How to 'OWN the room' when you speak

Author

Yasir Khan
March 17, 2025

You’ve heard of people stepping onto a stage and ‘owning the room’.

but what does that even mean, and why should you bother?

I recently spoke to a large convention, and here’s my favourite technique to ‘own the room.’

First, what does ‘owning the room’ even mean?

My definition: To make your audience feel like you are present in the moment with them, so much so that they can’t look away.

What is the benefit? It shows people you have the #1 skill in the world; the ability to get and hold attention. This gives you instant credibility as a speaker on stage.

How do I do it? 

Think of it like this: You’re sitting in a company-wide meeting. The speaker is going to go on with or without you.

Whether you listen, or tune out, it doesn’t really matter to them. They might be more concerned with getting through their slides.

Do you HAVE to listen to them? Nope.

You don’t feel involved.

BUT, what if there was one speaker talking directly to YOU. Now, it’s highly relevant to you, you can’t look away and ignore. Most importantly: you feel INVOLVED.

If you want more engagement, you must become a master at involvement.

INVOLVE your audience in your talk.

This could be as simple as:

“Raise your hand if…”
“Nod your head if this has happened to you…”
“You might be thinking that…”
“What do you think I did in that moment…”

What am I doing here? INVOLVING the audience.

I will literally go into the audience with a microphone and talk to people.

They feel involved, heard, recognized, and relevant to the talk.

Remember: if you want to ‘own the room’ and get engagement, you must become a master at involvement.

I hope this helped!

- Yasir Khan

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