How do you connect strongly with an audience?  In a way most speakers don’t think about, don’t understand, and so, not surprisingly, don’t often take advantage of:  physical closeness. 

We all unconsciously measure the distance between ourselves and everyone else for obvious reasons of self-protection first and interest second. Twelve feet or more is public space, the coolest connection between people.  Between twelve feet and four feet is social space, a little warmer than public space but still cool. Four feet to a foot and a half is personal space, where things begin to get interesting for us. A foot and a half to zero is intimate space, and we let only people we trust highly or are very fond of in this space.

These spaces vary a bit from culture to culture; Mediterranean and Asian cultures tend to shrink the distances, and Western cultures extend them. But all of us have the four zones.

Try them out yourself. Walk down the street in a small town, and note when you make eye contact with approaching strangers and when they make eye contact with you. You will find that it is always close to twelve feet. I assume this is because at that distance, we can still do something about a danger that presents itself; any closer and we might not have time to react.  Similarly, parents will typically let small children roam about 12 feet from them before reeling them back in. 

Now move into the personal zone with someone. You’ll see that you keep your eyes, at minimum, on each other, and usually you’ll change your entire physical orientation when someone moves into your personal space. Interest and energy increase. Your heart rate increases slightly. It’s personal, and you’re connected.

If you move into someone’s intimate space, a new level of tension arises, unless of course you are already intimate with that person — a spouse, a very close friend, a parent, or a child.  If you’re not intimate, the closeness will feel uncomfortable for both of you, and typically one or the other of the two people will try to draw back into safer personal space.

So how do you use these zones to increase the connectedness with the person or persons you’re trying to communicate with? Everything significant in communication between people happens in personal space (or intimate) space.  As a speaker, then, you’ve got to get into the personal space of representative members of the audience in order to connect with the whole audience.  Staying behind a podium – even working the stage – won’t cut it. 

You have to choreograph your presentation so that you use personal space to make your important points.  Anything less will not engage the audience.