Body Language for Public Speaking

Body language is the way in which people (and other animals) communicate their emotions and intentions. It has evolved to allow animals to convey messages to their peers (e.g. 'here's food', 'I I am sexually available', or 'a predator is coming') and also to other animals (e.g. 'if you go near my cubs I will bite'). Therefore body language is largely limited to messages that animals might use and cannot convey abstract or complex messages.

Body language can be divided into functional gestures and symbolic gestures.

  • Functional body language is the gestures that are a practical response to the surroundings that gives an indication of one's emotions, for examples straightening up (to see better) when someone enters the room or turning eyes after a pretty woman passing on the street. Functional gestures are usually harder to fake.
  • Symbolic body language is the gestures that have developed specifically for communications (such as a human's smile or a dog's wagging of tail). Those are easier to fake.

Body language is active working at all times and communicates our emotions, even if we are not aware of it - for example, even when we are sleeping it communicates how restful we are.

So what is the point of learning body language? Well, it is wired very deeply into our brain, so we use it constantly and have been doing so our whole life whether we have been to a 'body language course' or not. That is how we know to keep away from a local bully and recognize when we're being flirted with. However, body language is still prone to errors and miscommunications that can be avoided. Also, learning to understand body language enables us to understand our strengths and weaknesses better, and improve ourselves.

The elements of Body Language

 

Eye Contact

Looking your audience in the eyes is your way of projecting confidence and sincerity, and can also create intimacy and closeness. This is one element of body language that is very easy to acquire and can become quite natural with some practice.

Facial expressions

The 32 muscles in the face create up to 7,000 recognizable expressions projecting a very wide array of emotions. This enormous variety makes it very difficult to consciously control our emotions – it is impossible to tell yourself 'I doubt what he says; I should raise my eye brows'. Rather your face responds automatically to your emotions, and thus to improve this aspect of body language it is important to have control over your emotions.
Some times the audience's expression reflects yours, so it is important to keep an eye on them and adjust your style accordingly.

Hand movement

It is very difficult to concentrate for any length of time on a frozen speaker. A useful comparison is between watching television and staring at a radio.
Hand movements are there to amplify our facial expression and project them to a bigger area (and presumably a larger audience). Therefore, your hand movements should be wider when you speak to a larger audience. Another important parameter is harmonizing hand movements and the emotionality of your voice and face. When these are not in harmony the audience feels suspicious.

Posture

When I was a kid, my mother always said 'why can't you just stand normally' – and I knew even then what she meant- to refrain from shifting nervously or from hunching my shoulders. It is important to stand straight, to raise our back and spread our shoulders.
Also, it is recommended to follow our eye contact with our whole body, so that every time we turn to another part of the room to do that with our shoulders and not just our eyes.

 

 

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