What the Big Shots Do Backstage
5000 people sit watching a mind-bending video on their virtual reality headsets at Samsung’s Galaxy S7 launch. As they watch, Mark Zuckerberg is rushed from the green room onto the enormous cube-shaped stage. When people remove their VR glasses, the room goes nuts (in a good way; Zuck was still a rock star then). Dozens of people rush the stage to take selfies with him in the background. It was chaos.
Rewind a few hours, and I was at practice, watching the Facebook Founder walk the stage and read his lines from the teleprompters, while his 12-person entourage followed (and complimented) his every move and word.
At GrahamComm, we’ve been lucky to have worked some big events and rubbed elbows with some big names (CEOs of Facebook, Microsoft, Verizon, Instagram to name a few). So I thought I’d share with you some of what happens backstage AND what you can do before speaking at any event–even your weekly team meetings.
(Backstage with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at Samsung’s Note10 launch, August 2019)
Before the big events, there are two places speakers hang out: Their dressing room and the Green Room.
In the dressing room, they get their hair and makeup done and review their scripts if needed. Next, I encourage them to deeply relax. Kick back, close their eyes and do 2-5 minutes of meditative, diaphragmatic breathing. 4 seconds in, 8 seconds out. If they can sleep without wrinkling their clothes, even better.
About 20-30 minutes before they speak, they get moved to The Green Room.
In between, one speaker I coached did something brilliant. He walked through the crowd (there were 3500 at this event). He chatted with a few people he knew but more importantly, he saw that the audience was full of non-scary people just like him who were there to learn something new. This took a lot of fear out of the equation.
But back to the Green Room (nobody really knows why it’s called that; I’ve never actually seen a green Green Room).
This is where the speakers:
- Get mic’d up
- Take one final glance at their script
- Watch their fellow speakers on the monitors (a good distraction)
- Get prepped by the Stage Manager (who are often British and always have the most calming, positive, easy-going energy).
What else do people do right before going on stage?
6’6” Tony Robbins, a force on any stage, jumps on his portable trampoline for 5 minutes, pounds his chest, yells and does incantations to get “in state.”
This may be a touch awkward in the Board Room, so here are 8 things we coach our speakers to do and what you can do when you’re about to present:
1. Hire an amazing coach, like these guys.
2. Stop practicing. You should have done that already.
3. Deep breathing. Not just for Californians; this really helps.
4. Get physical (isometric exercises, brisk walk, air squats, push-ups). All of these help process the cortisol that’s in your blood.
5. Hold a warm beverage. This reverses the fight-or-flight reflex by bringing blood back to your extremities. (Drink coffee after–not before–your talk. Room temp water is perfect and a few slices of apple are good for keeping your mouth moist).
6. Shmooze. A quick conversation is a good distraction, gets you talking and often gives you fodder for your talk.
7. Expect the nerves. It just confirms that you’re human and that you care.
8. Get in state: Clap, shake out your arms, jump up and down and put a big smile on your face. NOW, you’re ready!
Of course nothing will help you more than ample practice out loud and working with a great coach. These methods above will help you prep like the big shots and get your mind and body ready to own any room!