Liam Sandford

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The Usain Bolt Routine: Public Speaking

Liam Sandford

Imagine you could intentionally show up at your best every time. A routine you could develop that ensures you don’t leave anything on the table. Now, dependent on what day you need to show up, your best might be slightly different. And what you do in the lead up to the event will impact whether your best could have been more, but you are leaving something on the table without power posing.

Have you ever done a power pose? The chances are you have had moments of success. of success, victory, or confidence. Usually, you pose in a powerful way when you win or feel successful.

Think back to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The headline event at any Olympic Games featured a new star in track & field: Usain Bolt. He broke the 100m world record at the time, obliterating the other competitors and celebrating his victory before the race was done with his arms raised in the air in a victorious ‘V’ shape. This is a power pose.

Bolt is also known for the ‘lightning bolt’ pose which traditionally he did just before his races, giving the crowd a lift, and giving Bolt a lift himself. Maybe he was just being a showman for the crowd before the race, or maybe he was power posing to make himself more confident. And that is the importance of body language. Whether the lightning bolt pose was for him or the crowd, it was part of the routine that set him up to win the big races. Your body language shapes who you are.

It can be part of your routine before a big public speaking event. But how do you power pose?

Make yourself big

When you feel confident you make yourself big, like Usain Bolt at the Olympics. Making yourself big before you have a presentation to deliver will give you that same confident feeling. It also gives you a high chance of starting your presentation holding good posture that shows the audience you are a capable public speaker — it will leave you making a great first impression.

Hold good posture

Making yourself big tends to come with holding a good posture. Good posture not only makes you feel comfortable and confident, but it gives the audience confidence in you. It shows everybody that you know exactly what you are speaking about. And on the flip side, bad posture can give the opposite impression — making you look uncomfortable and unsure in what you are saying. Even if this is not the case, the impression you give is always important as audience perception is their reality.

Invite people in

Another way of looking at the victorious ‘V’ shape is inviting somebody in for a hug. Sure, you are not going to invite the audience to hug you, but the act of showing open body language to the audience makes it easy for them to resonate with you. This is a piece that naturally comes from making yourself big and will translate into positive body language when speaking in public.

Power posing gives you more confidence and helps you bring your best self to the table. What it looks like in practice is to make yourself as big as possible, standing in poses that we strike when we win or are feeling powerful. When done for 2 minutes prior to speaking, it increases your confidence and improves the way you present yourself during your talk.

2 minutes standing in the superman pose, or with your arms in a ‘V’ shape above your head is all it takes. Next time you have a big event, a job interview, or a presentation, set 2 minutes aside before you begin to power pose and see the difference it makes to how you feel beforehand.

Actionable takeaways

  • Before a big presentation, job interview or life event put 2 minutes aside to power pose, just like Usain Bolt.

  • After power posing, maintain the posture to make yourself big — big posture shows the audience you are confident.

  • Be inviting, use open body language to welcome your audience in during your presentation.

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