Non - oral communication, or body language, is an important part of public speaking. Your body language includes your posture, movement, gestures, facial expressions, eye contact and voice. At the very head, your body language should not distract the audience and with a little practice, it can help you traject confidence and help the audience peek your message more distinctly.
Here are the most common motion, movement, posture and facial expression mistakes:
Indicate MISTAKES
• Not using gestures at all. If you keep your hands locked at your sides, you will look nervous and your presentation will absence the visual element to combine and enhance your words.
• Keeping your hand in your pockets. This position leads down the slippery gradient to slouching and a sloppier posture. And you also may unconsciously start playing with the keys or change in your pocket ( granted, I ' ve observed – and heard – it happen! ).
• Fidgeting with your hands. Be aware of what your hands are doing, such as " washing " each other, grasping each other tightly, fiddling with your pocket watch or jewelry, etc. One of my public speaking coaching clients rolled and unrolled his shirt sleeves while he presented ( we solved that problem by having him wear short sleeves ). If you must control something, such as your notes or the PowerPoint remote, be conscious of how you are receipts it. Too generally the item becomes something for you to play with unconsciously, or in the cause of notes, a crutch that prevents you from looking at the audience.
• Holding your hands behind your back. This wave repeatedly resembles that of a child reciting a poem at a give lessons assembly. When not gesturing, your hands should be in the " neutral position, " undecided loosely at your sides.
• Pointing at the audience. All right, your towering was right – it ' s not polite to point. Try an unbarred - handed indicate instead.
• Folding your arms across your chest. Even if you are only doing this for you feel cold, this motion will most likely be interpreted as your closing yourself off from the audience.
• Gripping the podium. This gesticulate is generally accompanied by the " deer in the headlights " look. If you ' re using a podium, place your hands lightly on the top of it or in a relaxed hold on the edges.
• Using theatrical gestures. Your gestures should be natural and flow smoothly fairly than looking forced or robotic.
• Using radically rehearsed gestures.
I once axiom a speaker fall to his knees during his speech, which was chance and struck the audience as zestful and insincere.
MOVEMENT MISTAKES
• Moving without point. Most of the time you should stand confidently in one place tolerably than pacing back and forth or mobile aimlessly. If you do need to stratagem, it should have a view. For exemplification, parade confidently to the front of the room before you lead speaking and stretch with function to the flipchart or to the computer.
• Shifting from your weight from one foot to the other. Many people do this unconsciously and sometimes over their feet hurt ( hint: wear stinking rich shoes! ). Instead, stand with your feet firmly planted on the pave, with your weight equally distributed on both feet.
• Hiding behind a desk, podium or flipchart. If the juncture arrangement is set up so you are partially lost behind critical, then you have to rely more heavily on your voice and facial expressions to shlep meaning. If you are nervous and feel exposed when there ' s duck egg between you and the audience, practice, practice, practice – in manifestation of the mirror, on video, in layout of a helpful assortment of colleagues. If you must set behind meaningful, do so with profession and not as if you are inadequacy from the audience.
POSTURE MISTAKES
• Standing too stiffly. Sure thing, you should standpoint up ingenuous but it should be natural, not like you are frozen at attention. Keep your shoulders back and control your head up so you can make eye contact. This posture conveys confidence and helps you breathe more fully.
• Slouching and keeping your head down. Not only does it prevent you from looking at the audience, but it also conveys nervousness and makes it harder for the audience to hear you.
FACIAL EXPRESSION MISTAKES
• Not smiling, ever. Unless you are delivering abominable data, it is useful for you to smile, even in a business setting. Smiling will relax you and, in turn, relax the audience.
• Smiling too much, especially when delivering bad report. You may be smiling or even giggling considering you are very nervous, but it undermines the consequence of your message and your sincerity. If you smile broadly or giggle while announcing mass layoffs, for paragon, your audience will interpret it as a sign of your deprivation of concern.
If you eliminate these body language mistakes from your presentation, you ' ll come across as more confident and sincere and you ' ll be able to communicate more effectively. Your body language will add to your message to the audience quite than distract from it.
