Three Tactics to OWN the Room

[WXWer Kelli Gilpin will lead the September 19th workshop, “Develop Your Personal Charisma Super Powers: Present your best self – in person, on air, or online.” The post below is excerpted from a profile of Kelli for ASPIRE magazine.]

Oprah and Donald Trump have it. So do Lady Gaga and the Dalai Lama.

Richard Branson has it in spades.

Charisma. Leadership presence. The “It factor.” The ability to command attention, without saying a word. These icons “own the room”, whatever room they’re in.

And here’s the best part…you can, too.

Kelli Gilpin, consultant, coach and author of the book, Bring It, B*tches! The Stop-Waiting-Start-Doing Guide to OWNing Your Room and Your Career, says that owning the room is a skill anyone can develop.

Here’s how she describes what it means to “own the room”:

“It’s how you present yourself to the world.  It’s how you handle a situation. It’s moving with confidence, sophistication, power, and quite frankly, a fair dose of swagger. The result? All eyes are on you, and you’ve got their full attention.”

Because owning the room is about confidence, creating rapport and a strong presence that commands attention, it’s a vital to being a leader, too.

Bottom line? If you can’t own the room, you risk a terrible fate as an entrepreneur or business leader. Oblivion.

Gilpin knows what she’s talking about, having honed her own-the-room skills over a 20 year career in finance and consulting. More recently, as a strategy consultant, her client roster has included marquee names like Dell, Yahoo!, Bank of America, Comcast, PizzaHut/KFC/Taco Bell, AllState Insurance, Lowe’s, Abbott Laboratories, PetCo, and Swarovski.

The book is a fun and sassy manifesto, chock-full of real world advice and implementable tactics.

Can someone learn to project confidence and presence, so that they own the room? Kelli’s answer: “Absolutely!”

Following are three key tactics from her book:

Tactic 1: Enter Strong

Before you enter the room, take time to get in the right frame of mind. Visualize. You really do have to see yourself “owning your room.”  You have to believe it.

Then, as you actually enter the room:

• Stand tall.
• Make and maintain direct eye contact.
• Shake hands and introduce yourself, using your first and last names.

Tactic 2: Turn On Your Energy

Become more aware of your own energy. It’s actually something that you control. Kelli says, “Visualize flipping your energy ‘on’ like you would a light switch. Can you feel the difference? Try doing this before your next important meeting or presentation and notice the reactions you get.”

Tactic 3: Engage with your audience.

Listen, listen, listen to what the other person is saying rather than planning your next response. Watch for non-verbal cues…yours and those of the others in the room. Look for crossed arms, lack of eye contact, or emailing on laptop or phone. If you see this, it’s time to up your energy level so you can re-engage the attention of your audience.

Exercise your “own the room” muscles and you’ll wear that intangible aura of leadership, attracting, engaging and inspiring clients and collaborators around you. How’s that for a competitive advantage?

You can get more tips to Own the Room at KelliGilpin.com. You can find her book on Amazon.com here http://amzn.to/PUAZAR.