How to “Own the Room” in a Presentation
Hint: it’s the opposite of being a bulls**t artist.
I keep telling people I work with that they should “Own the Room” when they’re presenting their ideas. They keep responding with “What the heck are you talking about?”
Okay, fine, understood. Here’s what I’m talking about:
“Owning the room” doesn’t mean “bulls**ting people into blindly agreeing to your ideas.” Owning the Room begins approximately two weeks before your presentation. It’s so simple that I can make it a three-point listicle:
1. You Gotta Come Up with Concepts
It begins with the “concepting” phase (“concepting” isn’t really a word, that’s why its in quotes).
I’d tell you my various approaches to brainstorming, but, unfortunately, my approaches are highly proprietary and worth their weight in gold. Let’s just say that a crucial first step in owning the room depends on gleaning fantastic ideas from well-planned brainstorms with brilliant creatives.
2. You Gotta Workshop Those Concepts
After the brainstorm? Working sessions. You take the ideas that have merit, that are clearly based on solid, strategic insights, and you match those ideas with current “native behavior” exhibited by human beings (AKA: trends).
You pick and choose and workshop and develop until you end up with the three best ideas (the rule of threes is actually a thing).
There’s one more thing and this thing is the most important.
3. You Gotta Believe in those Concepts
Why must you believe? Because you’ll never be better “in the room” than when you truly believe that the ideas you are presenting are fantastic.
Have you ever tried to convince C-Level executives to buy an advertising campaign that wasn’t actually good? An idea that was half-a**ed and not fully thought out? An idea that wouldn’t actually make them any money? I have, and I felt terrible about it. I lost sleep. That’s why I don’t do it anymore.
The secret to “Owning the Room in a Presentation” is to only present ideas, concepts, campaigns, etc. that you truly believe will work.
These ideas will be based on data, on research, on insights, and on fantastic creative that illuminates all of these concepts. Never will they be based on personal opinion.
The Takeaway
If you follow this model, your ideas will be pristine. They will be bulletproof.
When you do that? It suddenly becomes easy to talk about your ideas with passion. It becomes second nature to “Own the Room.” In fact, you’ll find yourself looking for ways to curb your enthusiasm, because it’s almost too much.
And that, my friends, is a good problem to have.
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Ross Morrison is a social media advertising consultant, a compulsive writer, and a guy who really wants you to “Own the Room.” For more info about what he can do for your brand, email him at rossmorrison@gmail.com.
