You may be a highly respected professional for project management, advertising or sales but when you attend meetings on other topics people may not consider you “somebody”, you’re just someone else that joined the party. What you need to do is, to stand out from the crowd, making people understand that you are an interesting person worth talking to, even if it’s not your crowd. Here are 9 techniques that you can use to be Somebody.

1. Use your smile. You are entering the room or someone is adding you to a discussion so you need to convince fast and a big flooding smile is your best friend. Just a quick smile is not working anymore. It needs fine tuning, because it’s hard to penetrate the minds of the sophisticated crowds we get to join these days.

2. Sticky eyes. I remember school time, staring at my teachers from various reasons like trying to read their lips, just for looking great or because they were moving so much. The funny thing is they noticed me every time, once I was even stopped to ask me what I felt about the class.
Continuous eye contact can make you stand out from a crowd because it creates a very intense “bond” between the two people. It’s so intense that it has the same feelings as if you are in love, your heart beats faster and the adrenalin levels are high. Imagine when you go buy a car and the sales person keeps his eyes on you when he explains everything you should expect. Don’t you feel comfortable, don’t you feel like he is trustworthy and he has the knowledge to sell you a good car? That’s the help you’re after.

3. Your posture. I’ve been to the swimming pool where I had some professional swimmer friends. I remember entering the room where the whole team was having the last talk with their referee; all of them were tall, with the shoulders back and the head high, with all the muscles screaming for joy and pride. Their bodies were almost defining perfectness and they were like flying 1-inch off the ground. These guys lost, and they ended up on the last place, but I will never forget those guys. I will never forget their posture and how they stood up from the whole crowd.
However, though you need the ideal image, you should make a difference between being arrogant and use your posture against you, and using it to be Somebody.

4. Everyone is a big baby. This one I remember it from a book I read some time ago. Do you know that we are all babies from time to time? You should know that you can win someone if you treat them like you would treat a very sweet child. If you ever get presented and you need to be Someone right away then you should show it right away. Treat them like a child. People enjoy congratulations, smiles and a face that says “I like uou, you’re someone special”.

5. Pleasant voice. People are much more attracted into talking with someone that won’t cry or yell. It’s in the human mind to stop doing something it doesn’t like. Imagine why there are classes for such things, why they only choose people with pleasant voices to talk on the advertisements you hear on your radio and so on.

6. You are confident. You followed all those things I mentioned before and you enter the ball room where you should convince people you are really Someone. How do you do that unless you are confident you have all the skills to do it? It’s all coming from inside. If you believe it then you are one step closer.

7. Clothing. This is also very important because you cannot go naked. When you should meet for business or something related I definitely advise you to get a suit. You cannot into to a place where everyone is wearing one, with your shorts. Though it will make everyone look at you when you enter the room, it will be because they are shocked not because you are Someone. Dress according with the code of the meeting.

8. Talk and listen wisely. You and the crowd met. They like you for your smile, and your posture but you need to bring arguments that you fit there, not to mention that you don’t want to miss anything. Do not talk too much or everyone will feel overwhelmed and might leave the discussion, but please do talk when you think your opinion would be appropriate. Another advice would be to listen before you talk. Let them finish their ideas and keep a keen eye on how your listeners react to what you’re saying and take your next steps accordingly.

9. Visualize being a Somebody. I explained how being confident will create enough positive karma that everyone will see it, but now it’s a different story. If you are planing anything before, one thing that could be the most important is to see yourself being successful. You can imagine everything in your mind and rehearse it until you’re comfortable with the situation.

These advices are easy to follow but I would like to take a few more sentences to mention that excessive usage may annoy. I know someone that is doing everything I wrote above, 20 times a day with everyone she meets. People become used to it and will characterize you as fake. This is something you don’t need. Use them in a positive way and you will like what you get.

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