A platform master uses the whole body to engage, persuade, impact and compel their audience.
The whole body includes your eye’s and your voice and they work together.

If you have the ambition of being a Platform Master, then it is vital to develop the seventh Constant Factor of Platform Mastery, which is Posture.

Let me define what I mean when I say, Posture. I gave this definition in Episode #75 Showtime: The Art of Striking the Pose.

Most people will interpret Posture to mean a position in which someone holds their body when standing or sitting. That’s not what I mean when I say, Posture.

When it comes to Platform Presence, we say to behave in a way that is intended to position and impress... is to have 'Posture.'

Imagine someone walking into a room, and there is an attitude surrounding them… an air of confident assurance. When they take the center stage or the spotlight… or when all the eyes are on them, they take command. They have ‘Posture.'

Platform Mastery Posture only comes from a position of inner confidence. It carries an authority based on ownership. There is no pretense. There is no ‘Fake It Till You Make It.'

We’ve already looked at Posture from two of three perspectives: Vulnerability and Mindset in Episode #76 Showtime: How the 93% Principle can save your reputation!

In that episode we talked about three subjects: (1) Communication Noise, (2) How to use Movement and (3) What to do With Your Hands.

Today, we close out Posture by dealing with the final two elements of Physicality, which are Eye Contact and Vocal Image.
Let me have your imagination for a minute...
Let me have your imagination for a couple of minutes as I take you back a few thousand years. We are part of a group of 20-30 ambitious, idealistic students following our sage, our teacher, our leader as he walks and talks, making our way through courtyards and tree-lined paths, leading to natural pools and creeks.
We are following a stocky old man. We are captivated by what and how he was talking with us.

Can you see it? Are you in the group with me?

Suddenly, he would stop, turns and engages each one of us by looking us, engaging us... me... you. He does it with eye contact. Only briefly, but purposeful all the same.

The intent of his connection suggests to us that what he is saying right now, at this moment, is just for us. And, he tells us in such a way, that we feel he has just thought of it... and had us in mind when the idea came to him.

As he continues, he pauses several times, deliberately. One time it was long, several seconds as if he was lost in the thought of the moment, Then, not long after that,  he paused just long enough to allow the moment to build.

His energy is evident. HIs authority was clear in the way his voice made statements and asked questions, just with the inflection, the rhythm, and cadence of the way the words came out of his mouth.

His passion is contagious, yet controlled and this is seen in the way he is demonstrating his points with subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, hand gestures. Often his hands and his voice work in unison and when he leans in, with that direct, open eye contact, you know... this is an important point.

He always has a story to drive his point making the meaning of his point more clear and relevant, and before we know it, we have arrived at a moment of understanding, a place of clarity and focus. We see exactly what he’s been talking about and now, he expects us to do something about it.

Have you been with me?