Most founders walk onto stage cold. Even Usain Bolt doesn't do that.

In this solo episode, Marina shares the exact warm-up routine she uses as a professional moderator — a five-minute ritual that will make you sharper, more confident, and more connected with your audience. Do this before your next pitch, panel, or keynote and you'll be in the top 5% of speakers on stage.

The framework: Breath → Body → Mind. Always in that order.

👉 Working on your visibility as a founder?

Marina helps deep tech founders get seen, heard, and backed — on stages, podcasts, and beyond. Learn more at www. wearekinetik.com or connect with her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/

🫁 BREATH

Start with 5–10 deep belly breaths to ground your voice and calm nerves. Try a slight backbend while breathing to open the diaphragm. Also try the Physiological Sigh (from Huberman Lab): inhale through the nose, take a short top-up breath, then exhale slowly through the mouth. A few of these settle the nervous system fast.

For your voice:

– Lip trills: blow air through relaxed lips while going up and down in pitch — stretches your vocal range without straining the cords

– Lion & Lemon: alternate between stretching your face wide open (lion) and scrunching it tight (lemon) — activates your facial muscles and makes you more expressive

– The Finger Bite: lightly place a finger between your teeth and practice speaking clearly. Remove it and your articulation is immediately sharper. Marina's #1 non-negotiable — especially if you tend to mumble or trail off.

🧍 BODY

Open your chest. Get your elbows away from your ribcage. Confident speakers take up space. Do a power pose, shake out your arms and legs, and prime your body to gesture freely. According to researcher Vanessa Van Edwards' analysis of thousands of TED Talks, gestures are the single most consistent predictor of how many views a talk gets.

🧠 MIND

Last, because you need to be grounded first. Adopt a host mindset: you're here to take care of the audience, not to perform for them. Shift the spotlight from yourself to the room. Ask: how can I make sure they have a good experience?

If you can, walk the stage beforehand. Find real faces in the audience. Make eye contact with individuals. You're priming your brain to talk to people, not at a crowd.

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Referenced in this episode:

– Huberman Lab podcast (Andrew Huberman, Stanford) — the Physiological Sigh

– Die Gastgebermethode (The Host Method) — available in German only

– Vanessa Van Edwards — TED Talk gesture research

Marina Schmidt is a founder communications strategist and professional moderator. If you're a founder working on getting on stages, podcasts, or using storytelling to grow your visibility — reach out on LinkedIn.

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