Should you present standing up? Or sitting down? There’s difference. The decision is not inter-changable.
When I lead a Presentation Skills workshop, participant will usually say they’d prefer to sit down, even more so if they’re being filmed.
“Why?” I ask.
“Because … “
- “There’s no need to.”
- “Everybody else is sitting down.”
- “I’m uncomfortable standing.” (Only valid if you have a medical condition.)
- “It’s un-Australian.” (Or American or British or whatever.)
- “The room is too small.” (One of two valid excuses.)
- “There’s only three of us.” (The other valid excuse … but also maybe not.)
While the responses are understandable, they’re not always accurate.
Presenting sitting down creates other issues for the presenter.
- The body is nearly folded in half at the waist. It’s harder to breathe in completely, so it’s harder to project your voice.
- The body is less dynamic: some experts say by 25%, others by as much as 75%. The human eye likes movement to stimulate and engage.
- People use fewer gestures sitting down: less gestures and movement means much of your personality disappears.
- Eye contact diminishes because the speaker tends to read what it’s front of them.
All of this adds up to what I call “a same sameness.”
In the end, there are as many legitimate reasons to sit down when presenting as there are reasons to stand up. Instead of defaulting to a seated position, you should make the decision to do one or the other (or a combination of both) based on a single. simple objective: What are you trying to do?
STAND UP when you want FOCUS.
There are times when you need the audience to focus its attention on one spot, usually a screen (a PowerPoint slide), a flipchart, a storyboard, or a hand-out. You’re doing this because you want to educate, demonstrate or explain something to the audience. More so, you’re doing this because you need to …
- Watch or monitor your audience’s facial expressions, reactions or emotions
- Command or establish authority
- Inspire, rally or challenge
- Facilitate by controlling the audience and flow of communications
- Brainstorm, formally
- Be seen in front of a large audience
SIT DOWN when you want DISCUSSION.
There are times when you want quality, usually to discuss a topic or debate an issue. In other words, you want to diffuse the audience’s attention from you as the speaker, usually toward something in front of them, such as a hand-out or a pass-around. More so, you’re doing this because you want to …
- Encourage input from everyone
- Demonstrate that all opinions are important, least of all, yours
- Suggest the formal part of the meeting is over, and now it’s time to talk
- Brainstorm, informally
To these guidelines, I’d add a few times when sitting is appropriate.
- You are told to sit, by an authority – not asked to
- The room is too small
- There’s less than 3-4 people, including you, and it’s conversationally easier to lean across the table to point to a chart or graph than to stand and explain it
This is Part One. Part Two focuses on,
Where you stand or sit, know the key points about your body movement, gestures, voice in follow-up articles:
In the end, you do not want your career – worse, your reputation – to take a beating at a critical time because you can’t stand and talk confidently and credibly.
How do you make the decision to sit down vs stand up? Please add your thoughts and comments below.
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