Several of my recent Presentation Skills coaching sessions
have involved debate as to whether one should sit or stand when delivering a
presentation. Once I have briefed delegates on how to position themselves in
relation to their screen, how to keep still and avoid prowling or rocking
backwards and forwards on their feet, they reply: “We usually sit for our
presentations. Do you think we should we should stand?”
To me the answer is obvious: Of course you should stand – it creates a focus around you and your
aids and it gives you much greater freedom to gesticulate, so adding a visual
element to your delivery. At the same time, I don’t want to impose my
techniques on people. My aim is to tailor my advice to each individual so that
they can add impact in their own way to the specific situations in which they
are presenting.
So if I am working with a team I usually suggest we try a
mix, with some people presenting from a seated position and some standing. This
experimentation enables us to do some useful comparing and contrasting. It also
allows each person to reach their own conclusions (Rule 19 of the Rules of
Magic states: People put more reliance on
something they have worked out for themselves).
I set it up so that sitting presenters go first – the
supposed reason being that this is the normal/traditional way for them to do
things. Standing presenters follow and almost immediately everyone starts to
realise certain basic benefits: you can create a single point of focus with
yourself and your aids in one view; eye contact, which is constrained when you
have people at your immediate sides, is much stronger and easier to control and
spread. Above all, the slight elevation gives you a commanding position – a
position of authority even. For a few minutes you ‘own’ the room.
This is where the principle of getting the delegates to
reach their own conclusions really kicks in. Sometimes they start to realise
that problems they often encounter can be overcome by standing and may even be
exacerbated by seated presentations. One client related how they often have to
deal with unwanted interruptions or bosses who go off at unhelpful tangents. “They
might be less likely to do that”, they muse, “if we have the floor, so to
speak”. “Absolutely”, I reply, “especially if you get into the habit of what I
am going to propose next”.
By this time no one wants to sit any more. They want to
start working on their gestures, realising that there really is something in
those old theories about the words you say only forming part of any
communication that results. They even get excited about the potential for
deploying props.
So it’s at that point that I propose sitting down again! In
the type of situation where people have traditionally given a presentation from
a seated position their objective is often to make the case for something and then
win agreement through subsequent discussion. So I tell them there is an
opportunity to have the best of both worlds. Start by standing to give a short,
impactful presentation. Once you have made your key points, concluding with a
‘Call to Action’, announce that the time for discussion has come, as you change
the mood by re-joining your audience, seated at the table. By now you are in a
powerful position to win the agreement you are seeking.
