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Designing the Roles You Play Onstage

To connect deeply with your audience, designing and delivering the right roles is vital.

On Stage

Public speaking

Stage performance

Michael

Port

Co-Founder

minute read

Published on

February 24, 2025

The roles you play onstage as a speaker will greatly impact how your audience feels, what they think, and the actions they’re inspired to take.

Before you take that deep breath, puff out your chest, and flash your charming smile to walk onstage, there’s one thing that must be crystal clear.

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It’s not something a lot of speakers initially think about. But it’s absolutely critical to connecting with your audience and making them feel, think, and act differently. It helps you power up your creativity and ignite your confidence before stepping onstage.

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Role playing. Don’t worry. You can still “be yourself.” (Just not all of yourself, please! More on this in a sec.)

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If you don't know what role you're going to play, it's very hard to achieve your desired outcome. This goes beyond surface-level roles of teacher, businessperson, leader. Although that’s a fine starting point, speakers need to conscientiously and comprehensively design the unique roles they play as they deliver their message. This means diving deeper.

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What roles are you there to play? How will you play them? What are your goals for playing each specific role?

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Role playing is a crucial aspect of Playing Actions. Designing and delivering the right role onstage allows you to craft a powerful and moving experience for your audience.

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The Roles You Play Craft the Audience Experience

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Amy and I have designed specific roles—six each for a total of 12—we play at HEROIC during our events. Whether we’re welcoming new students to campus during CORE | The Breakthrough Experience or giving performance feedback to students during GRAD | Stage Performance Mastery, these roles help us balance authority with empathy and create an environment that’s both challenging and nurturing—one where students feel empowered, supported, and expect to be held to high standards by all HEROIC Faculty.

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One of the roles I play is the authority. Because of my knowledge and experience in the speaker and author space, I’m able to quickly contextualize the insight and wisdom that guides students towards improvement. Part of this role also involves setting the tone, handling difficult issues, and managing group dynamics, while establishing a respectful and focused environment grounded in high standards.

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I also play the role of the sentinel. I protect and safeguard the students, our faculty, and HEROIC’s culture and values. In this role, I also hold very high standards, and expect excellence from everyone.

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Amy’s roles are different yet complementary to the roles I play. She’s the heart, she greets students at the door, offering them a warm, reassuring welcome. Her enthusiasm and personal touch set a comforting tone, making students feel valued and seen from the moment they arrive. She listens, she nurtures. Her presence serves as a mental safeguard.

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She also plays the role of the guide. Amy embodies a compassionate strength that students look up to, serving as a role model and offering guidance for students navigating personal or creative challenges. With her extensive knowledge of our programs, Amy guides students toward their next steps, helping them see the opportunities ahead in their HEROIC journey.

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These are just a few examples of the many roles we play to craft an empowering, transformational experience for every student who steps foot on campus. And now, as HEROIC continues to grow and serve more students, our faculty take on these various roles with intention and coordination. They bring each role to life in their own unique way to maintain the safe, creative, and highly-community-oriented culture HEROIC is known for.

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The roles we’ve played have been specifically designed for that unique purpose. But before you choose—and design—your roles, it’s essential you avoid these three common mistakes speakers make.

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Avoid These Common Role-Playing Mistakes

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Whether you’re speaking to a group of international businesswomen, chiropractors, high school students, lawyers, or C-Suite elites, knowing how to authentically and honestly play different roles onstage will help you connect with diverse audiences.

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Many speakers make these mistakes and unknowingly hinder their connection and weaken their impact:

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#1 Staying True to Your “True Self”

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Perhaps you might find role-playing dishonest or fake. If you stay rigidly fixed on what you see as your “true self,” you might not realize that you can adopt different styles of behavior—play different roles—while still staying authentic.

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In fact, if you play the same role in every situation, you may cause conflict, alienate people, and limit your ability to excel. Role playing isn’t pretending to be something you're not. It’s amplifying the parts of your personality that match the needs of the moment, and setting aside—not hiding—the parts that don’t.

