THE BEST SPEECH CAN GO DOWN THE DRAIN- WITH THE WRONG BODY LANGUAGE…
Public Speaking is the art of transporting a message in an entertaining or charismatic way to groups of people.
Public Speakers, lecturers, seminar leaders or teachers – they all stand in front of people and pass on knowledge and experience to an audience. The audience decides in a matter of seconds whether they trust the speaker on stage or not. The body language of the speaker mostly is the decisive factor. If you, as a speaker, can not win the trust of the audience, it doesn’t matter what: you won’t be able to convince the audience completely.
In many cases, what you say has less influence than what you do.
Your movement, gestures and voice also send a message!
What is body language?
Body language is part of non-verbal communication. Body language is, among other things, the combination of movements, gestures and postures. This also includes the way a speaker speaks on stage, moves and looks. Body language is always part of the message a speaker wants to convey.
Many people think that body language is all about how and where you position yourself on stage. This is one part of the important successful body language for speakers (called Proxemics), but there is much more. Body language also shows your self-confidence. The right attitude and body language on stage gives you a touch of credibility and authority that supports your story or presentation theme.
Why is body language important on stage?
It can be said that your presentation can almost not be successful if you use the wrong body language. And to compensate for a negative body language you need a lot of talent in other rhetorical areas so that the audience remains positive and open towards you.
Some examples of bad body language in public speaking are:
- Turning your back on the audience
- Moving too much and too fast
- Hide behind a desk
- Being too close or too far away from the audience
Gestures can also have a bad influence on your conversation:
- Being too aggressive and offensive in gestures
- Make fists or point index finger at persons
- Drumming with your fingers or even biting your nails
- Tightening up your own clothes
Using body language intelligently
Even if you have done a good job as a public speaker in terms of rhetorical content: Improving your body language can still have a great effect. You will have a significant influence with your body language on the way, how your audience should understand your messages.
The rule “HOW a message is communicated is more effective than the message itself” applies.
The right body language makes the difference between a normal speech and a convincing presentation.
What do you need to pay attention to?
If you want to analyze your body language, there are a few things you should pay attention to:
Where do you look?
Are you looking at your audience? Or are you one of those speakers who tend to keep looking at the screen?
Do you give your entire audience attention or just a few lucky ones?
Positive or negative body language
What message do you convey with your body language? Do you show optimism? Or do they communicate heaviness and demotivation? This is reflected in your audience!
Energy
How much energy do you put into your lecture? Too little energy lets your audience fall asleep. On the other hand, too much will make them pay less attention to your message! It is a good recommendation to change the energy and dynamics more often during the presentation. Once faster and once emphatically slower.
Gestures
What gestures do you make? Do you use your hands and don’t hide them in your pockets? Do you point to important points, are you expressive with your gestures?
Smile
Your facial expressions are extremely important. The way you look says a lot about your inner feelings and your message. A real smile is very important. Of course, you don’t want to grin on a serious subject either. Your facial expression should match the story and theme.
About the author of this article:
Etienne Dubach stays a lot in Barcelona but works internationally.
He is a versatile and passionate coach, personality developer and author.
With over 1000 training days and 12 years of communication studies, he brings a wealth of experience and broad repertoire into all of his seminars.
Find out more about Etienne HERE.
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