With a large dark exhibit room before them and nothing but the spotlight, 44 pageant contestants will emerge from behind the curtain and in front of the audience and television cameras to give their all to be named Miss Mississippi.

From the perspective of the stage, the contestants say some of the things they see and hear can have an impact on their performance.

So what do they see from stage?

“Most prominently it’s the stage lights,” Miss Riverland Michaela Moore said.

The brightness makes it a little more difficult to see individual faces, but the contestants can make out individuals in the crowd.

“It’s not like you’re completely blacked out,” Miss University Carol Coker said.

The spotlight often acts as a reminder to stand up straighter and hit all the points on stage because of the little of bit of pressure knowing everyone is watching.

“It jerks you into shape real quick,” Miss Heritage Charley Ann Nix said.

However, the contestants say the bright light and loud cheers do not throw them off during their performance.

“I’ve never really been distracted by anybody though because you know you have one shot on stage to make sure that you give it your all, and you can’t really worry about what’s going on in the audience,” Nix said. Her strategy is to tune everyone out and perform the way she has practiced.

That focus to “get the job done” is what many of the contestants concentrate on instead of letting the noise and lights get to them. If anything the cheers are more of a boost to the contestants performances than a disruption.

A positive reaction from audience members can brighten their smile and their entire demeanor, Nix said. Coker said the cheers give her a second wind and the confidence to know she can do it.

“You feed off of the audience and the energy in the audience, on talent especially,” she said.

Miss Historic Crossroads Asya Branch said she sometimes makes eye contact with audience members and uses their feedback.

“If I do focus in on one particular face, I react to their reaction,” she said.

Moore sees an interactive crowd as reinforcement that she is on the right track.

On the flip side, silence is a sign to work even harder to captivate the audience. She likes to make sure the audience is invested just as much as she is into the performance.

Not all portions of the competition are open to loud cheers, for the most part the crowd meets swimwear and evening wear with silence, which does not fall on deaf ears.

“There are times when it’s almost deafening,” Coker said. “It gets a little tense.”

The silent pressure of being the center of attention can be stressful, but the quiet moments can also be seen as a sign of admiration.

“I think it’s kind of a respectful thing in evening gown because it’s such an elegant phase of the competition,” Moore said.

In the moments before hitting the stage, Branch said she feels a rush of nerves and adrenaline.

“I’m always back stage with sweaty palms, shaky, heart pounding, but as soon as you step out on the stage it’s like give it you’re all while you’re out here because you’ve been working so hard for so long,” she said.

Moore has competed in the pageant before and said the onstage perspective really has everything to do with self-acceptance and not comparing herself to others or worrying about what anyone else thinks.

“It’s a maturity process,” Moore said. “It becomes more of a confidence thing.”

Coker, who has also competed before, said often times being on stage is a time when contestants go into autopilot and describes it as almost feeling numb.

This year Coker wants to focus on being more in the moment and stepping out of her focus to enjoy the ride more.

“I’ve tried to work on this year just being more relax and letting myself feel things so I can breathe,” Coker said.

She said stage presence grows over time in the contestants.

“It’s the confidence to know I can handle this,” Coker said.