Let's talk about stage craft. Stage craft is everything that you're doing on the stage relating to, let's say, notes, slides, microphones, where to stand, what to do with your hands, all those kind of questions, I'm going to cover those in a few separate videos. So first of all, let's look at where to stand. Now, when you get onto the stage, you often have a choice between standing behind a lectern, or going out into the face, which can seem quite scary if you're not used to it. There are pros and cons to both. So have a careful, think about what you're going to do well in advance.
Don't try to be deciding in the moment that's going to look messy for the audience. And it's going to occupy a lot of your brain as well, which you could do without. So get there early and make sure that you have stood on the stage. Take as much time as you need to find out where you feel comfortable and also where looks best. You have to balance those two things. So how might you decide well, you need to Make sure that the audience can see your slides.
If you're using them. It's okay to stand in front of them if you have a very big screen behind you, but just make sure you're not in the way of the projector. Otherwise, they'll be a shadow on the screen and they will have some words running across the front of your head. Never a good look. So make sure that's working. Next, think about microphones.
Are you going to have a lapel mic, in which case you can move around or handheld mic, that's fine as well. But if you have to use the lectern mic, if that's the only thing there is, that's not great because it's never the best sound. If you do have to do that, don't bend down to it. Make sure that you stay standing up right and if anything, just pull the microphone down slightly when you're practicing where to stand. Now, another consideration is lighting. You can only stand where there's light.
Don't stand in the shadows. I've seen speakers do this a lot and it means we can't see your facial expressions. So look in tact, where is their light. If you're in the light, you should be able to see it through your eyelashes. Good little test. What about your notes?
Where are you going to keep those if you have them. That's where a lectern is great, you can have your notes in front of you. But if you do that, don't get pulled down to the notes so that you end up looking down a lot. And think about whether you need to use reading glasses or not. I am just getting to that age. If you need to walk around or you think that's your preferred choice, and I do think that's often good for more energy more engagement, than think about how you're going to see your notes, you're going to leave them on the lectern, that's fine or you're going to hold them in your hand on postcards, that's also fine.
If you leave them on the lectern, just plumb times to get back. I do a really good little trick. I say to the audience, turn to the person next to you and say this and then give them something stupid or funny to say so that they all laugh as well. And when they turn to each other, I nip off to the side, the lectern and I have a look at my notes. It's a great trick works for Well, the other thing about deciding where to stand is where can you have the most energy, the trouble with electronics, it can block your energy because it's a physical barrier between you and the audience. So if you do use it, then you're going to have to be even bigger.
That means bigger brackets, bigger voice, look up more. Don't get sucked into your notes. As I said. However, if you want to roam around, make sure your energy is deliberate. If you move, you need to move for a reason. So it's good for the audience.
Don't just move because it's making you more comfortable. So do some choreography, as I say, and I prepare there's more in there about how to block out your movements on stage. But think about it for that the key note here about stagecraft. I'll come on to some other ideas later about microphones and slides and where to look and all of that. But for now, just think about where are you going to start?