Body. Language. And YOU.
Have you ever wondered what to do with your hands when you’re on video or during a speaking presentation?
If you add ONE particular gesture to your presentations, you could have the audience doing EXACTLY what you want them to do. 84% of the time! You seen it right. 84% compliance! Just by making some small tweaks to your body language during presentation.
In this blog, I will show you how to increase the know, like, and trust factor FASTER by using positive and powerful body language.
SUMMARY
Body language and meaningful gestures can make or break a presentation.
If you want to turn people off – use this 5 negative body language signals:
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The Fly Swatter
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The Look of DITH
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The Back Off
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The Family Jewels
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The Dominatrix
However, if you want to give a meaningful and engaging speech, use the 3 positive gestures below instead:
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Open Stance
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Palm Power
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The Newsreader
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INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES:
FULL VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Today, we are speaking about body language.
When I mean body language, I am including both the way that we hold and move our body AND the way we use our face and our hands. All of these elements are critical to making a good impression with your audience, but today, I want to focus on the three simplest things you can do to LOOK and FEEL more confident in front of your audience so that you can win them over as fast as possible.
Let’s start with a short list of what NOT to do in a public speaking presentation and why.
THE DONT’S: 5 Negative Body Language Signals to Avoid
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1. The Fly Swatter .
Don’t wave your arms around too much like you are swatting flies all over the place. Every movement you make in your speaking presentation will either strengthen your message or distract from your message. I see so many enthusiastic YouTubers waving their arms around way too much trying to grab everyone’s attention but all it does is turn people off. It’s super distracting!
You’re going to get the swipe! People are going to go to the next video because that is too much! It’s not strengthening the message. It’s distracting from the message and the message is the most important thing.
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2. The Look of DITH
It doesn’t matter how well you know your content if you are teaching it with the look of DITH. The look of DITH is when your eyes are dead or lacking in engagement and you are speaking as though you are a deer in the headlights: scared, as though you have just seen a ghost!
I see this so often in my students – they KNOW their content, they are experts in their field, but as soon as that camera goes on… THE LOOK OF DITH!
When you have dead eyes, it doesn’t matter how much you’re speaking, people will not be able to connect with you because you are not connected to your material. It will make you seem like you’re really insecure and really scared because that’s what the look of DITH looks like – Dear in the Headlights.
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3. The Back Off
This is another common body language fault that I see in aspiring public speakers when they are feeling a little bit of fear by standing in front of the audience: they literally come on, and then they back away from the camera or audience.
When we back away, we are showing our audience that fight or flight has already kicked in and we really don’t want to be there! Don’t give this clear-cut message of insecurity to your audience. They need you! They need YOUR message. You are there for a reason – to change people’s lives – so stand strong and deliver with power. The back off can be also be HEARD in the voice. If you start a sentence strong and then lose confidence, or lose breath support, then your voice may back off as well. This will make it harder for people to hear you AND again you are showing your insecurities to the audience.
So be very careful when you turn up on stage or on camera that you don’t automatically step back a few paces or move backwards away from the camera. I see it really often in my clients when they’re first starting out – stay strong, stay engaged with your content and stay rooted to the one position. It will help you feel more confident and seem more confident to your audience. Don’t back off!
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4. The Family Jewels
Girls and guys: this one is for you, although I think guys do this a little bit more often: protecting the family jewels. When we are subconsciously nervous or insecure, we tend to want to hide, or protect ourselves from potential threats and danger. The Amygdala, the most ancient part of the brain, is the warning system that tell us to run when it sees, hears or feels something that doesn’t seem quite safe. You can override the need to protect yourself and your family jewels because it shows the audience how insecure you are and cuts off your energy to the audience with a ‘closed position’.
So, please avoid protecting the family jewels.
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5. The Dominatrix
By standing in a position of power, it tells the audience you feel the need to be bossy and domineering and you become a dictator. This stance is used by people who want to feel dominant in a conversation. Perhaps you have seen this when your mum was angry at you or your boss was giving you an order. This sort of stance will make the warning system in the brain. The ancient brain, the Amygdala, will immediately go into alert and make it hard for the audience to listen to you and comply with your requests. That signal alone will make the quiet or shy person even more insecure. So, only use this stance in preparation for your performances. Stand in this power position BEFORE you go on stage to get yourself feeling more confident. But don’t use it on stage in communication. It is NOT a positive communication tool.
I believe that we should use our body language and gestures to INSPIRE and not DOMINATE. So, think about that before you go on stage. Don’t get into the power position and dictate your audience. Inspire them from a position and stance of confidence and openness.
So, now you know what NOT to do, let’s look at the most powerful things that you CAN do in your presentation to make your presentation even more powerful whether that’s on stage or on camera!
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1. Open Stance
Every time you present whether you’re on stage or on camera, an open stance is the best. When your body is fully open to the audience, you are giving them the signal that you are approachable, confident and friendly. This will immediately disarm the audience and remove any objections or triggers that they might have. So, think of it as an open mind, an open heart, an open throat chakra. When we are open to giving, sharing and educating in this way, your presentation will be more well received and people will listen more attentively.
So, use this open chest, open throat, open stance to your advantage.
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2. Palm Power
There are three main hand gestures that people tend to use in presentations: Palms up, palms down and the point. The way that we use gestures is extremely important, especially when the audience are guaranteed to react in a certain way. Studies show that one of these gestures is MUCH more powerful than the others. Can you guess which one it is?
Using the palms up is more inviting to the audience. It’s not bossy or aggressive at all. In fact, it’s like a welcoming gesture, like I’m bringing you into my fold, into my circle of safety. And it’s no surprise that using this hand gesture, palms up, has been shown to get you 84% audience compliance. That’s a HUGE difference to the other two gestures. 84%!
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3. The Newsreader
This is great to use if you have no idea what to do with your hands and you’re afraid that you might wave them around too much.
If you want to feel and look more confident, more intelligent and calmer when you’re speaking, try the news reader. Many of my clients are journalists and because they need to deliver content that’s dry and serious a lot of the time, they’re taught to be very minimalistic with their hands, less distracting. This is a very common hand position for a news reader – either the one at waist level, the one that stops you from fidgeting and moving your hands too much or the steeple which makes you feel confident and calm and it makes you seem like a deep thinker. It will also help you slow your breathing down and give you time to think when you’re speaking. You know sometimes less movement is more powerful. The only thing you really need to watch in this position is that you’re not holding your hands too tightly and then you forget to breathe. Some people when they grip their hands or pull their hands, it makes them hold their tummy too tight and stops them from breathing. So, make sure you’re grounding yourself, breathing normally and just gently touching your hands together. It will bring you to a place of peace and calm and you’ll be able to deliver your content with confidence and competence. So, use the steeple if you don’t want to do anything else.
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You know our body language is an outward reflection of our inner emotional state but we have the power to change our STATE! We can change our state by making a SHAPE. Remember that: “We can change our state by making a new shape.”
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