169. Kamilla Sultanova: Effective Stage Presence

Kamilla Sultanova is a Speaker, Mentor and Cultural architect. Born in Uzbekistan, has lived in USA, Denmark, and now based in Finland for 6.5 years. She is a networking powerhouse, uniting voice for change, equality and empowerment. Kamilla is a vibrant speaker and award-winning community leader helping advance the importance of diversity and inclusion, community building to build resilient and enriching workplaces that work for everyone. She is known for her TEDx Talk titled “Volunteering: Empowering Others, Empowering Yourself” at Helsinki University and her award-winning work through ConnectUz, a culturally responsive workforce consulting initiative. She is now also leading diversity initiative, talent management programme at Hanken School of Economics to focus on diverse and inclusive recruitment of Finnish companies and integration of international students into business and social life in Finland. ​Volunteering to become a speaker Kamilla’s story as a speaker started in Denmark where she was an activist who used to speak on behalf of students and immigrants helping them to become integrated. She is a strong believer that everyone has the right to find and integrate into a community of like-minded persons where we can own our own-voice. Thanks to her job in the shipping industry and her own studies in communications she had the possibility of sharing experiences and connect with people (ship officers, crew and clients) from different countries and cultures. This gave her a solid base about how to be a speaker, communicate with people, inspire and motivate them. Stage Presence: The Key to connect Every speaking experience is an opportunity to create an impact through your presence. The main reason to use stage presence is to give a speech that really connects with the audience. For this we need to adapt our style of speaking through all ways so you can embody your delivery on stage: through voice, through gestures, moving around, etc. This make people listen to you and catch the attention. Some tips: Prepare your way on the stage, own the space. Express yourself through eye contact, movements of the eyebrows, the nose. Your expression matters. Control your posture. In online presentations engage the audience through curiosity using objects, movements or actions that call attention to the screen. Related: