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CST 1 Article Body Language 3

Body language comprises over half of a presenter's impact and conveys messages nonverbally through gestures, stance, and facial expressions. Effective body language supports the message by using large, meaningful gestures from the shoulders. Presenters should stand tall with balanced stance and engage the audience through eye contact. Facial expressions like smiling can build connections while lack of expression may undermine the message. With practice, presenters can harness body language skills to enhance their communication.

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49 views2 pages

CST 1 Article Body Language 3

Body language comprises over half of a presenter's impact and conveys messages nonverbally through gestures, stance, and facial expressions. Effective body language supports the message by using large, meaningful gestures from the shoulders. Presenters should stand tall with balanced stance and engage the audience through eye contact. Facial expressions like smiling can build connections while lack of expression may undermine the message. With practice, presenters can harness body language skills to enhance their communication.

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diptikhot
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Presentation Skills: Body Language

While You're Talking, What Is Your Body Saying?

More than half of your impact as a speaker depends upon your body
language. You probably have control over the words you speak, but are you sure
that you have control over what you are saying with your body language?

Body language comprises gesture, stance, and facial expression. These are
all the more important when all eyes of an audience are upon you. When you are
presenting, strong, positive body language becomes an essential tool in helping you
build credibility, express your emotions, and connect with your listeners. It also
helps your listeners focus more intently on you and what you're saying.

Some people actually


shake their heads "no"
when they say "yes."

The tricky thing about body language is that you are usually unaware of the
messages you're conveying nonverbally. When presenters see themselves on
videotape, they're often surprised to see that their body language conveyed an
entirely different message from the one they had intended. For example, some
people actually shake their heads "no" when they say "yes."

Effective body language supports the message and projects a strong image of
the presenter. Audiences respond best to presenters whose bodies are alive and
energetic. Audiences appreciate movement when it is meaningful and supportive of
the message. The most effective movements are ones that reflect the presenter's
personal investment in the message.

Presenters who care


deeply about their
material tend to use their
entire bodies to support
the message.

Anyone can utter a series of words; it is the presenter's personal connection to


those words that can bring them to life for the audience. Presenters who care
deeply about their material tend to use their entire bodies to support the message.
Their gestures are large enough to embrace the room full of people. They stand tall
and lean into the audience right from their feet, as if trying to shorten the distance
between their message and the ears of the audience. Their faces express their
passion while their eyes connect with the audience, focusing on one person at a
time.

Gesture. Do use your hands. They don't belong on your hips or in your pockets or
folded across your chest either or held behind your back. Use them-to help
emphasize a point, to express emotion, to release tension, and to engage your
audience.
Most people have a gestural vocabulary at their disposal. Anyone can all think of a
gesture that supports words such as "short" or "tall;" however, the gestures of
everyday conversation tend to be too small and often too low to use in front of a
large audience. Presenters need to scale their gestures to the size of the room. The
most effective gestures arise from the shoulder, not the wrist or elbow. Shoulder
gestures project better across the distance and release more of the presenter's
energy, helping combat any tension that can build in the upper body (particularly
under pressure).

Stance. How you stand in front of the room speaks before open your mouth. Your
stance can tell the audience that you're happy, scared, confident, or uncomfortable.
Audiences "read" these messages unthinkingly but unfailingly. Stance speaks. A
balanced stance with weight even but slightly forward tends to say that the speaker
is engaged with the audience. A slumped stance leaning to one side can says the
speaker doesn't care.

The feet should point straight ahead, not quite shoulder-width apart. When not
gesturing, the hands should sit quietly at the sides of the presenter. Letting the
hands fall to the sides between gestures projects ease. These moments of stillness
between gestures also have the effect of amplifying the gestures. Yes, you can
move around, but remember to punctuate that movement with stillness. Constant
motion, such as swaying, is a distraction that can annoy your listeners.

Facial expression. The movements of your eyes, mouth, and facial muscles can
build a connection with your audience. Alternatively, they can undermine your
every word. Eye focus is the most important element in this process. No part of
your facial expression is more important in communicating sincerity and credibility.
Nothing else so directly connects you to your listeners-whether in a small gathering
or a large group. Effective presenters engage one person at a time, focusing long
enough to complete a natural phrase and watch it sink in for a moment. This level
of focus can rivet the attention of a room by drawing the eyes of each member of
the audience and creating natural pauses between phrases. The pauses not only
boost attention, but also contribute significantly to comprehension and retention by
allowing the listener time to process the message.

The other elements of facial expression can convey the feelings of the presenter,
anything from passion for the subject, to depth of concern for the audience.
Unfortunately, under the pressure of delivering a group presentation, many people
lose their facial expression. Their faces solidify into a grim, stone statue, a thin
straight line where the lips meet. Try to unfreeze your face right from the start. For
example, when you greet the audience, smile! You won't want to smile throughout
the entire presentation, but at least at the appropriate moments. It's only on rare
occasions that you may need to be somber and serious throughout.

Bring it all together


While we all want to believe that it's enough to be natural in front of a room, it isn't
really natural to stand up alone in front of a group of people. It's an odd and
unusual thing that creates stress, tension, and stomach troubles. Being natural
won't cut it. We need to be bigger, more expressive, and more powerful. It takes
extra effort and energy. It also takes skill and practice. With so much depending on
communication and communication depending on body language, it's worth getting
it right. Work on your body language-gesture, stance, and facial expression-to
make the most of every speaking opportunity.  

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