Gestures: Your Body Speaks
When you present a speech, you send two kinds of messages to your audience. While your voice transmits a verbal message, a vast amount of information is being visually conveyed by your appearance, your manner, and your physical behavior.
Research shows that more than half of all human communication takes place nonverbally. When you speak before a group, your listeners base their judgment of you and your message on what they see as well as upon what they hear.
In public speaking, your body can be an effective tool for adding emphasis and clarity to your words. It’s also your most powerful instrument for convincing an audience of your sincerity, earnestness, and enthusiasm.
However, if your physical actions are distracting or suggest meanings that do not agree with your verbal message, your body can defeat your words. Whether your purpose is to inform, persuade, entertain, motivate, or inspire, your body and the personality you project must be appropriate to what you say.
To become an effective speaker, you must understand how your body speaks. You can’t stop sending your audience nonverbal messages, but you can learn to manage and control them.
At our next meeting, we will focus on our nonverbal communication. Before the meeting, try to see how your nonverbal communication supports or defeats the goal of what you are trying to say or share with someone. Some tips to be conscious of before the meeting are:
- Keep your hands out of your pockets – it encourages slouching.
- Don’t look down at the ground – it looks like you are trying to hide something.
- Use your hands appropriately – they should be active, but not distracting.
- Know your facial expressions – they should match the tone of what you are sharing.
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