Increase the Power of Your Personal Presence

You can learn a lot about powerful presence from the qualities of great speakers—those people who “have you at hello” when they walk in the room. What do they know that you need to know?

The quality of your personal presence is obvious
the moment you walk into a room.

What does your personal presence say about you when you walk into a room?
Do you walk in like you are royalty—ready to engage with others as if they were royalty as well? If not, keep reading! You’ll find ways to start doing so in this article.

Three behaviors are at the heart of powerful presence:

1. Focus your attention on your audience—whether it is one person or a multitude
2. Breathe easily and calmly—so you can make the most of the natural pauses when you are not speaking, but listening
3. Have a conversation—a dialog that incorporates input from the other person or people

The focus of this article is six categories of specific behaviors that people with powerful presence exhibit when speaking in public. Whether you consider yourself a public speaker or not, you can still use these behaviors in any context where you are interacting with others. Your audience can be one person—or a multitude.

First, we’ll look at all six categories to reveal the profile of powerful presence. Then you can take an assessment that will give you even more details on these behaviors. You can see how you’re doing—and what steps you can take to gain a more powerful presence.

The Profile of Powerful Presence

Think of people who exude powerful presence. What criteria determined who you chose? It’s possible that even though you recognize their powerful presence, you might not be able to identify specific behaviors. The power of their presence lies in the congruence of everything about them, from their smile to their warm handshake, to the feeling you get that—of all the people in the room—they are speaking only to you.

If you could explore the components of powerful presence, odds are high that each individual behavior would fit into one of these six categories:

• Connects with you immediately
  You instantly feel that you matter to them, that they are listening to you.
• Confident
  It’s clear that they believe what they are saying, so it’s easy for you to believe it, too. There is a marked absence of apologies or attempts to prove anything.
• Credibile
  It’s clear that they know what they are talking about, that they have experience behind them. They know enough about their audience to get their message across in a way that is appropriate for their listeners.
• Attractive
  They have an inner energy that indicates that they see themselves in a positive way—no matter their age or style. “Who they are being” draws you to them more powerfully than any fashion or style; they are happy with who they are.
• Engaging
  They are in conversation with you, in a way that makes it clear that you are just as important to the outcome as anything they say or do. They are flexible and adaptable; they dance with whatever shows up. They play to their strengths in ways that connect you to your own.
• Inspirational
  They make an impact. After being in their presence, you want to go out and take action. They show you what they have overcome in such a way that you see your own strengths and possibilities.

If you have ever once demonstrated any of these qualities anywhere, you can choose to use them again, anytime you want to. For more specific strategies, take the assessment now and discover some hidden talents you may not know that you have!