✨ Free Game Friday: Master Executive Presence & Public Speaking✨

Hello, Star Players!

For this "Free Game Friday" series, I'm pulling a few gems from a workshop I led for the I AM C.U.L.T.U.R.E.D. high school students in Brooklyn, New York, on public speaking and executive presence. These are the same principles that helped me navigate my career as a Black woman in corporate America at major media and tech giants like NBCUniversal and Google. Now, I'm excited to share them with you!

In the workshop, we defined executive presence as a combination of personality traits, behaviors, and skills that make a leader stand out and command respect. It's the ability to inspire confidence in others and project the capability to succeed at the highest levels of an organization. The students and I dove into the 7 C’s of Executive Presence: composure, connection, charisma, confidence, credibility, clarity, and conciseness.

We also focused on practical tools to improve communication and public speaking, which are essential for developing executive presence. A key takeaway was overcoming stage fright. Many people get nervous, but a secret to overcoming it is knowing that your fear starts to lessen after about 30 seconds. Preparation is also essential—think about your message and rehearse your opening lines. I encouraged the students to get out of their own heads, turn down the judgmental voices, and think of the audience as a room of supportive friends. Breathing and pacing yourself are also crucial.

Another important skill we discussed was the power of the pause. This is a game-changer. Using pauses allows you to collect your thoughts and structure your speech. It also enhances the impact of your words, drawing attention to important points. Learning to pause can also help manage anxiety and reduce the urge to rush. This is far more effective than using verbal fillers like "ums," "likes," or "you know what I'm saying," which we also worked to banish. I advised the students to record themselves speaking to identify their specific fillers and then practice mindful speaking, training themselves to pause instead of filling the silence.

We also spent time on mastering body language. Your posture should be confident—stand tall with your shoulders back and feet shoulder-width apart. Use natural hand gestures to emphasize your points and maintain eye contact with your audience to build rapport. I also encouraged them to use the entire floor rather than staying in one spot, but to avoid pacing back and forth.

Finally, we covered commanding your voice. Your voice is your instrument. We learned to project our voices to be heard clearly , vary our tone to express emotions and keep the audience engaged , and speak at a moderate pace, avoiding rushing or speaking too slowly. A common pitfall for young speakers is using upward inflections at the end of a statement, making it sound like a question. We worked on making statements with conviction.

These are just a few of the powerful tools we explored. If sharpening these skills is something you would like to workshop more deeply, you can always book a one-on-one session with me. As the founder of Celestial Content Creations, a social impact enterprise dedicated to empowering and uplifting historically underrepresented communities, I am passionate about helping people unlock their inner potential. I'm also available for public speaking engagements or group workshops for non-profits, community, and corporate organizations. You can download our one-sheeter to learn more about our offerings. To check out some of my work and speaking engagement recaps, you can visit the Celestial Content Creations YouTube channel. Our CCC Tiny Book of Affirmations card deck is also a great way to start building your confidence every day.

Best,

-Ariel Celeste