BODY LANGUAGE IN PUBLIC SPEAKING

The way we speak is important, but the way we communicate through our bodies is more important. The wrong body posture or the wrong hand signs can make your presentation look bad even if you are a great speaker.

INDEX

EYE CONTACT 

POSTURE

STAGE COVERAGE 

GESTURES

FACIAL EXPRESSIONS

Bonus tips 

Conclusion

1. EYE CONTACT

We have heard it many times that eye contact is the basic and the most important thing which should be considered while giving a speech. Nobody would be interested if you give a speech looking at the ground or giving a speech looking at your phone, the thought of it makes us feel that we are making a blunder.

Eye contact gives get's the attention of the people as they are concerned that the person on the stage is looking at them.  

For beginners there is a 3 point strategy that will help you have better eye contact.

Find three spots in the room or the place you are giving your speech, one spot on left, middle and right. This gives the impression that you have a great body language. Makes sure the spots are on the level of the audience not too below or above. 

Bonus tip: If you find some familiar faces on the audience make sure to make as your one of the three spots as it helps you calm down and have a better feel.

2. POSTURE

Posture is the major part in which you have to develop and implement when it comes to body language, we always unknowingly give a bad posture which makes your presentation going all wrong. 

Here are some of the important points to be focused on;

Face your palm outwards and not inwards; inward hands indicates that you are suppressing your audience and the outwards facing hands indicates that you are open to your audience and feel comfortable while listening to your presentation.

Avoid close stance; we tend to keep our body stiff which makes the whole room under tense, feel relaxed try to stand naturally so that the room feel less relaxed and are an easy to listen to your presentation

Don't put your hands inside the pocket or on the waist.

Try not to fidget with the things around you like the water bottle or the phone.

Never point your finger to the audience. It shows that you are trying to boss them around and we don't want that to happen during your important speech.

3. STAGE COVERAGE

 Try to reach your presentation area before 15 minutes so that you can stand on stage and feel the length and depth of the stage, and visualize you speaking to the audience so when you give a presentation you are doing it for the second time as you gave your speech once in your mind before the session even started. This makes you more confident and relaxed while giving the actual speech

Cover the stage walk around, and look at all the three sides that are your left, middle and right so that people will get a feeling that you are speaking with everyone in the hall and not just concentrating on the people under your eyesight.

              While walking around also a way of showing the people that you are confident and also it makes sure that you aren't ignoring anyone in the hall 

4. GESTURES

People do what we do than do what we say. Make them do a simple activity, ask your audience to raise their right hand (you should also raise your right hand) and ask them to place their right hand on the cheek, while you place your right hand on the chin. You will be amazed to see that most of the people just put their hand on the chin and not on the cheek. This is because everyone did as you did not what you said. 

That is why your actions and gestures play an effective role in helping your audience to remember better and for a longer period.

For example if you want to narrate a story and want to narrate about a huge carrot, then make the gesture of how huge the carrot was, so that people will get the feel about what you are speaking about.

If you are into sales and service and want your client to say yes to your products, use this simple trick make them say yes as many times as possible through your presentation, ask them a simple question in which you know that the answer is yes.

This work because this gives a positive impression on the client and feel like it is good to purchase your product as they have already said yes many times throughout your presentation.

5.  FACIAL EXPRESSIONS

Face is the index of your mind, every eye in the hall always look at your face and the expressions you are always changing, so it is important to keep your face expressions under control don't let your stage fear shown on your face.

Here are ways to improve your facial expressions

Have a pleasant smile on your face as it lifts the tense in the mood of the people and also you will observe that they smile back at you. 

Make sure the smile is not too sneaky as the people might up thinking that they are being sold to some sketchy plan.

Make faces to depict the expression; For example, when you know you need to make an announcement and you know that it is exciting don't just announce, try to look excited, be surprised, create the mood so that the audience is on their toes to listen to you, because when information is combined with emotion it becomes long term memory.

No giveaway expression; For example, ask a question to the audience and have an expression where you behave like you don't know the answer, this makes the audience to wait for your answer.

 BONUS POINT S

Wear professional attire; as your dress gives the impression of the person you are and it also helps you to give a better first impression to the people listening to your speech for the very first time.

Practice your speech by recording in your digital device because it helps you to give a better perspective. Speaking while standing in front of a mirror only helps you to know your facial expressions if you want to move further than that record and watch it over and over again to know your minor mistakes.

Don't finger tap or drum, because this is the sign of impatience, this gives a bad impression as an audience.

 

CONCLUSION 

I hope this helped you a lot and was informative. All these technical stuff even though you remember might not be able to use it because you need to practice a lot, keep implementing keep practicing and be an expert in speaking.