It's easy for a speaker to be overwhelmed by presentation tips and feedback. Here's a note we hope will encourage you: Sometimes a simple adjustment in your public speaking delivery can produce bigger-that-you'd-expect results.
Where you place your feet when presenting is one of them.
Whether you're delivering a keynote speech from behind a large lectern or making a business presentation at the front of the room, how you stand can elevate your message—or keep you from being your best.
Here are five practical tips we give our students that are easy to incorporate.
1. Keep Both Feet Firmly on the Ground
It sounds obvious, but many speakers unconsciously stand in ways that weaken their executive presence. Some prop one foot on the base of a lectern. Others stand with their feet crossed or slump most of their weight onto one leg.
When both feet aren't planted firmly on the floor, balance suffers. Your gestures become restricted. Your body language looks less natural. You may even appear nervous or uncomfortable, even when you're not.
A grounded stance gives you a solid foundation that signals your confidence. It also allows your upper body to move more freely and expressively, another trait of a confident speaker.
2. Stand With Feet About Shoulder-Width Apart
Even with both feet on the floor, the width of your stance matters. When feet are pegged too close together, you have a less balanced foundation that can limit your upper body movements. When feet are too far apart, as if you're straddling a ditch, you may look awkward. It's hard to generate easy, confident movement from that position, too.
For most speakers, standing with feet shoulder-width or hip-width apart promotes both stability and flexibility. This balanced stance supports natural movement and helps you maintain a strong presentation posture throughout your talk.
If shoulder-width feels awkward, try staggering one foot slightly forward. This can also reduce side-to-side swaying, if that's been a problem for you.
3. Keep Your Knees Relaxed with Energy Moving Upward
The goal of creating a solid stance isn't to turn you into a solid, unmoving lump. In fact, just the opposite. Confident, engaging speakers move their upper body with ease.
Once your feet are positioned correctly, you're in a better position to do just that. Keep knees loose rather than locked, and let your energy move up through your torso and shoulders, so that gestures can be larger and more athletic.
This easy movement through the torso also improves vocal delivery. It helps you avoid the stiff, frozen look that many nervous presenters unintentionally display.
4. You May Walk, But Don't Pace Nonstop
Setting your feet doesn't mean you have to stay stuck in one place. If you like to walk when presenting, you can—and probably should. But move with purpose.
That means:
- Walk to a spot, stop and stay there.
- Speak from that spot for a while.
- Then move to another spot, stop and speak.
Avoid the side-to-side pacing that never pauses. Like other pointless, repetitive motion, it becomes an agitation or distraction for your audience. As your speaking skills advance, you can consider how to use walking to deliberately support your message.
5. Avoid Distracting Foot Movements
Purposeful movement on stage is effective. Random foot movement is distracting. Foot tapping, shuffling, or kicking at the floor can pull attention away from your message. Audiences notice these repeated movements more than speakers realize.
Instead of letting excess or nervous energy show up in your feet, channel it up through your knees into descriptive gestures, eye contact, and vocal variety.
Take a Tip from Steph Curry
"They say, when most guys get tired and they start to miss, it's because their legs are tired. Your foundation is lost. As long as you have good foundation, good balance, your consistency, your accuracy, goes higher."
That's what Steph Curry told a writer from Forbes when they met up for some basketball coaching. One of the all-time great shooters in the game says how he places his feet is key. Everyone's shot goes up a little differently, he says, but that solid foundation—feet shoulder width apart, knees loose—remains the same. For public speaking, good foot placement prepares you to gesture naturally, move with purpose, and respond confidently to your audience. When your lower body is balanced and grounded, your entire presentation becomes stronger.
LEARN MORE
See how the idea of a strong stance can translate when you're delivering a seated presentation—and why that matters when you need to connect.
For more on moving around the stage with purpose, see this guide.
Find our founder's thoughts on the value of posture and why he was a fan of the old book-on-head drill for speakers.
