How to Have Charisma

All of us want to be charismatic. While charisma is a difficult quality to define, everyone knows charisma when they see it. In this article we’ll give you solid actions you can take and habits you can practice to become more charismatic, even in virtual meetings.

We’ll cover:

• What it means to be charismatic
• Examples of highly charismatic people
• Can anyone be charismatic?
• Easy ways to develop charisma
• How to have charisma in virtual meetings

By the end of this article, you should be well on your way to becoming a magnetic and charismatic person.

What Does It Mean to Have Charisma?

Charisma is hard to define. Simply put, it is a strong personal quality that attracts other people to you. Charismatic people are those who make you interested in what they have to say. We are inexplicably drawn to people who have charisma. To help yourself become more charismatic, finding charismatic role models to emulate is a great way to start. Start making note of people that you feel inexplicably drawn to, and identify what exactly makes them charismatic. It could be their body language, speaking style, or many other things. In the next section, you’ll find some examples of people with charisma that you can use as role models.

Examples of Highly Charismatic People

There are many different lists available online of the most charismatic people and leaders throughout history. One thing they all have in common, though, is that they are excellent public speakers. It’s not clear whether having charisma makes someone a great speaker, or being a great speaker makes someone charismatic. Regardless, it is clear that these two skills go hand in hand.

Watching examples of great public speakers can help you improve your speaking skills and ultimately make you a charismatic communicator. We’ve identified the 10 greatest TED Talks of all time, which were all delivered by powerful public speakers. Here are some of our top ten TED Talk-ers, who serve as great examples of highly charismatic people.

1. Amy Cuddy: Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are 

2. Tim Urban: Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator

3. Bill Gates: The Next Outbreak? We’re Not Ready

4. Celeste Headlee: 10 Ways to Have a Better Conversation

5. Channing Gerard Joseph: How Black Queer Culture Shaped History

As you can see, being able to command a room with excellent public speaking skills makes people want to listen to you. That’s what having charisma is all about! Public speaking can be scary for many people–it is one of the top fears among Americans–but working on it is a great way to become more charismatic. Using a free AI-powered speech coach like Yoodli is the easiest way to boost your public speaking abilities.

Can Anyone be Charismatic?

Yes! Having charisma is a skill–like learning a language or playing an instrument–that anyone can develop with hard work and practice. Charisma is one of those things that’s so hard to define because it means something different for every person. You might think that being charismatic means how have to be bubbly and outgoing. Certainly, many highly charismatic people are also extroverted. However, many people have acknowledged the importance of so-called “charismatic introverts”.

Susan Cain’s best-selling book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking demonstrates how impactful introverts can be. In her TED Talk, “The Power of Introverts”, Cain explores her book’s central message of the silent power of introverts. Both introverts and extroverts play a valuable role in our society, and both have the power to engage others and carry themselves with confidence. You don’t have to change your personality to become more charismatic. At the end of the day, having charisma is all about feeling comfortable in your own skin and embracing who you are, not about fitting into a mold.

Easy Ways to Develop Charisma

There are a number of super simple strategies you can use to develop that je ne sais quoi we call charisma. While the definition of charisma is hard to pin down, the strategies you can use to become more charismatic are concrete. Find these three easy ways to have charisma below:

1. Active listening (and not interrupting)

The most important part of being a good communicator is being a good listener, and active listening is key. Improving your listening skills will make you a much better conversationalist. People enjoy feeling like what they have to say is valuable. Therefore, being a good listener will make people enjoy talking to you. Check out this article on how to improve your listening skills as a jumping off point.

2. Make eye contact

Maintaining eye contact is one of the best ways to connect with another person. However, it can be difficult to get better at making eye contact without a lot of conscious effort. With Yoodli’s AI speech coach, you can easily get better at maintaining eye contact. Just record or upload a video and receive instant analytics on your rate of eye contact while speaking.

3. Never underestimate the power of a smile

Another important thing that highly charismatic people do is smile often. Humans naturally gravitate towards people who smile. Here’s the best part: smiling is easy! We’ve all heard about how it takes fewer muscles to smile than it does to frown. Smiling is by far the easiest thing you can do to become more charismatic. Try to make a habit out of smiling when you interact with people.

One tool you can use to increase your charisma by smiling more is Yoodli’s AI speech coach. Again, it’s hard to practice things like maintaining eye contact and smiling on your own. With Yoodli, practicing and improving your communication skills becomes easy.

How to Have Charisma in Virtual Meetings

Communicating confidently can be difficult in an online environment. Body language is an important part of conveying your engagement and interest in a conversation. Unfortunately, it’s hard to see someone’s body language in a virtual meeting. With the increase in our ability to work and meet remotely, it’s important to know how to have engaging conversations on video calls. Developing your virtual presence can help you be charismatic, even in Zoom meetings. To have a charismatic presence in virtual meetings, there are a number of tangible steps you can take.

First, have your camera on as much as possible. It’s hard to feel connected to a profile picture or avatar, but when your colleagues or peers see your face on a Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom call, they will immediately feel more interested and attentive to what you have to say.

Second, don’t underestimate the importance of your setting, even in online meetings. To make sure your virtual meeting background is distraction-free by sitting in front of a solid wall or simple and professional background like a bookshelf. Furthermore, find somewhere with good lighting, preferably somewhere with a lot of natural light.

As we mentioned earlier, eye contact is important in building a connection with your audience during a presentation or conversation. However, maintaining eye contact in a virtual meeting can be difficult. It takes practice to make eye contact with your computer’s camera rather than a real person’s eyes. Fortunately, you can get better and better at making virtual eye contact with Yoodli. With Yoodli, you can practice presenting or interviewing virtually and get instant AI-powered analytics on how much eye contact you made. Communicating with people virtually presents unique challenges, and Yoodli is here to prepare you for whatever comes your way.

The Bottom Line

The bad news is that meeting virtually limits our ability to convey interest and engagement in our body language and in-person presence. On the other hand, the good news is that you’re in total control of your image online: you can control your camera’s position and your virtual meeting background.

Conclusion

In this article, we’ve covered the ins and outs of having charisma. Here are some of the key takeaways:

• What charisma is is hard to define
• Highly charismatic people are excellent communicators
• Anyone can be charismatic
• Three easy ways to develop charisma: listening, eye contact, smiling
• How to have charisma in virtual meetings

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

– Maya Angelou

This quote captures exactly what charisma is. It’s the ability to make people feel compelled by what you say and do. It’s not so much about what you say but how you say it. Now it’s time to go out into the world and be your confident, smiling, most charismatic self!