Page 187 - The New Articulate Executive_ Look, Act and Sound Like a Leader

178 DELIVERY

FEET

By contrast, as we mentioned earlier, if you have to stand at a lectern
(and if you have a prepared text, you most certainly do), then you
also have to position yourself in one place and stay there. Paradoxi-
cally, I tell people that rather than stand planted with their feet
apart, they ought to place their feet fairly close together, six inches
or so.
The reason for this is simple. Most people with a prepared text
become anxious or bored and start shifting their weight back and
forth from one foot to another. This is enormously distracting and
sends the signal that you’re not really committed to, or even involved
in, what you’re saying. By contrast, as we have said, if you put your
feet close together and try to shift your weight, you’ll probably tip
over. Plus, you’ll gain another inch or two in altitude, and sometimes
every little bit helps.
But now that you are stuck in one spot, you’ll feel trapped unless
you have some way to move around a little. The answer is to stay in
the exact same place, but to turn slightly by small moves of your feet to
face different parts of the audience (some of the best political and
evangelical speakers do this well).
So let your hands keep moving (perhaps occasionally touching
the lectern—never gripping or tapping the lectern) and let your feet
keep moving, too. If you move your feet gracefully, the audience will
hardly notice that you are moving at all.

SHALL WE DANCE?

Now let’s quickly walk through what happens when you’re called
up to speak. Listen carefully to the introduction. The person doing
the introducing might say something very personal, poignant, or
even witty. Sometimes these seemingly offhand remarks just beg for