Using Stage Quadrants: A Simple Framework for Where to Stand and When | Ch. 36

Just saying these links would be really silly. I got confused for a second. Let me see.

My gosh, I have cannot stop singing the Puerto Rico song. It's just, it's in my head and it makes me happy. What do you want from me? Here we go. Oh team, here we go. Part 6, chapter 36. And we are almost done. We are flying through this book. And so welcome back to those of you who have been with us here on This Moved Me, whether you have listened to the audiobook, uh, so far, we are almost through the entire audiobook, or maybe you're popping in here because you yourself are looking for some advice on how to deliver A speech, how to stand in your story and deliver with confidence and clarity and be embodied as you do that. Welcome, welcome. Maybe you are with us here on YouTube or you found us in your podcast feed. Either way, I'm so glad that you're here. Like I said, we are moving through my book called Speaking Story. My name is Sally Koering Zimney. I'm the author of that book and a keynote speaker and a coach and I've been doing this for a really long time and it has been so fun to bit by bit get these chapters and episodes out to you. And chapter 36 today is about Sage Quadrants, which as a theater person, this really comes from my theater background. I spent many, many years on stage and loved it, loved it. Ultimately decided that's not what I wanted to do with my life. But man, there's nothing like putting a show together. It's not dissimilar to putting an event together. You just have more time to be with it when, you know, an event is a one-time thing and a show you get to practice and work on. And the kind of speaking that I did early on in my professional career gave me such an opportunity to practice these things because I gave the same speech almost every day for a few years. And so you learn to play with the different elements. And part of that is how you use the space that you have. So when we talk about Stage Quadrants, I was not on a stage for any of that time. I was in gym most of the time, or sometimes a library, or like randomly maybe an auditorium, but it was not your typical stage. And yet I've had lots and lots of time on a typical stage. So just know if you're like, I'm used to standing in front of a conference room, or I'm used to, you know, being in a setting where there's no sta— actual stage, but there's tables and it's more like a workshop format, great. The stage is simply the area that you speak from. And so this chapter is about the, what we are communicating when we move and how we move. And one of the most common things that I see speakers do, and it, it, it can chip away at their presence. It, it can undermine their message if they're not aware of how they're moving and what their movement is communicating. So the stage quadrants, when we break it down, um, you can really understand and start to think about the map that we can use as a presenter, as a speaker, as a storyteller, so that your movement serves your story. That's really what we wanna do is help your movement to serve your story. So we'll break that all down. You get to kind of hear about you know, from a theater perspective, how we break out the stage and how we explain how people move and where they move, and also what those quadrants tend to communicate so that you can leverage that with intention. Woo! So exciting. I feel like I'm giving you the map into doing this with more intention without you becoming a choreographed robot, because obviously that is not, that's not what we're going for. Okay, so this is fun. It's a shorty but a goodie. So I'm excited for you to dive in. Are we ready? Let's do it.

Hey everybody, and welcome to This Moved Me, a podcast about creating talks that move the world. With me, your host, Sally Koering Zimney.

All right, team, quick question before we dive in, and I want you to answer it honestly. Do you have a message that you know is worth sharing, but you're not quite sure what to do with it next? If you've said yes, even, um, yes, I want you to hear something first.

Here's Jenn Whitmer.

She is a keynote speaker, award-winning author, and someone who was sitting right where you might be right now.

I remember my my clicker just hovering over the join button about 6 years ago with Sally Koering Zimney Zimney, and I am forever grateful that I clicked yes. I'm Jen Whitmer, keynote speaker, award-winning author, and all-around joy bringer. And since I tapped that little button, my business has continued to grow and expand and been on stages that I had never even considered dreaming about. And that's all because of the insights that I have gained from being a part of Sally's community, the skills, the cheerleaders, the referrals. If you are scared and you are hovering over that button, I'm telling you, now is the time. Now is the time.

That's what's on the other side of your yes. And the first step isn't a big commitment. It's a free one at sally-zimney.com. Www.sallykoeringzimney.com/path, you can grab 2 free resources. The Movers Roadmap, a short clarifying exercise that shows you exactly where you are in your speaking business right now, where the real gaps are, and what to actually do next.

And I want to make sure you get your hands on our Power Pitching Push.

This is a live audio series where I walk you through exactly how to pitch yourself as a speaker. No fluff, real next steps.

It really hands you the roadmap to get more gigs.

And if you're just like, I'm not sure exactly what to do or what my path is, you can get this all at sally-zimney.com/path. You can grab the Movers Roadmap there, the Power Coaching Push. You can learn more about the pathway that Jen took to get where she is right now. And when you're ready to go all in, Movers Collective is where we are going to take you from talented to the spotlight. Amazing. All right, now let's get into the chapter.

Chapter 36: Using Stage Quadrants. The typical stage setup has some language around it that I think is helpful, and I want you to think of the stage split up into threes, like a tri-fold of the stage. If you're standing on the stage and you're looking at the audience, the far left is called stage left. We do it from the speaker's perspective. The far right is stage right, and the center, try, is center stage. Now also think about as you move towards the audience, it's called downstage, and as you move away from the audience, it's called upstage. This language and setup comes from Shakespearean days when the stage was actually tipped down toward the audience so that the groundlings, which were the cheap seats on the ground in front of the stage, could see better. Back in Shakespeare's time, there were hundreds of groundlings jammed into that space while the fancy royals were in the elevated seats around the perimeter. More importantly, all of these terms are from the perspective of the person on the stage. That's why as you move toward the audience, it's called going downstage, and as you move left or right, it's from your perspective as the speaker, not the audience's. Much like how our space can communicate clues about what the expectations are of the experience, our movement can also speak powerfully, though silently, about layers of meaning. If you were in an audience and someone moved downstage, what does that mean? What is the speaker communicating to you? Maybe intensity or importance. Your most important messages typically happens downstage and in the center. This is metaphorical in many ways. It can be a powerful cue for the audience and helpful for them to understand what you're trying to communicate around this. Because of course the opposite is true, right? If I take a step back away from you, what am I communicating? Most likely some emotional distance along with physical distance. I'm backing away from the idea, making it less important. Movement also equals change. Oftentimes people may start in the center stage area, but when there's a new idea, a shift in tone, or a new chapter in your talk, you may intentionally move to indicate that change. Movement can therefore help reengage a group who started to drift away. Any time you move on a stage, you are communicating something, and you're not just communicating what you're saying, you're also communicating clues about the meaning the meaning behind what you're saying, why it matters, and the emotional context of your message. All of these pieces are put together in each audience member's brain to help make a full picture of what your story is really all about.

All right, everybody, that's a wrap on this chapter of Speaking Story.

You can find the full audiobook ad-free on Audible, or just subscribe and the next chapter comes right to you. And hey, if Jen's story up at the top hit a bit of a nerve, if you've got your own clicker hovering, the Movers Roadmap is free. It takes about 20 minutes to go through and it will tell you more about where you are and what you need than most paid programs will. So go grab it along with the Power Pitching Push at sally-zimney.com/path.

Sally-zimney.com/path.

All right, movers.

This moved me. What is moving you? See you next time.