To imagine how you can be that much larger than life is mind boggling. But you can.

In a lot of ways, when you step out to talk to a group of people, you do become larger than life. That is because you are doing the impossible. You are having a conversation with dozens or hundreds of people all at once.

Now, whether you feel like you are having that conversation or not isn't important. If your talk is not interactive, you may not know the dialog is happening. But in the minds of every single individual in that hall, they are interacting with you. What you are saying is getting down inside of them and they are reacting to it.

But even more than what you are saying, how you are saying it is having an even bigger impact.

So are there things you can do to "become" larger than life? Well, there are some ways of behaving in front of a crowd that differ from daily life. We do have to accept that you will develop a "stage persona" that is different from your daily personality when you speak to a group. Does that make you a phony? No. Both of those personalities are you. It is just a different you when you relate to a group than to people one on one and it seems strange because that form of you only comes out on stage.

But it's not a Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde thing. Just as you speak to a child differently than you speak to an adult, you will develop a way to talking to a group that differs from speaking to an individual.

Part of becoming larger than life is learning to what they call "own the room." This sound egotistic and strange but it really does work when you are about to speak. Owning the room simply means that when you step out in front of that crowd, they are no longer some random group of people, they are YOUR people. They are there to listen to you and what you say is of value to them.

And it's not really ego to be aware of your situation, it's simple reality that you will want to use to benefit both you and your audience.

Merely knowing what is happening should do wonders for your confidence.

You must assume that you are adored when you speak to a group of people. This doesn’t mean you strut about like God's gift to the world. But it does mean that you recognize your value to this group is as a speaker and that your services are wanted and needed here. And you have information that can help

In fact, the only way you will be an effective public speaker is if you own the room. Treat that room like it was your home and these people came here just because being with you is just that great. If you step out there with that attitude, the audience will buy into your attitude and they will give you the room and be glad you took it over.

It can be a bit strange if you watch yourself become larger than life. But you can be humble about it and just recognize it is part of the craft of becoming a great public speaker.

And if being good at this art means owning rooms and becoming bigger for an hour or so, well then, why deny the world that experience?