Getting To The Heart Of Presence

We hear the word presence a lot, but what is presence truly? In this article I will attempt to share my insights and experience on working with presence.

“We convince by our presence.”

Walter Whitman

From my years of acting experience, actors and directors often talk about the word presence. “When a certain actor takes the stage, they have such wonderful presence.”

So, what is it? Outside of a presentation context, someone having a lot of presence usually implies that they have the wonderful gift of turning heads and keeping attention in a room at a social gathering. On stage or on screen they capture the audience’s attention. It is a mysterious yet attractive energy that engages audiences and seduces many alike

To try to describe Presence, it is the energy we produce around ourselves that communicates and resonates with others. There is a strong link between the energy we give off and our connection to the instant moment. When we are well aligned, what is communicated is truth, intimacy, vulnerability, confidence, and power.

For 99% of presentations, most people are struggling with their own presence. For different reasons, that power that grants us the ability to be present and have presence has been interfered with. To be present we need a certain amount of inner freedom. When we’re weighed down by blocks, bubbling with resentment or generally worried about something, we head towards two opposing extremes: two states of mind which are triggered by stress. Both states of mind (which are opposite extremes) are out of sync with the present moment. Flight is an attachment to shame (the past) and its preoccupation with what has just happened (for example if we know that we have made several mistakes already in our presentation and the anxiety just keeps building) and fight is an aggressive apprehension towards what might happen (the future) and its violent means to control it (we pick up on an audiences displeasure of our work and we become defensive with them and even combative to try to restore our power).

Balance is the place between the two where we are focused, open, listening, equal and energized.

In her book, Power Presenter by Patsy Rodenburg she talks about the 3 circles of presence. The 1st circle we can associate with flight, the 3rd circle we can associate with fight and the second circle being the sweet spot of present moment energy. Rather like the goldilocks and three bears dynamic, the porridge is not too hot, not too cold, but just right.

But how do we make sure that we can get there? Getting in to the present when presenting takes courage. It means that we really see our audience, see their reactions, adjust if necessary and dare to use silence. It’s not an academic exercise but a risk taking one. To develop presence, it takes regular commitment to work on this and simply expose yourself to presentation situations and take (small) risks with timing, audience interaction and improvisation.

So yes, it takes courage, but it also takes curiosity. In her book ‘An intuitive body’ by Wendy Palmer, she talks about Aikido, and particularly a stance called Irimi. It’s comprised of two elements. The first element is being grounded (solid and anchored on your feet) and the second element is being interested (in the other, showing genuine curiosity).

Grounded and interested.

I believe that this stance/attitude (a state of readiness and anticipation yet with a profoundly active and curious spin) is a great basis for finding presence on stage. It links very nicely with a technique that I learned from master coach Jerry Weissman which I have slightly adapted and that I call the Connect Loop. But being present with grounded curious energy is not enough. The voice and its expressiveness is also integral to heightening presence.

Presence and the voice

I remember auditioning for the Birmingham school of speech and drama at the age of 21 way back in 1998 as a young pre-graduate actor. Upon delivering my speech I was told by one of the jury members that, at the beginning, I had wonderful presence but as soon as I opened my mouth it all but disappeared! I was both thrilled and perplexed. What the hell did that mean I asked myself? Later I learned that it had something to do with my poor volume and a tendency to drop the ends of my words. Nevertheless, they offered me a place at the school, but I headed for London instead where I worked hard on the issue at another acting school called the Drama Centre London. I have been working on this ever since. Today, when I speak in public, I speak slower, hit the ends of my sentences, and take all the time I need to pause.

Voice work is a wonderful way of unlocking our natural presence and natural authority. As a student actor I studied with great intensity voice work having been inspired by actors such as Gary Oldman and Iain MacDiarmid to name but a few. I was always particularly impressed by these two actors use of phrasing partly due to their respective ears for the English language and their creativity for delivery but also their commitment to the characters and objectives of those characters. They also have demonstrated quite incredible presence with a mastery for both wild theatrical flair and restraint.

We will go into more detail around phrasing later in this book in the chapter on the 4 Tempos, but phrasing is how to turn a simple line in to something quite memorable by giving it cadence. An example of this would be Humphrey Bogarts simple line in Casablanca.

“Here’s looking at you kid.”

This mighty line was given on celluloid with a modest yet meaningful cadence that touched audiences throughout history. In theatre, particularly British theatre, phrasing, and cadence is something that is practiced by the best actors to bring text alive. Someone who inspired many with his delivery was the famous British actor, Laurence Olivier. In the 1976 thriller Marathon Man, Olivier plays the former Nazi dentist villain of the story and in one famous scene where he tortures the protagonist played by Dustin Hoffman, he utters one line.

“Is it safe?”

He does this repeatedly during the scene. With every utterance of the line, Olivier gives a new intention behind it and thus a new cadence. That was the skill of Laurence Olivier.

Voice work is one angle but also relaxation, animality, and surrender are another. Look at actors like Jack Nicholson, Marlon Brando, and Micky Rourke. Despite their profound eccentricity and darkness as individuals, on screen, these guys, in their prime, were poets and utterly free in their bodies in their movement and with their relationship with space. They seemed so unimpeded when they worked It’s almost as if the camera wasn’t there. We can observe the same thing in gifted presenters and stand-up comics who perform with such relaxation the audience instantly places all their trust in them. It’s very attractive and makes for star quality which, can be a double-edged sword because people are confusing star quality with good leadership. We will speak about this in the next chapter.

Activity: how can you guarantee to release your presence before a presentation?

Firstly; make sure that you have a very clear idea of your objective; why your're there and what your audence need from you.

Secondly; that you truly own your content, and that messages that you are giving are clearer than crystal.

Thirdly; rehearse the presentation 3 times.

Lastly, embrace the uncertainty, what happens if you fail? Will it really be the end of the world? What can you do to surrender the outcome?

Warm-up using the wall exercise.