How to Use Your Body and Voice to Generate Energy

Movement, Voice, and Performance Advice from Michael Port (and Me!)

How do you generate energy and passion on stage… 

… without looking like a crazy person?

To start, consider the term, “overacting.” 

Now, this word has a bad connotation, for sure.

If a critic writes that an actor is overacting in a play, it’s meant as an insult.  They mean that the actor was using exaggerated and over-theatrical movements.

But what if you could actually scale your performance up and down to fit the space of your venue? 

What if you weren’t overacting, or underacting, but just acting out the right amount to fit the space of your room? 

Then, what?  I say that’s no longer an insult.  It’s just common sense!

As a speaker, you need to be able to build energy in the space no matter the size of the stage, the number of butts in your auditorium, and the breadth of the room.

That’s why we’re going to spend today talking about the ways you can use your body and voice to build passion and energy for your performance.

And it all starts with some advice I got as a kid…

E.T. Phone HOOOOOME!!

I bet you didn’t know this, but I was a child actor.  

In fact, if you look really closely at Steven Spielberg’s movie, E.T…. way in the back of that chase scene…

Well…

You won’t see me. 

Ha! I auditioned for E.T. but didn’t land the gig.  

But I performed in a few fun commercials and other small TV roles.  And as a child actor, I remember one piece of advice: 

If you’re an actor for a community theater group, the back row of seats is only 10 yards away.  So, if you’re singing a song or delivering a punchline, you want the person in the back row to feel the impact of those words.

Take that same performance and put it in a venue that has 3,500 people, a mezzanine, and a balcony.  Now the back row is much farther away. (Like 50 yards away!)

In order to create the same experience, you’ll need to scale your performance. 

Use the right amount of performance that fits the size of your space.  Get it?

As an example, I’ve given my Loyalty Loop speech in front of a variety of audience sizes.  There’s this one bit where I read a letter from the car company Nissan…

When I’m giving the speech in a room of 30 people, I read it as if I’m at a kitchen table with my closest friends around me.  It’s closer, calmer, and more intimate.

In a venue with 3,000 people, I need to expand the entire performance so it has the same impact.  My words performance is bigger, my facial expressions are massive, my hand movements are more exaggerated… and my body (my entire being) takes up more space.

Do the big performance for the small room of people… they’ll think you’re nuts.  Do the small performance for the big room of people… and most of the audience won’t feel the impact of what you’re trying to share.

You’re still giving the same performance… it’s still the same bits you’ve rehearsed for hours on end… the SCALE of the performance is just adjusted up or down to match your space.

But what else can you do with your body’s movement and voice to build energy in your speech?  Let’s get back to some advice from my buddy Michael Port – a speaker who has some serious notches on his Hollywood belt…