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Successful speakers play many different roles onstage—and they’re willing to experiment with new roles to serve their audience, enhance the live experience, and forge a powerful connection. Eventually, each role they play fits them authentically and highlights their strengths.

Full Transcript

Don't

get hung up on your “true self.”

use role playing to amplify the most positive, powerful, and compelling parts of your personality.

#2 Playing the Just-Like-You Role

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Sometimes when speakers are hired, they try to demonstrate to the audience that they're just like them. They research and rehearse the words and terms the industry uses and add them to their speech. They want to prove to their audience they know everything about the industry—that they’re not so different after all.

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But more often than not, you’re hired because you’re different. You’re being brought in from the outside to share big ideas that challenge the status quo and offer a new perspective, an alternative way of doing things. That’s exactly the point. They want fresh, new ideas that disrupt their way of thinking.

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If you choose to play the “just-like-you” role, you might miss out on a big opportunity to surprise and delight your audience with your unique perspective and visionary ideas.

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#3 Choosing ego-driven roles

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The roles you choose to play onstage should always be in service of your audience. It’s easy to fall into the trap of focusing on how you want to be seen or what you want your audience to think of you. But this is an ego-driven approach that distances you from your true goal—sharing a powerful message that transforms your audience’s lives.

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For example, perhaps during your speech you decide to play the role of the sage—your profound wisdom and expertise allow you to teach your audience and enlighten them with new insight and understanding. If this role benefits your audience, that’s great. But if it only benefits you, it’s an ego-driven role that isn’t effective for your performance.

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Always be honest with yourself when you role-play. Are you focusing on achieving your goals as a speaker? Are you serving your audience? Or are you just trying to earn people’s approval?

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Playing the Right Role in the Right Moment

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As a speaker, leader, and human being you have the ability to play many different roles. The challenge is identifying how you fit into a given scenario, designing the most effective role, and stealing the show as you deliver it. To do this, follow these three simple steps:

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First, determine what roles you naturally play.

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You may notice that you naturally fall into certain roles you play onstage. Perhaps in certain sections of your speech you realize that you’re in “professor mode”—you masterfully explain complex topics in simple terms so your audience can understand. Maybe in other sections of your speech you go into “best friend mode,” when you tell a story that makes your audience laugh and feel as if they’ve known you for years and years.

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In each of these different roles you take on, you play different specific actions that help you stay true to your role and make your audience feel certain emotions. Perhaps in “best friend mode” you lean in a little closer, use slang words and a jovial tone, and maybe even sit cross-legged on the stage. During rehearsal, you’ll play with different actions to determine which ones most powerfully animate that role.

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So first, determine what roles you naturally play. Give them names, so they become sharper and clearer in your mind. Imagine the most powerful performances of those roles, and analyze what actions the performer plays.

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Second, decide which roles will drive engagement, connection, and growth.

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Each role you play has a purpose—to forge a deeper connection with your audience, to entertain and engage, to facilitate the acceptance of your ideas. For each major section of your speech, determine what role would be most effective in helping you achieve your purpose.

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Should you play the challenger, pushing your audience to confront difficult truths and urging them to think critically?

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Or maybe the guide would be more effective, using a maternal but firm presence that serves as a role model for your audience.

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Perhaps at times you’ll need to play the sentinel, embodying the behaviors expected within a specific environment and safeguarding company culture and values.

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Whatever role you choose to embrace—whether drill sergeant, kindly grandfather, entertainer, heart, or spiritual advisor—make sure it meaningfully contributes to your message.

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Third, maximize the impact of each role.

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Each role you play has a specific, intended impact on your audience. As the speaker, you determine the intentions behind each role you play in order to most powerfully impact your audience.

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For example, during CORE | The Breakthrough Experience, a unique two-day speaker training that brings together founders, CEOs, speakers, and authors from across the nation, Russell Ewing, lead performance coach, often plays the role of the motivator.

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He infuses each event with energy and inspires students to push through challenges. Using storytelling, anecdotes, and humor, he helps students connect with their aspirations, empowering them to rise above obstacles and pursue excellence.

Don't

Lead performance coach Russell Ewing motivates students to leverage the power of performance in their speeches and presentations.

The motivator is also one of the roles I play at HEROIC. While Russell and I play different actions to embody the same role, our purpose is the same—to maximize the audience experience and encourage them to move forward in achieving their goals.

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There are many different ways you can bring each role you play to life in your speech. Determining how you’ll do that depends on your personality, imagination, and creativity. As you design, embrace, and rehearse your unique roles, you’ll be able to connect with your audience in a deeply unique and meaningful way.

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And when you know the purpose behind the role you play and have clearly defined and designed your role, you’ll be able to craft an onstage performance that maximizes your impact and influence.

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The Ultimate Key to Role Playing

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While it’s important to embody the roles you play effectively, it’s equally important that you approach each role in a way that feels natural to you. The key to successfully role playing as a speaker is aligning each role with your personal style—and focusing on your audience.

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Honesty is key to impactful performance. Role playing isn’t about replicating someone else’s style, but rather, connecting your own way of being with the idea of each role. This makes your contributions genuine and effective.

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Using an audience-first approach means always focusing on what you want your audience to feel through the role you’re playing. Concentrate your efforts on what you want to make them feel. All actions you play should provoke emotion in your audience and guide them one step closer to adopting your message and putting it into practice.

Don't

just replicate someone else’s style when role playing.

approach each role in a way that feels natural, enjoyable, and authentic to you.

William Shakespeare probably said it best: “All the world’s a stage… and one man in his time plays many parts.” The roles you play onstage are integral to driving engagement, transformation, and growth. Aligning your strengths and personality with the purpose and expectations of each role will empower you to create a lasting impact on your audience and inspire them to feel, think, and act differently.

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There are two sides to role playing. As the speaker, you cast yourself in a particular role—as we’ve explored here—but that's not all. You must effectively cast your audience as well.

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In the last article in this Playing Actions series, we’ll show you how to cast your audience. Most speakers do this subconsciously—to their peril. In fact, if you don’t cast your audience ahead of time, you might end up unknowingly sabotaging your entire speech.

Don't

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Helpful Links

You will become a better speaker. Guaranteed.

CORE

|

The Breakthrough Experience

Discover a creative process that applies to any and all presentations and speeches. The HEROIC Methodology doesn’t just work, it steals the show—every time.

Learn more

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#2 Playing the Just-Like-You Role

‍

If you choose to play the “just-like-you” role, you might miss out on a big opportunity to surprise and delight your audience with your unique perspective and visionary ideas.

‍

#3 Choosing ego-driven roles

‍

Always be honest with yourself when you role-play. Are you focusing on achieving your goals as a speaker? Are you serving your audience? Or are you just trying to earn people’s approval?

‍

Playing the Right Role in the Right Moment

‍

First, determine what roles you naturally play.

‍

Second, decide which roles will drive engagement, connection, and growth.

‍

Should you play the challenger, pushing your audience to confront difficult truths and urging them to think critically?

‍

Or maybe the guide would be more effective, using a maternal but firm presence that serves as a role model for your audience.

‍

Perhaps at times you’ll need to play the sentinel, embodying the behaviors expected within a specific environment and safeguarding company culture and values.

‍

Whatever role you choose to embrace—whether drill sergeant, kindly grandfather, entertainer, heart, or spiritual advisor—make sure it meaningfully contributes to your message.

‍

Third, maximize the impact of each role.

‍

Each role you play has a specific, intended impact on your audience. As the speaker, you determine the intentions behind each role you play in order to most powerfully impact your audience.

‍

Dont

‍

The Ultimate Key to Role Playing

‍

Don't

just replicate someone else’s style when role playing.

approach each role in a way that feels natural, enjoyable, and authentic to you.

‍

There are two sides to role playing. As the speaker, you cast yourself in a particular role—as we’ve explored here—but that's not all. You must effectively cast your audience as well.

‍

Don't