Movement during Speeches

00:00 First of all, if you want to be a great speaker, you cannot simply stand behind a lectern like a potted plant.

00:06 You need to move.

00:07 But not all movement is the same.

00:10 Some speakers move, but they're going back and forth like a tiger who is ready to pounce on prey.

00:17 Or they're going back and forth like an expectant father in a sitcom.

00:21 At the maternity ward, when you move, it can't be too consistent. You can't be like the grandfather clock.

00:29 When you move, you need to move with purpose.

00:32 There needs to be variety in your movement.

00:34 It can't be in the same plane.

00:37 It needs to be front, back, sideways in the aisles, occasionally higher, lower.

00:44 And when you're making an important point, don't move at all. It draws more attention to your word.

00:54 So the key is variety moving faster, slower, front stage backstage, sometimes in the aisle, and to always move with a purpose.

01:08 To not seem like you're just randomly moving around out of nervous energy.

01:12 If you do that, you create a lot more variety for your audience.

01:16 It's more interesting to them.

01:19 You see great rock stars doing this, and now stages for rock concerts are being built, so they jut way out into the audience.

01:26 So the rock stars can move.

01:28 More and more people can get a front row seat.

01:31 So there's more variety.

01:32 It's variety for the ear because you will sound different to your audience when you're at different parts of the stage or the room.

01:40 So you do want to move.

01:42 Is it the end of the world if you don't move now? But it's so much more engaging for the audience.

01:49 Plus, you keep them alive, you keep them awake, especially if it's a large group, and you can walk out in the aisles.

01:57 I've seen John Chambers do this, the well-known tech CEO, he may start in the back of the room.

02:04 He's in the middle, or it doesn't matter if there's 5000 people there.

02:07 You go down the rows, the aisles, and you can engage with people and make the whole thing seem personal.

02:13 You can't do this if you're just standing in one spot on the stage.