-person meetings. Your audience is literally exhausted before you start.” This means you have to completely rebuild your approach. It then provides some sound advice including:
- The 10 Minute Rule. In person, you might hold attention for 20-30 minutes before needing an interaction. Virtually, that window shrinks to 10 minutes — maximum.
- Camera Presence. The 3 Things That Actually Matter - You don’t need to stare at the camera constantly (that’s actually creepy). Use camera eye contact strategically.
- The Screen Real Estate Problem. When you share your screen, your slides appear in a fraction of your audience’s display. They’re also viewing on everything from 27-inch monitors to phone screens.
It concludes the biggest mistake with virtual presentations is “Treating them like in-person presentations. The attention dynamics are completely different. You need shorter segments, more interaction, higher energy, and simpler visuals. Adapt your entire approach, don’t just turn on your webcam.”
Before anyone coined the expression “death by PowerPoint” for those awful over detailed slides which kill your presentation before you even open your mouth, there was another overused presentation aid – overhead projectors. Everyone came with their set of overhead slides in their briefcase and spoke religiously to them. In his excellent book about transforming IBM Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance Louis Gerstner, Jr. tells how he challenged the company's reliance on, and abuse of, slide presentations (overhead transparencies or "foils") saying they were being used as a substitute for thought, clarity, and genuine communication. And yet – I once saw an inspirational talk by Edward de Bono, who originated the term lateral thinking, at the Institution of Electrical Engineers in London. My heart fell as he sat down next to an overhead projector and took out some acetates. But they were blank. He then proceeded to illustrate his talk very effectively by drawing cartoons and caricatures on the slides!
As the American scholar and author Maya Angelou once observed "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel".
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