Take my advice
Last week I coached a presenter. He attended a public speaking class where he was told to "not use gestures - keep your hands at your sides".
This baloney makes no sense. Which is why this presenter asked me about it. He said it feels uncomfortable to stand still, and normally uses gestures while talking. I advised him to do what feels natural while gesturing on stage. If you normally gesture while speaking off stage, then do what you normally do on the stage as well.
Our goal is to be authentic on the stage. How can you be authentic if you are trying to stand still while presenting? This advice is nonsense.
We need to filter all the advice we receive. It seems to me that speaking coaches dealing out advice outnumber speakers by a factor of ten. What is a speaker to do? We want feedback on our performances, yet cannot take advice without considering the applicability to our style.
Take my advice on this. When someone gives you advice on how to speak, present or gesture - consider if it helps your audience or not. If it makes you feel uncomfortable and you will be focusing on it instead of conveying your message to the audience, then discard the advice.
This baloney makes no sense. Which is why this presenter asked me about it. He said it feels uncomfortable to stand still, and normally uses gestures while talking. I advised him to do what feels natural while gesturing on stage. If you normally gesture while speaking off stage, then do what you normally do on the stage as well.
Our goal is to be authentic on the stage. How can you be authentic if you are trying to stand still while presenting? This advice is nonsense.
We need to filter all the advice we receive. It seems to me that speaking coaches dealing out advice outnumber speakers by a factor of ten. What is a speaker to do? We want feedback on our performances, yet cannot take advice without considering the applicability to our style.
Take my advice on this. When someone gives you advice on how to speak, present or gesture - consider if it helps your audience or not. If it makes you feel uncomfortable and you will be focusing on it instead of conveying your message to the audience, then discard the advice.
Labels: Presentation Styles
posted by Wayne Botha @ 4:23 PM
1 Comments:
At May 28, 2008 3:37 PM ,
Terry said...
Wayne,
You are absolutely right: that is absurd advice.
Presenters should always focus on their non-verbal cues as well as their verbal ones. I always tell presenters that they need to use broader gestures since they draw the eye and project dynamism. Further, it is important to develop a vocabulary of gestures since they are both an effective and efficient way to communicate.
A good presentation is perceived to be effective not necessarily by what it said but by how it was presented. This is why I tell presenters to always expand their vocal range for greater emphasis. Not only will it help to hold audience attention, but also helps to telegraph more clearly how they feel about what they are saying.
Here is a great article on the subject to help back up your point: “Albert Mehrabian, a Professor Emeritus of Psychology at UCLA, is well-known for his publications on the relative importance of verbal and nonverbal messages. His findings on inconsistent messages of feelings and attitudes have been quoted throughout communication seminars worldwide, and have also become known as the 7%-38%-55% Rule.
According to Mehrabian, these three elements account differently for our liking for the person who puts forward the message: words account for 7%, tone of voice accounts for 38%, and body language accounts for 55%.” More can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Mehrabian”> wikipedia
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