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The Body Language of Public SpeakingNext time you watch a politician on TV speaking to an audience,
turn the volume down and watch. Then interpret what is being said
just by observing the body language. Try it – it’s amazing what you
read into the message just by watching the person speaking. concerning yourself about the words, purely by observation and your intuition. And this is going on right now somewhere in the world. A business speaker has a good message but it’s being clouded by the way its presented. The purpose of this article is to remind you, no, convince you of some key steps to take to ensure your body doesn't cloud the message next time you get up a speak. Let’s kick off with the body language and work around the body reminding ourselves of what to do. We’ll then cover movement around your stage. The HeadMy daughter has just started playgroup and she brought home a picture of Daddy. An amazing picture showing daddy with a large smiling face and 2 arms and legs. However the body was missing. This happened with my sons when they first went to playgroup. Inquisitive as ever, I asked the nursery teacher why Bethan had missed out the body. “Children of that age don’t focus on the body, they are only concerned with the face and that’s all they see. That’s why clowns paint their faces so brightly and children love them” As adults, we still have childish habits and one of them is to focus on the face of someone who is speaking to you. So get those expressions working for you and really exaggerate the meaning. Smile, frown, look angry, shocked, amazed – but please always be congruent with your message. Eye ContactNext we have eye contact. This is probably the one skill, when mastered, that does the most to engage the audience and build trust and rapport with the audience. The rule is to hardly ever let go. Imagine you’re playing tennis or squash. You never let your eye off the ball otherwise you’ll miss a shot. Like wise, keep your eye contact on the audience at all times. Careful with the lighthouse technique as well – this is where speakers sweep the audience in a repetitive swishing motion that does more to put people to sleep than engage. It always reminds me of those old Second World War POW escape movies when the escapees are nudging their way out of the tunnel dodging the sweeping searchlights. As soon as the light has moved along its repetitive motion, they dash to safety. In a similar way your audience will escape you when your sweeping leaves them. Instead have a conversation with your audience with your eyes. Randomly contact with each audience member and give them 2 to 3 seconds of eye contact and move onto the next person. Maintain this random movement. Find those in the audience who like just a little more eye contact and be aware of those who want slightly less. When faced with a large audience – I mean more than 25 or so people, adopt a similar habit but don’t give each person eye contact. That’ll take ages. Instead clump people into small groups and give these clumps the same eye contact as if they were one person. I tell you, that because of the distance between you and a large audience, this gives people the impression that you are looking at them. FeetNow let’s go to the other extreme of your body. Your feet and legs. Now what do you do with these limbs. Not a lot really unless you are moving around your stage, that’s movement with a purpose, not aimless wandering that only distracts the audience. Do you remember your mother asking you to stand up straight? Maybe and it really was good advice. Try to stand with both feet firmly on the ground pretty much the same distance apart as your shoulders. Keep them balanced so your body is not leaning to one side. Don’t look like a cat walk model or if you’re supping a pint at the bar of your local. Stand straight and look professional not a slouch. Nerves…that’s a word than conjures up fear and dread every time people stand up and speak in public. And sure enough you’ll have nerves. Professionals call it adrenaline and you need that to do a really good job. If you don’t have nerves or adrenaline, you might as well not bother because you can’t be bothered. Sop welcome nerves, call them adrenaline and make them work for you. Nerves will show in the periphery of your body. The ends such as feet, hands, head. Keeping your feet still transfers this energy to the top part of your body where it should go. Now I didn’t say you should stay rigid to the spot; that would be terrible for 20minutes. Instead focus your attention on preventing aimless movement, pacing up and down, shifting from side to side. Keep well balanced and professional. The BodyNext we have the trunk. That’s the bit my daughter missed out. Not much you can do with the trunk apart from keeping it straight. Not like the sergeant Major on the parade ground but not slouched either. Relaxed and comfortable. The worse sin is to block the invisible mid line that runs from between your 2 feet and your head. Block it and you place a barrier with your audience. Just don’t block it – that’s the rule. Hands and ArmsNext the arms and hands. How many people I’ve spoken with who don’t know what to do with these very useful limbs. Shame really so they copy people on the TV especially weather girls. They grasp them together. I’ve never understood this although I was guilty myself. It made me feel better and comfortable so much that as soon as I stood up to talk, my two hands came together. And when I got really nervous I used to rub them together too. Someone told me I looked like a market trader making lots of money. That sure went down well with my audiences. So what do you do with them? Behind your backs but that just reminds me of Prince Charles. In your pockets I hear you say. No, you’re hiding something, keeping back from the audience and besides, you’re missing out on a great weapon. No the answer is to use them to back up your message by gesturing. I did some training work in the Netherlands earlier this year for an international food company. The delegates were from all over Europe – Spain, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, France…I watched each one present on many occasions and it was so great to watch those from Mediterranean countries who naturally speak with their hands. They gesture so well and when given the go ahead to gesture during their speeches, they really went for it. Us Anglo Saxons are the stilted ones and need to learn to gesture. Last year I hit age 40. One of my dying wishes is to go to Glastonbury and this year I’ve finally bought the tickets. I’m hiring a camper van for the weekend, I still like some creature comforts and I’m thou roughly looking forward to it. When I’m watching the bands playing on stage I imagine I’ll be a fair distance away. I also imagine that the gestures from the lead singer will be dramatic. If he wants us to clap, he won’t politely pat his hands together, he’ll launch them over his head to make a very dramatic clap. This is how we should gesture with audiences. Large dramatic gestures to help the audience understand what you’re saying. Broad gestures that welcome every person into your speech, building rapport. Think of your speech content and let your hands do the talking. Watch deaf people doing their sign language – it really is a very clever way of losing your gesture buttons. And when not gesturing, or talking, maybe standing still to take questions from your audience, assume the assertive stance. Standing straight with your arms and hands down your sides in a relaxed assertive and confident manner. Body MovementFinally, body movement. Movement can be an enormously effective way of engaging the audience into your message. Clean your stage – remove obstacles, tape wires to the floor, so you don’t trip over them, place the screen to the side. Yes to the side and I wish more meeting planners would situate their screen to the right or left of the audience and not bang in the middle. You’ve probably been there or seen it. The slides are beaming onto the screen, the table is full of people, so to let the person on your left see the screen, you move into the corner of the room. You’re lost, you’re gone – you’ve lost eye contact with the audience who are busy reading the slides. If you’re able to position the screen to the left or right of the audience, you’ll be able to remain in the centre of the stage. Trust what is on your slides and be aware of reading directly from the screen – this takes your eye contact away from the audience and is a cardinal sin. Have a laptop screen in front of you or learn your slides. Better still use fewer of them but that’s another story. Once you have a clear space do move around with a purpose. I’ve used past, present and future by gradually moving along an imaginary line. The audience can see the time moving along as well as hear. I’ve used one side of the stage being advantages of an idea I’m promoting and the other side, the disadvantages. I’ve placed flipcharts at both sides of the room to mirror these place anchors. Move forward towards your audience when you want to make a really big point. Move backwards when you want them to reflect on something. Move to your left or right to change the subject or pace of your delivery. Do move around your stage but with a distinct purpose. The next time you’re observing an listening to a speaker, try and cut out the sound and focus entirely on the visual aspects. Try and interpret what he or she is saying just by the body language alone. You may not be right in your assumption of the meaning, but its he impression that everyone else is probably getting too. And first impressions last for ages. Good luck in your speaking and get good and get to enjoy yourself.
Paul is an international sales speaker, sales trainer, author and coach based in the UK.
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He specialises in rapport selling and rapport
coaching and can ignite his audiences large or small.