How Your Passion Drives Your Executive Presence

When experienced professionals share complex ideas in meetings or in formal presentations, their delivery can, on occasion, be flat and matter-of-fact. Sometimes it’s because they have heard their own message a thousand times, and they forget that their message and content are new to this audience. Often, it’s because they seem shy about expressing their enthusiasm for their topic, as if too much energy might be off-putting to the audience. To help you get over that hesitation and bring your best, most engaged presence to a business meeting, ask yourself this one question. Do I believe in the value of what I offer my audience? If the answer to that simple question is, “Yes,” then how dare you not share both your value and your enthusiasm with your audience? If you feel you have something to offer that makes someone else’s work easier or their world better, it would be selfish to keep it to yourself. If you start from that perspective, it will be easier to muster the energy and enthusiasm you need to then have the engaging presence that will influence others to buy into your idea.

There’s a lot of talk these days about Executive Presence: who has it, who doesn’t, and how to leverage it. On Friday, I participated in a “Shark Tank”-type round of presentations where I observed twenty presentations in 90 minutes. What stood out was the deep connection between a fearless expression of passion and the executive presence of the speakers. It was all the more remarkable because the presenters were all rising high school juniors and seniors.

Twenty young students from around the country participated in the week-long Summer Institute of Politics, sponsored by The Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy. The Pell Center, based at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island, introduced the students to local leaders and global issues. The students learned to think critically, identify opposing sides of arguments, and begin to understand the complex world of politics. The program encouraged the students to think about and research a topic of particular importance to each of them. They then drafted a research paper on that topic and crafted a public policy recommendation to tackle a tough issue.

They were asked to prepare a two-minute presentation as if they were on the staff member to a US Senator, and then present their idea and take questions. I had the chance to play the role of “Senator Sullivan,” supported by the leaders of the Pell Center, Jim Ludes, and Katie Langford Sonder, processing the student’s ideas, and asking pointed questions.

The students intuitively followed the key presentation skills I help business leaders hone.

1. Articulate a clear message in a single sentence right up front in the presentation. Let your audience know where you are headed so we hear the challenge you are about to share in light of where we’re headed.
2. Do your research. Lead with your conclusion but be ready to support your idea with data and compelling evidence.
3. Maintain strong eye contact, especially when you are responding to pushback on your idea. We all need to look away from our audience when we need to think, which is fine. Just don’t talk when you’re down in your notes since you’re more likely to mumble and stumble. Look down, grab your idea, look back up and deliver your defense with confidence.
4. Use your hand gestures. Your audience will understand your content through the words you say, but they’ll understand your conviction from the sincerity in your facial expressions, the power in your voice, and the intensity of your hand gestures. You don’t need to bang your fist on the table, but you need to emphasize the different points you’re making by using hand gestures that isolate one idea from another.
5. Take a strong stance, with your feet planted about shoulder-width apart. Planting your feet will keep you from swaying and help channel your nervous energy into your hands, face, and voice, which will help tell your story better.
6. Believe in yourself and your topic. The passion delivers the presence.

The students tackled topics as varied as housing issues for young people leaving foster care, transgender students participating in high school and college sports, and paths to citizenship for undocumented parents of children born in the U.S. Perhaps because they spoke about a topic of personal importance to each of them, they spoke with passion and enthusiasm.

They were also absolutely fearless in tackling questions, remaining open to challenges, and not backing down in the face of push-back. They didn’t second-guess their position. They paused, looked down at their research or at their visual aids, and then thoughtfully reasserted their position. They were able to do so because they were confident that their policy proposal would help address the stated concern and could be accomplished. They were also humble in their policy’s scope and impact. They knew they weren’t saving the world, but simply helping take a baby-step forward toward making the world a better, more equitable place.

Obviously, at work, most of us don’t tackle broad issues of injustice. We inch our manager’s initiative forward, sometimes in spite of our own misgivings or level of conviction. Nevertheless, when we present our ideas, we’ll be more convincing if we bring our strongest executive presence to bear in the moment. We’ll do so if we can muster the passion and conviction of the students I met this week. We were all teenagers once. We remember our sense of justice and our absolute certitude that we could make a difference. Channel that inner believer in your next presentation, and your passion will bolster your executive presence.

Originally published on Forbes.com.